Hate group forces school to cancel Jazz Jennings book reading

A US elementary school hs been forced to cancel a planned reading of teenage trans activist Jazz Jennings’s children’s book ‘I Am Jazz’ after an evangelical Christian hate group threatened to sue.

The principal at Mount Horeb Primary Center, Wisconsin, had planned the event to help foster “respect and support” after one of the school’s young pupils came out as transgender, but has been forced to back down after being threatened with legal action by Liberty Counsel, a Christian legal organisation that specialises in bible-bashing litigation and has been designated an anti-LGBT hate group.

In a letter to parents signed by the school’s principal, counselor and an independent psychologist, the school stated: “We believe all students deserve respect and support regardless of their gender identity and expression, and the best way to foster that respect and support is through educating students about the issue of being transgender.

“It is our primary responsibility to provide a safe and nurturing environment for all of our students, Please let us know if you have concerns about your child participating in this discussion; we respect the beliefs and convictions of all families.”

Despite the promise to let parents decide whether to let their child partipate, the Liberty Counsel sent a letter to the school a day later (November 20), threatening a federal lawsuit if the event went ahead.

The group alleged that school administrators were seeking “to subject primary school students to a discussion of gender confusion and sexuality, under the guise of ‘antibullying,’ ‘diversity,’ and building a ‘safe and nurturing environment.'”

The letter also referred to Jennings as a “a male child” and denounced her book – in which she explains her transition in a child-friendly manner – as “false and misleading.”

After initially deciding to postpone the reading the school announced last Wednesday (November 25) that it had scrapped it altogether, until the local Board of Education draws up a concrete policy on the issue which they can follow.

School administrators told parents they had chosen “not to proceed as originally planned and allow the Board of Education the opportunity to review the needs of all involved, and address a situation for which the District has no current policy.”

They added: “Please know that our continuing goal is to protect all students from any bullying, harassing or intimidating behavior at school so that all of our students may learn together in a safe and caring environment.”

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