Highlights magazine for children issued a pledge to include more diversity in their publication, which will include LGBT families.
“We want to reiterate that we believe all families matter. We know that there are many ways to build a family, and that love is the essential ‘ingredient.’ This conversation has helped us see that we can be more reflective of all kinds of families in our publications. We are committed to doing so as we plan future issues,” the publication said in a statement.
The words come after LGBT families protested the relatively wholesome nature of the magazine on Facebook.
Several wrote comments to various Highlights postings on social media.
When one mother asked about the upcoming LGBT inclusion, American Conservative shared the response:
Thank you for your message, and I’m sorry that we were slow to respond.
Although I see that you have already canceled your subscription, I thought it still important to answer your questions about what Highlights means when we say we plan to be more fully reflective of all families, including families with same-sex parents.
As you know, Highlights publications focus on kids. We are general interest magazines, and we publish fiction and nonfiction of all types, as well as games, puzzles, jokes and crafts. Our target audience is kids under the age of 12, most under the age of 8 or 9.
The themes we cover in our magazines are broad and universal—relatable to children trying to navigate childhood. Because children are our focus, we rarely show a full family in our illustrations, instead focusing on showing the child the reader relates to. When a parent is shown or integrated in a story, it is frequently just one parent because a good 800-word children’s story cannot support too many different characters.
When we do show families in the magazines, we make it a point to include diversity. We strive to be diverse in every way. The goal, however, is not to specifically call attention to diversity but instead to help kids understand that while differences exist, we are all actually more alike than different. For instance, from time to time we show families headed up by a grandparent or single parents. We show adoptive families, blended families, multigenerational families and multiracial families. In the future, we will depict same-sex families in our magazines in a manner consistent to the way all diverse families are depicted. This is in support of our mission to help children become their best selves and understand that all families, including theirs, are important.
We’re sorry to lose you as a subscriber, but I hope this email helps to clarify our position.
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