Rhiannon Ingle
Warning: This article contains discussion of discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community which some readers may find distressing.
A children's' bookstore owner has sparked serious outrage online after revealing the shocking reason she banned one particular book after spotting a drawing in background of one page.
Lindsey Vroegindewey, who owns Big Sky Life Books, took to Instagram last month (18 January) to share why she decided to take the book off her shelves.
She shared a clip holding up the 2019 book in question, A Green Place To Be: The Creation of Central Park by Ashley Benham Yazdani, as she shook her head to the backing track of 'Another One Bites The Dust'.
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She later explained the reason why she removed the book - because one page contained an illustration of a gay wedding.
Lindsey captioned the post: "A Green Place To Be has been removed from our wholesome children’s bookstore."
Followed by a thumb's down emoji, Lindsey continued: "If you look on the last page on the upper right, you’ll see a gay wedding ceremony. This does not meet our high standards of wholesome family values."
She then apologised for the 'oversight', before telling viewers: "If you purchased this book from us, please reach out!
"I have several copies left in my inventory. If you’d like a copy at half price, reach out to me. The image in the book is small and easily covered up."
Lindsey finished up: "This is a good reminder for me to stay vigilant!
"Have a great day, everyone!"
While Lindsey's video was posted a few weeks ago now, the ordeal picked up fresh attention when influencer and children's book author, Paul Castle, weighed in on the matter.
Taking to Instagram, he explained: "Sadly, as is evident here with this video, these types of bookstores and this mentality, it exists. It's out there. It's not going away, and unfortunately, I think we're entering a time when we're gonna potentially see more of this."
Fortunately, everyone agreed with Castle's sentiments with one Instagram user pointing out: "A 'wholesome family' is one that doesn’t spread hate and discrimination. So she needs to check her moral compass on that one."
A second echoed: "It is so sad that it's 'wholesome' to pass homophobia down to children."
"Yikes. Why people choose to be that hateful is beyond my comprehension. Love is love. Period," added a final Instagram user.
Commenting on his video, author and illustrator of A Green Place to Be, Yazdani, also shared a statement on the matter, writing: "Thank you so much for showing support for my book, Paul!
"It really means so much to see you drawing positive attention back to A Green Place to Be, and to see everyone’s supportive comments here.
"Thank you, all. It’s filling my heart back up because you’re right: getting trashed for showing two people in love does not feel good on multiple levels. Stay strong folks. Love is love, and it deserves to be represented in publishing."
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the LGBT Foundation on 0345 3 30 30 30, 10am–6pm Monday to Friday, or email [email protected]