People are up in arms over a book about... gay penguins? Written for children ages 4 to 8, And Tango Makes Three is an illustrated children's book about two male penguins raising a chick as their own. Some parents at Shiloh Elementary School in Illinois complain that the book may be inappropriate for their children, and they are requesting that it be placed under restrictive "quarantine." So far, school administrators haven't budged. But this isn't the first attempt to anthropomorphize the penguin and enlist the tuxedoed Antarctic residents in America's culture wars. March of the Penguins garnered rave reviews from conservative groups who said the documentary passionately affirmed "traditional norms like monogamy, sacrifice, and child rearing" (see here). Whatever your views on these hot-button issues, can't we all agree that it's time to leave penguins out of them?
"Gay penguin book shakes up Ill. school," by Jim Suhr, Associated Press, November 17, 2006