Out Maine, an LGBTQ non-profit that pushes radical gender ideology on children, received three new grants this month to help fund its “Read the Rainbow” program that distributes pro-transgender books to children as young as kindergarteners.
“This upcoming school year, we’re going to be able to offer an expanded list of diverse stories and book sets across all grade levels. Previously, the program was only offered to Maine public school librarians, but now we’re going to be able to offer it to all public libraries across the state and also all youth-serving organizations, even pediatricians’ offices and counselors’ offices,” said Out Maine Communications Coordinator Ellie Roy speaking to the Portland Press Herald on Monday.
Out Maine’s annual program was previously only able to distribute the books to Maine school libraries, but, with the grants, they will be able to send the books across the state to new locations.
The organizations secured grants from the Maine Humanities Council, the Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust, and the Crewe Foundation, but did not specify how much money the grants were worth.
According to the non-profit’s 2024 form 990 tax filing, they received $384,306 in that fiscal year.
The funding will also go toward distributing “active ally toolkits” and instructing librarians and teachers on their use.
The Read the Rainbow program includes four categories of books for children of different ages: one for grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12.
“In the kindergarten through second grade book list, we have one of my favorites, “The Little Red Stroller” by Joshua Furst, which is a story about different types of families and showing younger kids how love can look many different ways and how it comes in so many different forms. And we also have a book called “Covered in Adventures” by Gillian Hibbs, which is about a girl who has a sweater that is covered in holes, and it’s fraying at the edges, and her two dads want her to replace the sweater,” said Roy.
The kindergarten category includes titles such as “When Aiden Became a Brother,” about a young boy who goes through a gender transition with the help of his parents, directed at children aged 4-8.
Another book on the list for kindergarteners, aimed for ages 3-5 is titled “Bodies are Cool.”
Young children will also be given access to “It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity” and “Rainbowsaurus,” which urges children to “join two dads and their three children as they set off on an adventure to find the Rainbowsaurus.”
Slightly older children in the grade 3-5 bracket will be offered “Dotson: My Journey Growing Up Transgender,” and “This is Our Rainbow: 16 Stories of Her, Him, Them, and Us.”
High-schoolers can read “Some Assembly Required: The Not-So-Secret Life of a Transgender Teen,” or “Mismatched” described as a modern queer retelling of Jane Austin’s “Emma.”
By significantly expanding the program, from school libraries to pediatricians’ offices and public libraries, Out Maine may be exposing itself to unwanted attention.
Parents who may have been previously unaware of what was offered in their child’s school library will now come face-to-face with “When Aiden Became a Brother” in their pediatrician’s waiting room and might question their children being indoctrinated into radical gender ideology.
