Gay penguin book shakes up Ill. school

[oberliner]

SHILOH, Ill. - A picture book about two male penguins raising a baby penguin is getting a chilly reception among some parents who worry about the book's availability to children — and the reluctance of school administrators to restrict access to it.

The concerns are the latest involving "And Tango Makes Three," the illustrated children's book based on a true story of two male penguins in New York City's Central Park Zoo that adopted a fertilized egg and raised the chick as their own.

Complaining about the book's homosexual undertones, some parents of Shiloh Elementary School students believe the book — available to be checked out of the school's library in this 11,000-resident town 20 miles east of St. Louis — tackles topics their children aren't ready to handle.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061117/ap_on_re_us/gay_penguins_book_flap

[Norrin Radd]

1. Those parents are idiots.

I would say to them, "They're penguins. Get a grip."

[krispos42]

2. So two brothers can't raise a kid?

Dear God in heaven, don't these people realize that children have been raised by all sorts of combinations of sexes since the dawn of time? How many kids were raised in the post-World-War-Two era by their mom and their aunt because Daddy was killed in Europe or the Pacific? Or, God forbid, Mommy moves in with Grandma?

So, if my ex died, and I had to move in with my brother, are the Morality Police going to send me off to Gitmo?

Thank God I have both a male and a female roommate, or I'd be led away in handcuffs!

[malaise]

3. WTF is wrong with these

lunatic parents? They are so obsessed with matters sexual that they can't pause to observe the beauty of nature.

[krispos42]

4. Another thought....

Assuming that the penguins are, in fact, having hot male-on-male sex while Tango's dreaming of herrings in the nest, wouldn't that mean that homosexuality is, in fact, nature and not nurture? This is inheirent and not a choice? :dilemma:

I bet that is what scares the Repubs. OMG! It's genetic!

I guess to fit in their worldview, penguins will have to become self-aware sinners.

Hmmm... time for missionary teams to head to Antartica!

[TheBaldyMan]

5. Awww. Tango lives with Roy and Shilo - I think it's really sweet.

What is the beef here? Two chinstrap penguins adopt an egg, incubate and hatch it then rear the chick. It is an inspirational story and conclusive proof that penguins are cool. (no pun intended)

The parents need their heads examined.

[lapfog_1]

6. Hot gay penguin sex... now THAT'S some San Francisco values for ya!

Good grief, does this children's book have explicit passages about gay penguin sex? I kinda doubt it. So the issue is that two penguins adopted an egg and are raising a baby penguin and this is BAD?

These same parents... do they let their kids watch SpongeBob? What about Bert and Ernie?

These people are obsessed with sex...

[LizW]

7. They adopted a fertilized egg? Excellent!

Oh, wait, they're both males? Baaaaad.

(Fundie logic is so complicated.) :shrug:

[roguenkatz]

8. It wasn't so much they were two male penguins...

as it was they were together in New York's Central Park that clued them in to their homosexuality.


That and the leather caps, dog collars and little penguin chaps they were wearing.

[Tesha]

16. Two words: "Stonewall Rookery" (NT)

[KharmaTrain]

9. The IQ Level Drops Quickly As You Travel East On I-70

Central Illinois is as fundie as any area in the south. Farms have John Birch slogans along the right of way, just like the old Burma Shave signs. Electricity and indoor plumbing arrived, but the rest of the 20th century didn't.

[terrya]

10. Gosh, someone had better pass a constitutional amendment, ASAP!

Goddamn, my brain hurts reading about the sheer ignorance of these bigots. It's NATURE, assholes. :grr:

[Richard Steele]

15. PLEASE don't go giving anyone any ideas...

[smirkymonkey]

11. They Broke Up in September....

"Roy and Silo, the two famous gay penguins at New York's Central Park Zoo, are no longer a pair. Silo has gone straight.

They broke up after six years together. Once, they were provided a donated egg. They sat on it and hatched it and this was celebrated as some kind of penguin lifestyle choice in the New York Times on Feb. 7, 2004, under the headline "The Love that Dare Not Squeak Its Name."

A photo of the couple together shortly before the breakup:




They were so cute together! This is sad.

[Psychmd]

12. Higher moral values than most humans

If I remember correctly from years of biology courses in college, I think penguins mate for life. They have more "family values" than most Christians. And this occurs naturally without reading a single verse of biblical scripture. That is quite a threat to the Christian "right". Someone call Homeland security.

[knitter4democracy]

13. Why do they always hate books?

Why is art always under attack from these people? They want the book moved and for a kid to get parental permission to read it, like it's porn or something when the book clearly isn't. Heck, it just makes me want to buy the book for my kids. There are all kinds of families out there, and a loving set of parents or guardians, regardless of who they are or their relationship to each other, is a hell of a lot better than the alternative. Sheesh--that mom needs to let go of some issues.

[ProfessorGAC]

14. Because They Can't Prove Anything Is Wrong In Them

Remember, THEY'RE BOOKS! Since they can't or won't read, they don't really know what's in them. They hate that there is information out there that someone else might get.
The Professor