Commonwealth Policy Center

Is promoting the notion that children should be able to choose their own gender a good idea? Some folks at NPR think so. Audie Cornish, Jonaki Mehta, and Sarah Handel crafted a story on Veterans Day with the headline read, “Children’s book ‘Calvin’ shows how a community can embrace a trans child’s identity.” They go on to say that the book “shows how their young protagonist navigates the complicated feelings of being a transgender kid and how he comes into expressing who he really is.” The story is disturbing on a number of levels. It’s clear that childrens’ brains aren’t fully developed, and that they’re incapable of making major life-altering decisions. Yet the reporters at NPR story acts as if they do. They don’t interview critics. Nor do they look critically at the claims transgender activists make. I’ll be bold and put it bluntly, the foolishness that masquerades as tolerance needs to be exposed for what it is. If not, more parents will be deceived and children will be gravely harmed.