Target has come under fire once again for stocking LGBTQ+ friendly products, this time a children’s book about non-binary gender identities.
The book by New York Times bestselling children’s author Eric Geron is called Bye Bye, Binary, which is about a newborn baby who “refuses to conform to the gender binary and instead chooses toys, colors, and clothes that make them happy.”
“Our little bundle of joy has arrived—to dismantle gender norms… This tongue-in-cheek board book is a perfect tool to encourage children to love what they love and is also a great baby shower gift for all soon-to-be-parents,” the book description reads on its publisher’s website.
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Nonbinary is an umbrella term for a person whose “gender identity and/or gender expression as falling outside the binary gender categories of ‘man’ and ‘woman,'” according to LGBTQ+ media advocacy group GLAAD.
A 2021 study by the Trevor Project found that 26 percent of LGBTQ youth between the ages of 13 and 24 identified as nonbinary. Another study conducted in the same year by UCLA’s Williams Institute discovered 1.2 million American adults say they are non-binary.
The addition of the book to Target’s website sparked a mixed bag of reactions in the review section, and only had an average of two stars out of five rating.
“Cute book to help kids learn about the world around them. My daughter loved it!” read one review.
Another person wrote: “Much needed content for kids! Cute too!”
But it also caused an uproar by some people who did not think it was appropriate content for children.
“Terrible book for babies. This isn’t for them. It’s for us to feel better about ourselves. Not a great way to go about telling littles to love what they love. Missed the boat,” wrote one person in the reviews.
And a second added: “This was not what I expected. A horrible book for a baby.”
Even podcaster Steven Crowder shared his distaste for the book’s content and called for another boycott of Target.
“Remember we were suspended at one point on YouTube, they made us change our title… regarding a podcast that said ‘they are coming for your children?'” he asked his listeners on an episode of his podcast, Louder With Crowder, published on August 28. “Well, what about when they write books that are marketed toward your children? Babies.”
He read out the book’s description including how it “encouraged children” to be themselves.
“By the way, encourage what they mean, is to indoctrinate… essentially groom [and] to propagandize?” Crowder added.
Newsweek contacted Geron and Target by email for comment.
The backlash against Bye Bye, Binary comes after Target faced similar boycott calls in June for its Pride Month stock and transgender friendly swimwear.
Following the backlash, Target removed some of the LGBTQ+ items from its shelves, claiming in a statement at the time that they were “impacting our team members’ sense of safety and wellbeing.”
Some Target stores received bomb threats and staff faced violence by people opposed to the items.
The backlash is part of a wider anti-LGBTQ+ campaign against brands that seem friendly to that community. Bud Light has faced ongoing boycotts for partnering with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney and even Fox News came under heat for promoting Pride Month this year.