Members of the Missouri Freedom Caucus read Daily Wire host Matt Walsh’s children’s book “Johnny the Walrus” after Democratic officials in the state read a book that promoted transgenderism to children for “National Reading Day.”
A video posted to X by the popular account Libs of TikTok earlier this month showed the Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas, city officials, and council members reading “Introducing Teddy: A Gentle Story about Gender and Friendship.”
The LGBTQ book is written for children between the ages of 3 and 6 and focuses on a boy, Errol, and his teddy bear friend, Thomas. In the story, Thomas tells Errol that he feels like a “girl teddy,” and wishes his name was “Tilly.” Errol tells Thomas he “doesn’t care” if he’s “a girl teddy or a boy teddy. What matters is that you are my friend.” Thomas then puts his bowtie in his hair because he’s “always wanted a bow instead.”
This was posted to the official Kansas City, MO page. A bunch of elected officials including the Mayor (D) read a book to kids for 'National Reading Day.'
The book is about a young kid who decides to be transgender and changes his name. The book encourages kids to explore gender… pic.twitter.com/rvU8UZ8nDa
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 6, 2024
Republican Missouri state Sen. Rick Brattin, along with members of the Missouri Freedom Caucus, responded to the Kansas City government officials’ video on Friday by posting a video of lawmakers reading Walsh’s bestselling children’s book.
“Recently, the Kansas City mayor and his goons are reading books to groom children, and we’re here to set the record straight and put a stop to this nonsense,” Brattin said. “And we’re going to do this by reading ‘Johnny the Walrus.’”
“Johnny the Walrus” by @MattWalshBlog, illustrated by K. Reece. #moleg @MissouriGOP @SFC_Network pic.twitter.com/dGKQT1zjiU
— Missouri Freedom Caucus (@MOFreedomCaucus) March 15, 2024
“Johnny the Walrus,” which was published in April 2022, focuses on a boy who believes he’s a walrus and his mother who goes along with her child’s desired identity, regardless of how crazy it sounds. Walsh said the book teaches children to accept who they are biologically, which is their true self.
“Johnny the Walrus” quickly became the number one best-selling book in Amazon’s “LGBTQ+” category, outraging LGBTQ activists who called on Amazon to remove Walsh’s book from the list. Some Amazon employees even held a “die in” to protest Walsh’s book, along with other books they deemed “transphobic,” being sold on the site.
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“The message of self-acceptance when I was a kid was the most common message in books we read,” the Daily Wire host said. “Except now on the Left, what they foist on kids is this false self-acceptance of actually rejecting who you really are in favor of a delusion.”