Mick Hartley

Tales from the Vienna kindergarten, with Marielena Meder at Reduxx:

A kindergarten in Austria has expelled two children after their parents expressed concerns about graphic, sexual posters that had been hung in the facility. The posters, depicting nude trans-identified males, were reportedly created to “facilitate discussions in kindergarten settings.”

The incident occurred at a corporate kindergarten and daycare in Vienna open for the children of employees of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation. After enrolling their two kids in the kindergarten, a mother and father became aware that the class had decorated a wall in the classroom with a disturbing poster. Speaking to Kronen Zeitung, the father says they first learned about the poster after his 4-year-old son reported seeing “strange pictures” on the walls.

Investigating for himself, the father went down to the kindergarten and noted a poster had been installed featuring illustrations of nude individuals accompanied by the phrase: “Bodies naked and bare, vulva, penis, breasts, butts. You decide for yourself, indeed! Bodies are cool!”

One panel on the poster appears to depict an obese male in the shower with a young boy, while another features a trans-identified male with an exposed penis and breasts. The final panel of the poster shows two nude children taking a shower with an adult.

The parents then filed a complaint with the kindergarten and requested the removal of these illustrations, noting they appeared to be inappropriate for such young children.

As a result of the complaint, the father and his wife were summoned for an initial discussion with the regional management, followed by a meeting with the kindergarten’s CEO, Thomas-Peter Gerold-Siegl. Despite having no pedagogical background, Gerold-Siegl reportedly insisted that children aged 1 through 6 required “sexual education,” something the mother objected to immediately.

Following the discussion, the kindergarten placement for both of the children were terminated, and they have since been blacklisted from any facilities operated by Kinder in Wien (Children in Vienna, or KiWi), which not only oversees the corporate kindergartens of the Austrian broadcaster but also manages 93 additional kindergartens and after-school programs throughout Vienna.

The illustrations are taken from Bodies Are Cool, a book by American trans activist Tyler Davis which features a woman with facial hair and mastectomy scars on the cover. The Amazon reviews are almost universally ecstatic at the sheer wonderful inclusivity-ness of it all. Here's a fawning Tyler Davis interview:

“Bodies are Cool” is a children’s picture book that celebrates all the different kinds of bodies that exist. I came across it last year when I was shopping for Christmas gifts for my five-year-old niece. Immediately, I was drawn to its cover illustration, a colorful array of diverse body types.

I was especially in awe of the transmasculine character with top surgery scars.

“Is that… me?” I thought.

It was the very first time seeing myself visually represented in a children’s book, and the moment was powerful. I ended up leaving that Baltimore bookstore with three copies of “Bodies are Cool” — one for my niece, my nephew, and myself. The book is still proudly on display in my apartment.

As part of Lambda Legal’s celebrations of Trans Awareness Week, I connected with Tyler Feder, the Chicago-based artist and author behind this special children’s book. Together, we discussed her inspiration for the story and the importance of trans visibility and representation. We also talked about “Don’t Say LGBTQ+” laws in the U.S., such as the ones in Florida and Iowa, and how harmful they are to books like “Bodies are Cool” and the nonbinary and transgender community at large….

Or, here, two drag queens sing its praises. 

According to the Reduxx report, the American edition of the book omits the page featuring the nude illustrations displayed in the Austrian kindergarten, but it was exclusively available in the German edition. They're so much more progressive over there in Germany and Austria.