VIDEO: Divjak and Pirnat Dragičević – The Burning of the Rainbow Families Picture Book is Unacceptable

Minister of Education Blaženka Divjak and Children’s Ombudsman Helenca Pirnat Dragičević on Monday strongly condemned the case of burning the picture book by the Rainbow Families association, which speaks about children from same-sex families, as this year’s krnje at the children’s carnival in Kaštela.

“It is unacceptable to send the message that books are burned and that someone is discriminated against in any sense. We can agree or disagree about something in the public space, but the messages we send to children must be such that we build a tolerant and open society,” Minister Divjak stated to reporters after presenting an initiative aimed at encouraging applications for Horizon 2020 projects. She believes that we must first know what message we are sending to children with such actions.

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Children’s Ombudsman Helenca Pirnat Dragičević stated that this is “yet another in a series of cases where adults provide a very poor example to children, both in terms of attitudes towards diversity and in terms of attitudes towards books.”

Instead of teaching them acceptance and respect for diversity and tolerance, they irresponsibly provide them with an incentive for intolerance and violence, without considering how this will reflect on their future development and behavior,” Ombudsman Helenca Pirnat Dragičević stated. She also added that this is yet another confirmation that we need both civic and health education in schools, not just as elective but as mandatory content.

This is, emphasizes Pirnat Dragičević, also a reminder that organizers of public events and manifestations for children must prioritize the interests of children and offer quality content to children, rather than their own prejudices, Pirnat Dragičević stated.

A video is circulating on social media showing a picture book in rainbow colors with two hearts saying “mama” plus “mama” burning in front of children, while on the other side it says “tata” plus “tata”, with the entire event accompanied by applause of approval.

Nikša Radić, president of the carnival association Poklade, which is the organizer of the carnival, commented on the burning of the picture book that speaks about diversity in front of children for Dalmatinski portal with the words: “When a mother makes a child for a mother or a father for a father, we will finance all children’s carnivals in the world and we will be godparents to the children at baptism.”