In light of a public backlash, State Farm has swiftly distanced itself from a collaborative book donation program that promotes transgender ideology among young children. The watchdog group that exposed the insurance giant’s involvement, however, said this is far from over.
In late May, Consumers’ Research brought national attention to State Farm’s partnership with transgender youth advocacy group The GenderCool Project, which sought to “increase representation of LGBTQ+ books” intended for readers as young as 5 years old.
According to an internal email leaked to and publicized by Consumers’ Research, hundreds of State Farm insurance agents have been encouraged to participate in the program by donating a bundle of three GenderCool books to “their local teacher, community center or library of their choice.”
Hild described these GenderCool titles—“A Kids Book About Being Transgender,” “A Kids Book About Being Non-Binary,” and “A Kids Book About Being Inclusive”—as “transgender-in-training books.”
“They explain it in terms that would lead to confusion among your average 5-year-old,” Hild told NTD News. “For example, it’s implied that if you are a boy who likes playing with dolls, or playing dress-up, or a girl who likes playing sports—stereotypically something from the other gender, then you might be transgender.”
“It even explicitly says that the doctor may have assigned you the wrong gender at birth, and that you need to question the doctor’s assessment of your sex,” he continued. “State Farm was asking their agents to give out these books without parents’ knowledge.”
The exposure of the State Farm-GenderCool partnership has thrown the insurance company into “full panic,” Hild said.
According to Hild, just four hours after being called out by Consumers’ Research on Twitter, State Farm sent out an internal email alleging a “misunderstanding” about the book donations. This was followed by another email, which announced that the partnership had ended, that the company’s top executives were unaware of the partnership, which they found inappropriate, and that they had only donated $40,000 to GenderCool.
Even if this is true, it still means that GenderCool books worth a total of $40,000 might have made it into libraries, community centers, and schools across the country. “These books could be being read by students to deck in schools and libraries,” Hild said. “State Farm refuses to lift a finger to undo any of that.”
Hild also rejected the claim that the higher-ups at State Farm didn’t know about the book donations, noting that he also obtained numerous email complaints that were sent to top executives by concerned employees.
“There were emails of multiple agents, walking up the chain, complaining to higher-level executives that this is wrong,” he said, noting that he’s unable to publicize them without compromising the whistleblower’s anonymity.
Hild said his organization will not end its “creepy neighbor” ad campaign against State Farm until the company takes action to undo the damage it has caused.
Specifically, he demanded that State Farm hire a third-party auditor to examine “every program they have that targets children,” retrieve every one of these books that have been donated to a school, library, and community center, and have conversations with parents whose children have been exposed to such material.
“Parents need to know if their kids were exposed to these materials by State Farm agents, and they can have a conversation to walk them out of the bizarre propaganda they were exposed to,” Hild said.
