The Parental Rights in Education Act, commonly called the Don’t Say Gay bill by The Woke and other progressives, is cited as a reason for a children’s book being removed from a school library. The book’s authors and some students filed a lawsuit Tuesday saying that restricting access to the book in school libraries was unconstitutional.

The book is titled “And Tango Makes Three,” a story about a penguin family with two fathers raising a young penguin. The goal of the lawsuit is to make the book available again in the library and for the law to be struck down as unconstitutional. That’s the real goal – knocking down the law. Getting children involved in the lawsuit seems particularly cynical. Can’t the adults fight it out on their own?

The suit argues that the book was targeted on ideological grounds, as a result of new legislation that has led to a spike in book removals. The state law, known by its opponents as “Don’t Say Gay,” bars instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation. In an attempt to follow the statute, the school district, Lake County, restricted access to 40 titles, the vast majority of them books that deal with L.G.B.T.Q. issues and themes.

Restrictions on books have become widespread in some parts of the country, particularly in places like Florida, which have passed statewide regulations outlining what constitutes appropriate reading material for children. Books that get removed from libraries are often described as inappropriate or pornographic, but in practice, many deal with themes of race or include L.G.B.T.Q. characters, according to free speech organization and library groups.

You see how the New York Times paints it. States like Florida are listening to parents and making sure the parents have a say in their children’s educations. This must not stand. The teacher unions should have control of the children and the parents should butt out, or something. You hear idiots like Joe Biden say that children are everyone’s children. No, they are not. Children are the children of their parents, not the creepy old man in the White House or the hysterically screaming teacher’s union president. This is also a round about attack on Governor DeSantis who signed the bill into law and who just happens to be running in the Republican presidential primary.

The left describe it as book bans but it is simply removing age-inappropriate subject matter from school libraries used by younger students. The books are usually placed in libraries used by older students. Many parents do not think it is appropriate for sexuality to be discussed with the youngest of students. This book about a family of fictional penguins is clearly aimed toward young readers. The parents who object have just as much right to voice their opinions as the parents who argue it is ok.

The authors of a children’s book about a penguin family with two fathers filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the state of Florida and a school district that removed the book from libraries, saying that restricting access to the book was unconstitutional. https://t.co/sugDsW8FUW

— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 20, 2023

“Our book has been banned because Tango has two dads,” said Justin Richardson, who wrote the book with his husband, Peter Parnell.

The book is based on the true story of a pair of male penguins at the Central Park Zoo, Roy and Silo, who incubated and hatched a baby chick. Zookeepers named the chick Tango. The book’s authors — Parnell, a writer, and Richardson, a psychiatrist — wrote the story after reading about the real-life Roy and Silo in a New York Times article, which described them as two chinstrap penguins who were “completely devoted to each other.”

The picture book, aimed at 4- to 8-year-olds, has won multiple awards. It has also been banned or restricted in many districts around the United States after parents and residents objected to the book’s depiction of a family with same-sex parents.

It’s a sweet story and I’m very fond of penguins. ( You can find me on Twitter @penguinponders) However, talking about this subject matter can be uncomfortable for parents of young children. An eight-year-old may understand it better than a four year-old but that’s not the point. If parents want the conversation, they can get the book and explain it to their kids themselves. It’s their job, not the teacher’s or the librarian’s. Sorry. Not sorry.

Is distributing age-appropriate children’s literature in school libraries unconstitutional? No. That’s a stretch. There are plenty of other places for them to access the book than at a school library, if they want to read it.

Opponents of the Florida school’s decision are going off the deep end.

The suit was also brought on behalf of six students in Lake County, including a rising first grader who attends public school in the district and who, according to the complaint, wants to read “Tango” because of his fascination with animals.

The suit claims that students’ First Amendment right to receive information has been violated, that the authors’ reputations have been damaged by the suggestion that the book “contains sexual or age-inappropriate material that deserves to be banned” and that the authors’ free speech rights have been infringed upon.

“Whatever one believes about the value of respecting two-mom or two-dad families,” Richardson said, “there is no substance to any claim that it’s harmful or inappropriate at any age for children to learn that we exist.”

It’s just some politically-motivated pot stirring, if you ask me. The book has been challenged many times in other states since it was published. This is just some pre-election drama. As I said, if a child wants to read the book, the parents can provide an opportunity for him or her to do so.