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Right-wing commentator Ashley St. Clair and conservative children's publisher Brave Books released their first book together, an anti-trans stance entitled Elephants Are Not Birds, in July 2021 The book preaches Christian values and combats the concept of gender identity. Using the elephant and bird as metaphors, the book conveys the message to children that boys are not girls.
On June 4, 2023, Ashley, tweeted about how boys are not girls. She encouraged readers to purchase her book, "Elephants Are Not Birds," which she sold by saying it is counter to the "transgender propaganda" she claims is being taught to children.
The book was published almost three years ago, way before conservatives waged their recent war against the LGBTQ+ community.
Ashley St Clair’s book centers around an elephant named Kevin, who is convinced by Culture, who is a vulture in the book, that since he sings so well, he must be a bird. Culture then gives Kevin a beak and a pair of wings to wear to live life as a bird, an attempt that becomes less than successful for Kevin as the story progresses.
Netizens react to Ashley St Clair's anti-trans children's book
After Ashley St Clair brought her book to the light in the wake of the ongoing backlash and hate faced by the LGBTQ+ community, people flocked to the author's tweet to leave their opinion.
While other conservatives praised the author for writing the book and stuck to their anti-woke and anti-trans rhetoric, members and allies of the queer community condemned Ashley St Clair for being "bigoted" and writing a book that imposes anti-transgender propaganda on young children.
People who supported Ashley's book
People who criticized Ashley's book
Allies and supporters of the LGBTQ+ community spoke against Ashley St Clair and her notions that were reflected in the book. Some argued that if she really cared about children, she would have written a book about banning firearms.
Most of them condemned the author for trying to instill hate and fear among kids and belittling the queer community. One person made a sarcastic jab at Ashley St Clair and said that they were also going to write a book that would teach children to combat evil and hateful rhetoric that was being pushed on children and society.
The rise of anti-trans propaganda and boycotting brands supporting LGBTQIA+
The backlash that started in April 2023 with Bud Light partnering with trans influencer and actor Dylan Mulvaney, became enormous within the span of two months. Other companies that embraced radical ideologies and publicly showed their advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community, be it a marketing strategy or genuine support, have come under fire.
Conservatives have become adamant about denouncing every single brand and corporation that is trying to introduce queer and especially transgender ideologies to their customers. Nike, Jack Daniels, Miller Lite, Ford, Target, Chick Fil A, are some of the big names that have faced calls for boycotts from their customer bases that mostly consist of conservatives.
The boycotts have started taking a huge toll as these brands have lost large amounts of money in market cap. Retailer Target, for example, was vehemently criticized and threatened because of its line of “tuck-friendly” swimwear.
However, what came as surprising for many allies is that corporations have been advocating for and marketing LGBTQIA+ campaigns for years and they never really faced pushback of such a colossal proportion. Conservatives have also recently discovered that investment management firms, Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street might have been behind all these companies going "woke". They learned that these companies have to maintain a CEI score, which symbolizes how a company treats its LGBTQ+ employees, customers, and investors.
Investment firms like Vanguard support the CEI policy and if a company fails to get a high CEI score, these firms may not re-elect the current CEO of these companies. Conservatives have also attacked these investment firms upon this discovery and started discussing ways in which they could finally put a stop to the "woke" marketing.
