The popular children's magazine Highlights has come under fire from conservative groups after announcing it will feature a same-sex couple in its February issue.
According to The Washington Post, the upcoming issue will include an illustration of a same-sex couple loading a station wagon for a family trip in an item that invites readers to send letters.
"Has your family ever taken a memorable family trip?" the text reads. "Tell us where you went and what you liked about it."'
Highlights, based in Columbus, Ohio, and Honesdale, Pa., was founded in 1946 by the same family that owns the magazine today, according to WP. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the magazine included Bible stories, but has been "nonsectarian" for decades, the magazine's editor in chief Christine French Cully told the outlet.
However, Highlights reportedly made the decision to feature a same-sex couple after coming under fire from LGBT groups over the magazine's lack of "diversity" and for being "too conservative".
The move isn't sitting well with everyone, however. One Million Moms, a division of the Christian advocacy group the American Family Association, posted ways for people to "urge Highlights to go with their initial decision and not cave into pressure from homosexual activists by including same-sex families in the magazines."
"Many parents and grandparents buy subscriptions to these magazines as gifts, especially at this time of year," the group wrote. "They should be warned of the upcoming change of content in these kids' magazines. This would be a deal breaker for conservative families. Parents are left with no other choice than to cancel their subscription."
Monica Cole of the American Family Association also condemned the move and lamented the fact that parents are "seeing more examples of children being indoctrinated to same-sex families as normal."
"Urge Highlights to go with their initial decision and not cave into pressure from homosexual activists by including same-sex families in the magazines," Cole advised subscribers.
Explaining why it decided to feature a same-sex couple despite such objections, Cully was quoted as saying, "We did expect and received a backlash when we committed to becoming more fully reflective to all the different kinds of families out there. We expect this will make some people unhappy. Our focus remains on creating the best possible content for children."
She added that the decision to include a same-sex couple in the upcoming magazine was not difficult: "It was never a question of if," she told WP, "it was always a question of when."
