March of the Gay Penguins?
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SHILOH, Ill. - A picture book about two male penguins raising a baby penguin is getting a chilly reception among some parents who worry about the book's availability to children - and the reluctance of school administrators to restrict access to it.
The concerns are the latest involving "And Tango Makes Three," the illustrated children's book based on a true story of two male penguins in New York City's Central Park Zoo that adopted a fertilized egg and raised the chick as their own.
(Click image to buy from Amazon.com)
Complaining about the book's homosexual undertones, some parents of Shiloh Elementary School students believe the book - available to be checked out of the school's library in this 11,000-resident town 20 miles east of St. Louis - tackles topics their children aren't ready to handle.
Their request: Move the book to the library's regular shelves and restrict it to a section for mature issues, perhaps even requiring parental permission before a child can check it out.
For now, "And Tango Makes Three" will stay put, said school district Superintendent Jennifer Filyaw, though a panel she appointed suggested the book be moved and require parental permission to be checked out. The district's attorney said moving it might be construed as censorship.
Filyaw considers the book "adorable" and age appropriate, written for children ages 4 to 8. "My feeling is that a library is to serve an entire population," she said. "It means you represent different families in a society - different religions, different beliefs."
Lilly Del Pinto thought the book looked charming when her 5-year-old daughter brought it home in September. Del Pinto said she was halfway through reading it to her daughter "when the zookeeper said the two penguins must be in love."
"That's when I ended the story," she said. Del Pinto said her daughter's teacher told her she was unfamiliar with the book, and the school's librarian directed the mother to Filyaw.
"I wasn't armed with pitchforks or anything. I innocently was seeking answers," Del Pinto said, agreeing with Filyaw's belief that pulling the book from the shelves could constitute censorship.
The book has created similar flaps elsewhere. Earlier this year, two parents voiced concerns about the book with librarians at the Rolling Hills' Consolidated Library's branch in the northwest Missouri town of Savannah.
Barbara Read, Rolling Hills' director, has said she consulted with staff members at the Omaha, Neb., and Kansas City zoos and the University of Oklahoma's zoology department, who told her adoptions aren't unusual in the world of penguins. She said the book was then moved to the nonfiction section because it was based on actual events. In that section, she said, there was less of a chance that the book would "blindside" someone.
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If you want to read the book for yourself or perhaps to give as a gift this holiday season to hopefully open up some eyes that can't accept things that are different than themselves, Amazon.com has it in stock and is 40% off the cover price. So you can buy it for around $9.00 if you go RIGHT HERE.
I personally am glad the library is continuing to carry this book because if someone doesn't want to read it, they don't have to. But if you restrict the rights of those who do want to enjoy it because others' don't want you to, then you are going against the very principles our great nation was founded on: freedom of speech and independence. The funny part is, this book is based on a true story that actually happened. So in trying to say that homosexuals don't live by hiding this book shows the true ignorance of some people! It's like if you don't agree with something, just pretend it doesn't exist, instead of trying to understand and accept that not everything in life will be the exact way YOU want it to be... and that's OK! Embrace our differences, don't try to supress them.
And you march on you little gay penguins! You have my full support to be who you want to be!
