LOUDOUN, Va. – A children’s book about penguins was pulled recently from general circulation at Loudoun County elementary Schools. The award-winning book, “And Tango Makes Three” tells the true story of two male Chinstrap Penguins in New York’s Central Park Zoo who raised an egg together. A parent at Sugarland Elementary in Sterling raised concerns about the book within the last few months, said Wayde Byard, public information officer for Loudoun County Public Schools. The parent filed a complaint with the principal, who reviewed the book and deemed it to be appropriate for children. The parent then appealed that decision, and a district-level committee made up of a parent, a teacher, a school librarian and administrators reviewed the book. They ruled it was acceptable for general circulation.
Superintendent Edgar Hatrick III had final say, though, and decided to override that decision. “Every child might not be ready for that,” Byard said. “They might not be mature enough to deal with that subject matter.” “And Tango Makes Three,” written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson was released in 2005. In 2006 it was named an American Library Association Notable Children’s Book. It was also one of the most challenged books of 2006, according to the ALA. In the book, male penguins Roy and Silo team up to care for another pair’s egg. As a family, they hatch and raise a chick named Tango.
You see, its a TRUE story. We must protect our children from learning about homosexual penguins, its just not natural.
When I was a kid, my fundamentalist neighbors used to say that homosexuality didn’t exist in nature. Of course it does.
Likewise, my liberal family members liked to say that humans are the only animal that kills for fun. Of course, that’s not true either.
Oh geeze, this is just too funny. Where the hell do these morans come from?
When I was growing up in Florida, the Jacksonville Public Library used to keep a display of “banned books” in a display case in the main lobby of the main branch. These were all books deemed inappropriate from local schools/parent groups/religious organizations. By highlighting the fact that these were “banned” books, it got everybody interested in them and they read them even more.
I’ll be honest, I’m slightly uncomfortable with the idea of gay marriage/adoption, but what two (or more) consenting adults decide to do together is there business, not mine. We shouldn’t be in the business of denying the truth. You don’t have to agree with other peoples choices.
I prefer my kiddies to be exposed when it is age appropriate. Homo penquins before homo sapiens==just when would vary for the kid/parents involved. I was quite old myself before fully informed on things homo. Don’t think it hurt.
It might have been as late as high school? I recall being happy that guys could be homos as I thought it meant there were more women for me. Then the next week, I found out women could be homo too, so that things evened out–no advantage. Nature is no excuse for anything–either pro or con except to debunk what is or isn’t natural.
RE: # 3 Daniel
It wasn’t just Florida — books were pulled from shelves even in “commie lib” Washington state.
To be honest … I’m not against “banning” books in school. To use an extreme example: isn’t it appropriate that “Giant Jugs” be “banned” from the grade school library? That’s just common sense.
On the other hand, I’d let the book above be in the library, if I was a librarian.
But I doubt I’d approve it for use in classroom curriculum. Why? Because it pushes a larger agenda that kid’s can’t process.
I, personally, support adoption by gay couples. But I don’t propagandize seven year olds on my opinion about it.
I am unbiased in regard to gender and sexuality issues, I like to think; I recently defended the right of an 8-9 year old kid to wear gender-variant clothing right here.
But I do not approve of introducing such issues before they are appropriate. It’s one thing to allow a kid to be him- or herself on his or her own, without being subjected to adult prejudices. But there is no point at elementary school level to deliberately introduce materials that are clearly intended to propagandize in favor of a viewpoint the children are not yet equipped to consider all the aspects of.
Kids will not come to harm or be made into homophobic bigots by failing to present them with materials that portray variance from normalcy as unconditionally acceptable. It’s not that cut-and-dried, and it can keep until they’re a little bit better prepared to consider the positives and the negatives involved in such issues.
What I’m saying is, injecting the agenda of multiculti, of unconditional acceptance of all deviations from the norm, is indoctrination at that age, when they don’t have enough knowledge of greater human society to make informed judgement.
