Scholastic Reverse Decision On Banning Childrens Book Featuring Gay Parents

Scholastic, the book fair company, have announced that they will now allow Lauren Myracle’s book Luv Ya Bunches to be sold at their fairs, after previously banning it. Originally rejecting the book, which features a a group of four girls from diverse backgrounds, including one with gay parents, on the grounds it was in opposition to the norms of the communities that host the fairs was a decision that was to see the members of the social networking site, Twitter and Change.org not only shocked, but more than up for a fight, with a petition being launched on the Change.Org site. Four thousands and forty two signatures later and it looks like Change.Org have been able to make Scholastic see the error of their ways, with a the company releasing a statement on their On Our Minds blog reading as follows:

The following is an update on Luv Ya Bunches and Scholastic Book Fairs: Scholastic does not censor books. We review thousands of titles each year for our book clubs and book fairs, and we are committed to a review process that considers all books equally regardless of their inclusion of LGBT characters and same sex parents. In an interview with School Library Journal, Scholastic stated that we are currently carrying Luv Ya Bunches by Lauren Myracle in our school book clubs. We also said we were still reviewing the book for possible inclusion in our book fairs. Having completed our review of Luv Ya Bunches, Scholastic Book Fairs will carry the title in our spring fairs for middle school. Scholastic is proud of our long history of providing books that will appeal to the wide range of interests and reading abilities of children in the many diverse cultures and communities we serve. Luv Ya Bunches is just one example.

It is undoubtedly disappointing to see there is no reference to the work of the LGBT community in making Scholastic reverse this decision, however what is important to hold on to about the whole affair is that the right decision has been made, and the youth of America are going to be able to read about same sex parents, something it appears that Scholastic had tried hard to keep out of the book, with Myracle speaking out about how she had received a letter from Scholastic asking her to change the same sex couple to a straight one.