PolitiFact has shown no hesitation when it comes to rating conservative claims about Target false, but when it came to a recent true claim from The Daily Wire and Fox News, about Target funding GLSEN, an activist group that favors concealing child transitions from parents, author Madison Czopek declined to give them a true rating on Wednesday, likely because PolitiFact believes such concealments are good.
GLSEN — or Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network — was Czopek described as a group that “supports LGBTQ+ inclusion, affirmation and safety in schools,” was alluded to in a May 26 Daily Wire headline, “Target Donates To Group That Promotes Secret Child Gender Transitions, LGBTQ Books In Schools.”
Additionally, Fox News summed up the situation this way: “Target partners with org pushing for kids’ genders to be secretly changed in schools without parental consent.” Czopek also cited an Instagram post claiming Target was “promoting and paying for sex changes.”
Despite claiming “these claims go too far” in suggesting Target “is advocating or paying for sex changes for kids,” Czopek nevertheless conceded, “GLSEN supports educational policies that aim to keep LGBTQ+ students safe in situations in which their gender identities may not be welcome at home.”
Czopek reports that Target gave GLSEN $250,000 in 2022 and has given them $2.1 million throughout their 11-year partnership. She also writes:
Schools often don’t make a practice of informing parents when students signal they are socially transitioning, The Washington Post reported. A transition can involve students, their teachers and their peers using the name and pronouns that align with the students’ gender identities. Critics argue that schools and educators should not keep information about a student from parents or guardians.
As for GLSEN’s “model policy,” it directs schools in how they “should support transgender and nonbinary students — an example of the type of policy the group champions. It states that educators ‘shall not disclose any information that may reveal a student’s gender identity to others, including parents or guardians and other staff, unless the student has authorized such disclosure.’"
In other words, The Daily Wire and Fox News are factually correct, but PolitiFact won’t give them a true rating because they support a policy that readers of those outlets oppose.
Continuing with the theme that concealing gender transitions from parents is actually a good thing, Czopek defends GLSEN because other left-wing organizations agree with them:
GLSEN's policy aligns with practices promoted by other organizations, including the National Association of School Psychologists, the American Psychological Association and Teaching Tolerance, a Southern Poverty Law Center project. Those organizations urge schools and school staffs to respect students’ right to privacy regarding their sexual orientation and gender identity; they also promote school policies that prohibit disclosure of such information to anyone without students’ permission.
Czopek concludes with a dire warning should The Daily Wire get its way, “Allowing youth to come out to their friends and family members on their own terms is important — and "outing" a student to their parents "could result in catastrophic consequences," [GLSEN Executive Director Melanie] Willingham-Jaggers said.”
Parents have a right to know if their child is undergoing a massive identity crisis and if PolitiFact is going to rate certain Daily Wire claims about Target “false,” they should also be willing to rate others “true.”