No, this is attempted brainwashing, no different than dragging kids off to church while they’re impressionable and before their critical faculties have developed sufficiently. Let elementary school students be exposed principally to what is normal – statistically normal, the most commonplace & expected – first, before shoving minority variations down their throats. That doesn’t mean hide it from them, or repress interest they may have on their own, but it also doesn’t entail retreat to the diametrically opposite extreme, either, of propagandizing and promoting as normal what is not normal. Balance is what is required.
Hey, (multiculti) preacher!
Leave those kids alone!
(~ with apologies to Pink Floyd) 🙂
Apparently none of their local stations are running the syndicated show “My Two Dads”.
J/P=?
Well. Penguins have been known to naturally display this type of behavior. Why does this have to be an issue?
We have made a consorted effort to hide the truth of nature from them. How is exposing them to it harmful? Sounds like the same reasoning religion and government has used for centuries.
It’s not like brainwashing. It is the is zoological fact.
Quite right. And so they should. Kids have a right to a childhood. They don’t need to have political agendas tossed on them by liberals who think it’s more important to socially engineer a child than to EDUCATE them.
Gay people will always exist anyway, but we don’t need to be teaching children with pro-gay promotional material.
I knew a guy in highschool who never dated girls, and every pretty much knew he was gay and he knew he was too. I don’t see how poorly disguised pro-gay agenda books would have helped him or anyone else for that matter.
Lets just accept the fact that a small percentage of people will grow up to be gay and leave it at that.
Penguin eggs are incubated by both males and females, taking turns. You could say that male penguins have a strong maternal instinct. It isn’t all that surprising that another male would step in to help if he is not busy with an egg of his own.
“every child might not be ready for that”. Ready for what? The truth? Seems to me it’s the adults that aren’t ready, not the children. Or that the adults in this case are acting more childish than the students. As for those who think it’s political propaganda you’re forgetting what it’s like to be a child and be blissfully oblivious to those adult obsessions.
#11. Exactly. I didn’t see this a a pro gay message, just a story about nature. Either I am naive, or I don’t think it matters a whit.
#11–Awake==good point. Nothing about being gay here, rather it is about being parental. Just like three men and a baby wasn’t about being gay, but the more rare statistical occurrence of men caring about kiddies.
Maybe that little book could teach us all something about our more important selves.
Let me think here.
Ancient Rome and Greece never had issues of hiding homosexuality from the view of children.
And both of these cultures had many men and women marry, have children and carry on with their lives much as we do now.
Both of these cultures gave rise to our modern institutions of government and society.
Now people want to protect shildren from homosexual behaivour in public. When in the those ancient days it was not and yet the world did not come to an end.
The REAL agenda pushing is from those that fear homosexuals. Not those that would like children to become used to the truth about life.
If we survived the rampant public homosexuality of Greece and Rome, I’m sure we’ll go on without a hitch with it now.
People need to stop living in fear.
Cursor_
#15 Cursor
“People need to stop living in fear.”
Amen brother!
Let us remember these children come home to parents.
Assuming this is has a thinly disguised gay agenda, it’s the worst possible way to introduce it. As I mentioned, these kids have parents/caregivers who, when their kids come home from school with this book, will then give their take on the issue and I guarantee that 95% of the time it will be solidly negative.
Which solidly negative perspective will influence the child’s outlook for the rest of their lives.
Completely Idiotic.
#107 bobbo
Would you like me to expound on asses, lips, and breasts and the biological effect they have on us? Or would you like me to discuss the use in language relating to the buttocks and how it came to be in our vernacular and it’s origin of disrespect it delivers?
Now as far as fascination. Asses? Yes. A human buttocks is a fascinating thing. Take an anatomy class and you would realize that.
the three headed kitty however, is done a compliment to even be mentioned in the same sentence as a human buttocks.
I don’t think that is related to the killing spree type killer but you seem to want to focus on it because I use it a written insult. Who has the issues with asses?
Nice try bobbo but I am not gay and I am not a homophobe and it doesn’t even brush me with any insult. I can and do look at certain men and say “that is a dam handsome man” You know like George Clooney or Bradley Pitt.
