After the Lake County School Board prohibited elementary school students from accessing a book about a same-sex penguin family, the authors filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
And Tango Makes Three, written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, depicts two male penguins named Roy and Silo who hatched and raised a baby penguin named Tango while residents at the New York City Central Park Zoo.
“The Board barred access to Tango for all students in kindergarten through third grade, expressly stating that its decision was based on Florida’s 2022 House Bill 1557, a vague and overbroad statute that discriminates based on content and viewpoint by barring classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity,” wrote attorney Faith E. Gay in the complaint.
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House Bill 1557, also known as the Parental Rights in Education Act, bans using alternative pronouns for gender and expands Florida’s House Bill 1069 from grades K–3 to include grades pre-K–8.
From 4th to 12th grade, HB 1069 bans lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity unless part of state standards or a reproductive health class.
Together, the bills have been referred to by critics as the Don’t Say Gay Bill.
“The authors wish to ensure that Tango is available to children interested in learning about animal behavior and family structures, whether similar to or different from their own,” Gay told the Florida Record in a statement.
Other plaintiffs include parents and students at Triangle Elementary School, Round Lake Charter School, Pinecrest Academy, and Warrington Elementary School.
In addition to the school board, defendants named in the lawsuit include Florida State Board of Education Chair Ben Gibson, Florida State Board of Education Vice Chair Ryan Petty, Florida State Board of Education members Monesia Brown, Esther Byrd, Grazie P. Christie, Kelly Garcia, and MaryLynn Magar, and Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Díaz, Jr.
“Children in Florida should have the opportunity to read this wholesome, beloved, highly lauded book, and depriving kids of this heartwarming story cannot be justified absent bigotry and prejudice,” Gay added.
The complaint alleges that the restriction of students’ access to Tango violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution by discriminating based on content and viewpoint and infringes upon the author’s right to freedom of expression.
"By restricting access to a book, which was previously freely available, for narrowly partisan and political reasons, infringes students’ right to receive information," the complaint further states.
In a separate lawsuit, PEN America, Penguin Random House, two parents, and five authors sued the Escambia County School District and the Escambia County School Board in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida in Pensacola over the removal and restriction of ten library books.
The books at the center of that litigation include Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, All Boys Aren’t Blue, Two Boys Kissing, When Aidan Became a Brother, Out of Darkness, and Too Bright to See.