Retailer T.J. Maxx and automaker Kia are listed as co-sponsors of a program that distributes LGBTQ-themed books to K-12 schools across the U.S., according to a Wednesday report from conservative nonprofit Consumers’ Research obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The initiative, titled the Rainbow Library, is run by national LGBTQ+ activist organization the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), and sends participating teachers books that push transgenderism and homosexuality onto kids as young as five, Consumers’ Research found. Over 8,100 schools in 33 states nationwide participate in the program.
“T.J. Maxx and Kia are pushing radical gender ideology on kids through their sponsorship of the GLSEN Rainbow Library, which promotes transgender ideology in classrooms across the country through books and recommended lesson plans for teachers,” Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research, said in a statement to the DCNF. “By sponsoring organizations with a political activist agenda like GLSEN and the Rainbow Library, these companies are putting woke politics ahead of their consumers.”
One book distributed by Rainbow Library, “When Aidan Becomes a Brother,” tells the story of a black girl who comes out as “transgender” and “explore[s] different ways of being a boy.” GLSEN recommends the story as part of its lesson plan for second graders, according to the Rainbow Library website.
A 2023 Pew Research Center study found that nearly 70% of black Americans believe gender is assigned at birth.
Another book, this time intended for first graders, is called “My Rainbow,” and depicts a mother constructing a rainbow wig for her young transgender child. Yet another, entitled “When We Love Someone, We Sing To Them,” is meant for third graders and tells the story of a young boy singing to another young boy in order to confess his love to him.
When teachers request books from the Rainbow Library, they also receive a toolkit telling them how to facilitate children coming out as transgender, with GLSEN educator Michael Rady stating in a 2021 video uncovered by the DCNF that “when a teacher or a librarian rolls out the Rainbow Library in their location, students start coming out to them… [be]cause they see that adult as someone that they can trust.” The program also instructs educators to keep it “confidential” if a student comes out to them until they can determine if the child is supported by the adults in their life, in an apparent reference to the child’s parents.
The nonprofit’s website sponsors page identifies Kia and T.J. Maxx parent corporation TJX companies, which also owns retailers Marshalls, HomeGoods and Sierra, as its 2023-2024 “national partners that help make Rainbow Library possible.”
Target came under fire in May 2023 for its partnership with GLSEN, donating at least $2.1 million to the nonprofit over a 10-year period. Later that month, the National Education Association — the U.S.’ largest teachers union — pledged its support for GLSEN.
TJX Companies participates in the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Corporate Equality Index, which assesses corporations based on their commitment to LGBTQ+ activism. The Human Rights Campaign, meanwhile, champions pediatric sex changes.
Facing pressure from conservative activist Robby Starbuck, a variety of corporations have rolled back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in recent months, including John Deere, Coors, Harley Davidson, Ford and Lowe’s.
Meanwhile, Republicans spent at least $215 million critiquing progressive “transgender” ideology during the 2024 election cycle, according to data from ad tracking firm AdImpact, with some Trump ads declaring, “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”
“The recent Presidential election has indicated consumers do not want companies to continue to push radical left-wing ideology,” Hild told the DCNF in a statement. “There is a reckoning coming for companies who continue to put woke politicians and policies above consumers.”
Kia’s head of corporate communications, James Bell, denied the company had been a sponsor of the Rainbow Library in 2023 or 2024, despite the automaker being prominently displayed on the program’s sponsor page. When the DCNF sent multiple follow-up inquiries asking why Kia is listed as a “2023-2024 school year sponsor” if it did not sponsor the nonprofit in 2023 or 2024, Bell stopped responding.
Additionally, Bell’s initial response did not answer the majority of questions from the DCNF’s original inquiry, including when the company began funding the Rainbow Library and if the company supports pediatric sex change surgeries and hormonal treatments.
T.J. Maxx and GLSEN did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
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