{"id":1952983,"date":"2023-06-21T12:48:03","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T16:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/authors-of-childrens-book-about-penguin-with-two-dads-sue-florida\/"},"modified":"2023-06-21T12:49:28","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T16:49:28","slug":"authors-of-childrens-book-about-penguin-with-two-dads-sue-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/authors-of-childrens-book-about-penguin-with-two-dads-sue-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida sued by authors of children&#8217;s book featuring penguin with two dads."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fauthors-of-childrens-book-about-penguin-with-two-dads-sue-florida%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1952983&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The Fight for Inclusive Literature: Authors Sue Florida Board of Education<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The authors of a children\u2019s book about a penguin with two dads are taking a stand against the Florida Board of Education and a Florida school district. They are suing for the unjust restriction of their publication to children above third grade.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The authors of the picture book \u201cAnd Tango Makes Three\u201d filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday, arguing that limiting access to the book in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/parental-advisory-court-rules-gender-queer-novel-too-sexually-explicit-for-schools\/\" title=\"Parental Advisory: Court Rules \u2018Gender Queer\u2019 Novel Too Sexually Explicit for Schools\">school libraries violates<\/a> the First Amendment. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.<\/p>\n<p>In response to legislation last year, the Lake County School District near Orlando restricted access to 40 books, including \u201cAnd Tango Makes Three.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education law, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gov-desantis-floats-repealing-disneys-special-self-governing-status-in-florida\/\" title=\"Gov. DeSantis Floats Repealing Disney\u2019s Special Self-Governing Status in Florida\">prohibits classroom instruction<\/a> about sexual orientation and gender identity through grade three. Another law has since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.k12dive.com\/news\/desantis-expands-dont-say-gay\/650755\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">extended<\/a> the restrictions through eighth grade, and in April, Florida\u2019s board of education <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/desantis-florida-dont-say-gay-ban-684ed25a303f83208a89c556543183cb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">expanded<\/a> the restrictions to all grades. Exceptions to the restrictions are as part of optional reproductive health education or to comply with existing state standards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur book has been banned because Tango has two dads,\u201d said author Justin Richardson. Richardson and his husband, Peter Parnell, authored the book together.<\/p>\n<p>The book, written for children ages four to eight, is based on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2004\/02\/07\/arts\/love-that-dare-not-squeak-its-name.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">true story<\/a> about two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo who incubated and hatched a baby chick, which zookeepers named Tango.<\/p>\n<p>Richardson compared his book to the classic \u201cMake Way for Ducklings\u201d by Robert McCloskey, which tells the story of a female and male duck in Boston who raise a family of ducklings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoth show water birds becoming parents and caring for their young,\u201d Richardson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/06\/20\/books\/book-bans-florida-tango-makes-three.html?smtyp=cur&#038;smid=tw-nytimes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>. \u201cThere is no sexual implication or language in either \u2014 but only one has been banned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The complaint says the Lake County School District \u201ccited no legitimate pedagogical reason for its decision\u201d to restrict the book and calls Florida\u2019s law \u201cvague and overbroad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe book is factually accurate, non-vulgar and non-obscene; \u2018Tango\u2019 had previously stood on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oklahoma-lawmaker-proposes-bill-that-would-let-parents-ban-sexually-explicit-books-from-public-schools\/\" title=\"Oklahoma Lawmaker Proposes Bill That Would Let Parents Ban Sexually Explicit Books From Public Schools\">school library shelves<\/a>; and \u2018Tango\u2019 was restricted for illegitimate, narrowly partisan and political reasons,\u201d the lawsuit claims.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit also alleges the authors\u2019 reputations have been damaged by accusations that the book \u201ccontains sexual or age-inappropriate material that deserves to be banned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b data-stringify-type=\"bold\"><\/b><\/p>\n<p>A group of six students is joining the authors in the suit, including a first-grader who wants to read \u201cAnd Tango Makes Three\u201d because of his fascination with animals, the lawsuit claims.<\/p>\n<p>The Lake County School District said it restricted the book to comply with state law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe removed access to \u2018And Tango Makes Three\u2019 for our kindergarten through third-grade students in alignment with Florida House Bill 1557, which at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/authors-of-childrens-book-about-penguin-with-two-dads-sue-florida\/\" title=\"Florida sued by authors of children's book featuring penguin with two dads.\">time prohibited classroom instruction<\/a> on sexual orientation or gender identity for those grade levels,\u201d a spokeswoman for the Lake County school district <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/06\/20\/books\/book-bans-florida-tango-makes-three.html?smtyp=cur&#038;smid=tw-nytimes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>DeSantis has argued the legislation keeps parents informed about what their kids are exposed to and protects young children from sexualization.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are going to remain a refuge of sanity and a citadel of normalcy, and kids should have an upbringing that reflects that,\u201d DeSantis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tallahassee.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2023\/06\/20\/florida-schools-pulling-and-tango-makes-three-leads-to-lawsuit\/70338164007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> when he signed the new law expanding content restrictions through eighth grade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The authors of a children&#8217;s book, &#8220;And Tango Makes Three,&#8221; are suing the Florida Board of Education and a school district for limiting its availability to children above third grade. They filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that the book should be accessible to all children, regardless of their grade level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":1952984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[17550,5297,5560,17450,8132,5113,26345,5266],"class_list":["post-1952983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-authors","tag-book","tag-childrens","tag-dads","tag-featuring","tag-florida","tag-penguin","tag-sued"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1952983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1952984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1952983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1952983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1952983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}