Penna Dexter

June used to be Gay Pride Month. Now it’s LGBTQ Pride Month, or simply Pride Month. Really though, there’s no special month needed. The “T” — the transgender push — is marketed to kids and young adults all year long. However, every June we see an uptick, and this month is no exception as iconic corporations roll out special products to celebrate Pride Month. There’s an LGBTQ Lego set. A tweet from the LEGO Group says the playsets were developed “to ensure our future builders are accepting of everyone!” Disney is offering the Rainbow Disney Collection. One of the items is a stuffed Mickey Mouse wearing rainbow-colored shorts. The Daily Signal’s cultural commentator Nicole Russell says pushing gender and sex on kids is not only “inappropriate, but also unrelated to — indeed antithetical to — the magic, wonder, and innocence of childhood the Disney brand purports to embody.” Mars Wrigley has released limited-edition Skittles Pride Packs with all-gray candies and all-gray packaging that says, “Only one rainbow matters.” A share of the profit on each package goes to the LGBT advocacy group, GLAAD. Because “boxes are for cereal, not for people,” Kellogg’s is also partnering with GLAAD to offer a “Together With Pride”-themed cereal. I repeat, the kids who are the targets of these marketing campaigns are, for the most part, too young to care, or even be thinking about, sex or gender identity. But there’s a different sort of marketing that targets older kids and teens online. Transgender You-Tube personalities and celebrities are given prominence. Gender transition is touted as the answer to emotional struggles. In an essay for The Claremont Institute, Mary Eberstadt describes how teens, especially girls, are drawn in through videos posted by “trans-tastemakers,” who document their gender transitions, and by the accolades that accrue to a teen who comes out online. She says corrupt doctors, politicians, merchants, and others who are stoking this “trans-kid craze” must answer for it. We must make them.