Penna Dexter

When are America’s established, successful and reliable corporations going to stop generating PR disasters for themselves by wading into woke gender politics?

State Farm Insurance Company operates on the franchise model with thousands of agents serving tens of millions of customers. The company is about to celebrate its 100^th anniversary. Until last week, State Farm’s famous claim, “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there” seemed a pretty good fit.

Then the company made headlines when a consumer watchdog exposed its plans to enlist hundreds of staff volunteers to distribute transgender and non-binary-themed books to public libraries — including school libraries. The project was especially targeted toward kids as young as five and was to be followed by a social media campaign highlighting State Farm’s “commitment to diversity.” To accomplish this, State Farm partnered with a non-profit called GenderCool which Family Research Council describes as “one of the most radical grooming groups under the LGBT umbrella.”

State Farm management was not prepared for the backlash.

Agents in Florida got wind of the plan. Some worried its implementation might violate Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Law. State Farm agents started fielding phone calls from angry customers who expect their insurance company to focus on protecting their assets, not on woke politics. Company execs announced the company would walk away from its affiliation with GenderCool but not, it appeared, from its transgender indoctrination efforts. Chief Diversity Officer Victor Terry reiterated the company’s “commitment to diversity and inclusion, including the LGBTQ+ community.”

Family Research Council reports that complaints are pouring into corporate from State Farm employees, “furious that the company would drag its good name into the mud, and them with it.”

FRC has launched a petition asking State Farm not to facilitate the “immoral efforts” of adults who seek to “groom children into radical gender and sexual identities.”

Other big brands are watching to see if and when State Farm can win back the title: “good neighbor.”