What ever happened to telling our kids, "you can be whatever you want to be?" That's apparently a problem in Texas (but, I mean, what isn't these days?).
Recently, there was a big to-do in the Katy Independent School District. Because of concerns over one book, the entire list of new books for the library for the ‘23-’24 school year was delayed from hitting shelves. A parent complained that the book was "sexually explicit." What was the book? Was it To Kill a Mockingbird with its racially-charged rape trial? Was it I know Why the Caged Bird Sings, detailing a child's sexual assault? Was it a new sex ed book? No. It was... "Itty-Bitty Kitty-Corn," a book for the youngest elementary students. I wish I was joking.
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/08/district-halts-all-new-library-books-because-of-a-sexually-suggestive-kids-book-about-a-kitten/
And, if you're wondering, no, this children's book is NOT sexually explicit. Of course it isn't. Someone apparently decided that what they veiwed as an allegory for being trans (and probably isn't intended that way anyway) was reason enough to try and remove the book from the school.
"Itty-Bitty Kitty-Corn" is an adorable little book about a pink kitten who wishes she were a unicorn. Two friends tease her, saying she'll never be a unicorn. Then a REAL unicorn shows up, and he is MAGESTIC. But as the kitten slinks away embarrassed, the unicorn reveals a secret to her. Underneath his flowing mane, he wears a pair of fluffy pink cat ears. Yes. Our unicorn wishes he were...a kitty-corn. "I knew another kitty-corn would understand," the unicorn tells the kitten.
It's a tale of friendship, and of being what you want to be. Since when has that become a problem?