by Owen Klinsky
Car manufacturer Kia has continued to stonewall following a Daily Caller News Foundation report on the company’s ties to a nonprofit that distributes LGBTQ-themed books to children.
The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s (GLSEN) Rainbow Library — a program that provides teachers with free children’s books which propagate transgender ideology — prominently listed Kia as a co-sponsor on its website as recently as Tuesday. However, Kia has since been removed from the Rainbow Library’s sponsors page after a spokesperson for the carmaker denied in a statement Tuesday that it sponsored the nonprofit in 2023 or 2024 and subsequently failed to respond to eight follow-up inquiries from the DCNF sent between Tuesday, Dec. 17, and Monday, Dec. 23.
In the several follow-up emails sent to Kia, the DCNF asked if the carmaker had requested GLSEN remove it from the Rainbow Library donors page and if it had falsely stated it was not a 2023-2024 school year Rainbow Library sponsor.
Hard to know why normal people should ever buy another Kia or shop at TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods or Sierra if those companies not only promote garbage like this but then refuse to even answer basic questions about it.https://t.co/zPjZ1d1Uzt
— Neil Patel (@NeilPatelTDC) December 18, 2024
Kia was also listed as a Rainbow Library national partner for the 2022-2023 school year, along with General Motors and 2023-2024 Rainbow Library sponsor T.J. Maxx, an archived version of the website from March 2023 shows. T.J. Maxx also did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment, but remains on the GLSEN donors page.
The carmaker also issued a press release in August entitled “proud owners,” which tells the story of LGBTQ+ Kia owners, including “an entrepreneur, cultural strategist, researcher [and] artist” who “design[s] strategies for a more inclusive, and welcoming business future for all people.”
The Rainbow Library curriculum includes, “When Aidan Becomes a Brother,” a children’s book that tells the story of a young child telling her parents she’s “transgender” and “explor[ing] different ways of being a boy.” GLSEN’s lesson plan recommends the story for second graders.
In addition to transgenderism, the lesson plan also touts homosexuality, with children’s book “When We Love Someone, We Sing To Them” — recommended for third graders — telling the story of a young boy singing to another young boy in order to confess his love to him.
Teachers at over 8,100 schools in 33 states nationwide participate in the Rainbow Library program.
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Owen Klinsky is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