Sorry that last post was meant for a different thread.
The solution here, is to move forward with genetic exploration and manipulation.
then when the baby is still in the womb we can wipe out these genetic anomalies so that children no longer have to have explanations for the aberrations.
What about Pat, the trans-sexual penguin, who didn’t want to wear a tux anymore and put on a dress? That should be mandatory daily reading for kindergarteners.
The book was obviously an attempt by Microsoft Press to discourage LINUX adoptions! Clear as water!
Children absolutly shouldn’t be exposed to such things because it can confuse them. They also shouldn’t be exposed to handicapped people, or people who are different skin colors than them, or speak different languages than them, or have different religions than them. Won’t someone think of the children?!? Skinner was right, put them in a box!
I fully agree that this is simply special interest group propaganda. Without question, this material should be banned from the public school system. Of course, we should also ban material that shows consenting heterosexual adults in relationships and, or marriage. It really doesn’t matter given that your offspring come from storks anyway. Children should not be forced to go to church until then have enough concrete thinking to think critically. Finally, lets go back to the neoclassical age of the 1950s and bring back all of that American mythology.
The really important point that hasn’t been brought up here is that there are children attending our public schools in Loudoun who have two moms or two dads. It’s not an abstract idea that anyone can decide when to “introduce” to their child. These are families who live here, belong to the PTA, etc. The notion that a child might not be developmentally ready to be exposed to the other children in his/her classroom is ludicrous.
The book is recommended for children age 4 and up. Two separate review committees said the book was fine. The Superintendent had no business overruling them. He just wanted the complaining parent to go away, and assumed no one would find out about this. He was wrong.
Cheers,
David from Equality Loudoun
Wow, the ignorance of child development shown in this thread is amazing. THC nailed this; the book is nothing more than gay propaganda.
Why, if it’s OK, then shouldn’t there be a companion title that shows daddy as a swearing drunk? Or what about daddy the wife-beater? Or single mommy who has a different sleep-over boyfriend every weekend? Why not books on those subjects too, if this is OK? Where I live, that stuff is a lot more common than anyone having two daddies. And that’s probably true everywhere but CA, NY, and FL. (just guessing…)
I have no problem with what the book says, I just agree that it’s totally inappropriate for the target audience in a public or school library. If you’re in such a family or your kids have friends in one, then buy the book and have it at your house.
#26 Olo Baggins of Bywater
“Why, if it’s OK, then shouldn’t there be a companion title that shows daddy as a swearing drunk?……”
Well no because all of the ” titles” lol you mention are based on a negative outlook. Children’s books tend to be more on the coping and positive outlook side. I am surprised with all of your extensive knowledge of child development you were unaware of that.
“I have no problem with what the book says”
Well! That is so open and accepting of you. I was worried you just didn’t like homosexuals. lol
#6, THC,
Although you are not the only one to advance this argument, you put it better than the others did.
Kids will not come to harm or be made into homophobic bigots by failing to present them with materials that portray variance from normalcy as unconditionally acceptable. It’s not that cut-and-dried, and it can keep until they’re a little bit better prepared to consider the positives and the negatives involved in such issues.
True, children will not all be turned into bigots if they don’t learn at an early age that not everyone is a model for a Norman Rockwell painting. They will, however, be much more inclined to become more anti- homosexual, race, culture, and / or sex if they are not allowed to see these things are not abnormal. There is no such thing as “age appropriate”. That is an artificial construct by parents that want to act their religion.
Acceptance is best taught by showing that it is not abnormal to be different than yourself. If you allow children to see themselves as superior to others, they will hold onto that model. In turn, that will promote the “I’m better than you attitude”. Healthy attitudes come from a healthy acceptance. Healthy acceptances come from realizing from an early age that it is not something abnormal.
The posters who don’t think this is promoting a gay agenda, and was introduced for that reason, are being disingenuous in the extreme.
On a related note, “Tango” has been getting work in New York’s Musical Theater and starred in last year’s movie “Happy Feet.”
(Not that there’s anything wrong with that)…
🙂