Letter: Ideology Taught In Public Schools

Cal Thomas considers LGBTQ+ characters in books read aloud in public schools as force feeding ideology. I knew when I was 6 yrs. old that I was not like the other girls and learned early on that I would have to hide in a closet or risk being stigmatized. If I had heard of characters in books with differing sexual orientations it could have spared me a lot of grief. I eventually grew to live in honesty and wholeness but not every child feels safe and supported. Statistics show that 45% of LGBTQ+ youth attempt suicide. Reading about LGBTQ+ people does not interfere with anyone’s right to practice their religion, and who I am is not an ideology. Characters in books do inform children that our world is made up of people of many stripes.