Utah school suspends 'equity' book program after third-grade teacher reads transgender book to class

A school district in Utah is suspending its "equity book bundles program" after a third-grade teacher shared a book in class about transgenderism intended for older students. This led to backlash from parents, who never gave their permission for the book to be read.

Activists seized upon the backlash to demand the removal of a Utah Board of Education member who criticized the school district for promoting the book, in  addition to Critical Race Theory and other forms of woke ideology.

Transgenderism has been at the heart of many recent controversies in education, with many parents concerned that their children were being by misled by ideologically-driven teachers who push the subject onto students too young to understand the topic.

The Salt Lake Tribune broke the story, reporting that a student from Horizon Elementary brought the book home to study. According to the Tribune, parents were “angry that the book was shared with their kids without permission.” "Call Me Max" is the children's book in question and tells the story of a transgendered main character. The book is intended for sixth-graders and up, according to McGraw Hill.  

Other books in the "equity book bundles program" include “This Book Is Anti-Racist" and “Rainbow Revolutionaries: 50 LGBTQ+ People Who Made History.”

"When Max starts school, the teacher hesitates to call out the name on the attendance sheet. Something doesn’t seem to fit," reads the book description on Amazon. "Max lets her know the name he wants to be called by–a boy’s name. This begins Max’s journey as he makes new friends and reveals his feelings about his identity to his parents. Written with warmth and sensitivity by trans writer Kyle Lukoff, this book is a sweet and age-appropriate introduction to what it means to be transgender."

The third-grade teacher had allegedly not even read the book prior to assigning it. This is according to Murray School District spokesman Doug Perry, who said the students had a number of questions regarding the book and puberty. "[The teacher] just flat out made a mistake," Perry noted, "That book is not appropriate at the grade level it was being shared."

According to the SLC Tribune, a conservative member of the Utah Board of Education, Natalie J. Cline, condemned the school district for pushing the book, describing it as inappropriate to share "books about gender-confused children." Her criticism of the district led a number of  activists to demand her resignation via a petition on the Democrat-run website MoveOn.org.

They explained that her opposition to Critical Race Theory, her opposition to the concept of "unconscious bias," her advocacy for traditional Judeo-Christian values, and her criticism of the transgender youth movement were all reasons to dismiss her from the board. They claim that Cline's views are in violation of the First Amendment.