Georgia Teacher Fired After Reading Picture Book on Gender to Students
The book, written for 4-8 year olds, is about “moving beyond the gender binary” according to publishers
A Georgia teacher has been fired after she read a picture book to students that was intended to introduce young children to the concept of so-called “gender nonconformity.”
Katie Rinderle was dismissed from her position at Due West Elementary School in suburban Atlanta by the Cobb County School Board following the uproar caused by her choice to read “My Shadow is Purple” to children.
“The District is pleased that this difficult issue has concluded; we are very serious about keeping our classrooms focused on teaching, learning, and opportunities for success for students. The Board’s decision is reflective of that mission,” the board said in a statement, as reported by The Hill.
District policy prohibits classroom discussions on gender identity and sexuality.
Rinderle is being reported by the far-left organization Southern Poverty Law Center, which has notoriously categorized churches and other organizations as “hate groups” due to their moral opposition to homosexuality.
“There is no legitimate explanation for this termination,” her attorney said in a statement. “To fire a teacher under a law that no two people could agree on is wrong. Ms. Rinderle, like other Georgia educators, does not know where the lines are drawn when it comes to sensitive, controversial, or divisive concepts.”
The description of “My Shadow Is Purple,” written by Scott Stuart, reads “My Dad has a shadow that’s blue as a berry, and my Mom's is as pink as a blossoming cherry. There’s only those choices, a 2 or a 1. But mine is quite different, it’s both and it’s none.”
Aimed at readers between the ages of 4 and 8, the book quite overtly seeks to describe and promote non-binary gender identity, and its listing on Amazon prompts other suggested titles including another by Stuart that shows a man dressed in a tutu on the cover and a picture book about LGBT “pride” for children.