Many public elementary schools across the U.S. offer books containing material steeped in gender ideology and left-wing racial ideology.
In 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that Maryland parents have a right to opt their elementary-aged-students out of LGBTQ+ storybook lessons in school on the basis of religious freedom. However, since then, many taxpayer-funded primary schools throughout the country have continued to make books with heavily scrutinized sexual and political themes available to children.
Here are five books elementary schools in the U.S. are offering students.
“Sex Is a Funny Word” — Boulder Valley School District, 5th grade supplemental healtheducation learning material
A children’s comic book that goes beyond the classic “sex talk” for kids, “Sex Is a Funny Word” features the transgender, “lesbian, gay, and bisexual experience as well as gender creative and gender-nonconforming children,” according to the book’s website. The children’s sex education book covers, among other topics, “crushes, love, and sexy feelings,” and “birthsex, gender identity, and gender roles.”
An educational book for 8-10 year olds about bodies, gender, and sexuality, the book includes “children and families of all makeups, orientations, and gender identities,” according to the website. It also includes drawings of male and female genitalia.
This book is listed on Boulder Valley School District’s website under supplemental elementary health “Board of Education Adopted Learning Materials.”
Boulder Valley School District did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
“This Is Our Rainbow: 16 Stories of Her, Him, Them, and Us” — New York City Public Schools, 3rd – 5th grade Pride Month Suggested Reading
An LGBTQIA+ anthology with stories following characters of various sexual orientations. One story revolves around a young girl who “navigates a crush on her friend’s mom,” according to the overview of the book. In another story, two transgender kids meet online, and one kid helps the other come out to her parents.
In one story, the main character goes by e/em pronouns, according to a Stand with Trans book review. The anthology has “queer fantasy, historical, and contemporary stories,” according to the overview.
The New York City Public Schools’ website lists this anthology under the elementary Pride Month summer reading list. The Public Schools “encourage families, educators, and students to dive into a book about LGBTQ+ history and experiences.”
The New York City Public Schools did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
“Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness” — Bancroft Elementary School, Washington, D.C. Public School, available in school library
In this picture book, a white child sees a white police officer shoot an unarmed black person while watching the news. The child then sees coverage of a rally in response to the shooting and curiously goes to the library to learn about white supremacy.
“I made a book that centers the problem of racism in whiteness,” the author says in a video trailer of the book.
The book reveals how white children can seek justice when “power and privilege” factor into their lives.
“Racism is a white person problem,” a child is heard reading from the book in the video. The book helps to assist children “past defensiveness,” according to Goodreads.
This book was found on the school’s library catalog database as available at the elementary school.
Bancroft Elementary School did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
“When Aidan Became A Brother” — Fargo Public Elementary Schools, available in school libraries
The book revolves around Aidan, a biologically female transgender-identifying child, who is going to have a new sibling soon.
“When Aidan was born, everyone thought he was a girl. His parents gave him a pretty name, his room looked like a girl’s room, and he wore clothes that other girls liked wearing,” the Amazon summary of the book reads. “After he realized he was a trans boy, Aidan and his parents fixed the parts of life that didn’t fit anymore, and he settled happily into his new life.”
This book was found on the school’s library catalog database as available at the elementary school.
Fargo Public Schools told the DCNF that is “does not have any comment or information to you provide you for your story.”
“Antiracist Baby” — Maria Baldwin Elementary School, Cambridge Public Schools, available in school library
Toward its beginning, this book claims, “[b]abies are taught to be racist or antiracist — there’s no neutrality.” The book then walks through nine steps Antiracist Baby learns “to make equality a reality.”
Step seven is to “confess when being racist,” because confessing racist ideas fights racism. The book “empowers parents and children to uproot racism in our society and in ourselves,” according to the book’s website.
This book was found on the school’s library catalog database as available at the elementary school.
Maria Baldwin Elementary School did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
(DCNF)