aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Tango uncensored again

The same library friend who told me the tale of the two male penguins, Roy and Silo, who after trying to incubate a rock in the Central Park Zoo were given an egg by a zookeeper to hatch together, has sent along this update.

Recall that the penguins were featured in the NYTimes - a love that dare not squeak its name - and in 2005 became a children’s book, And Tango Makes Three. Since then librarians hither and yon, disinclined to censor material or suggest to parents what is appropriate for their children, have been battling back attempts to have the non-fiction book removed from library children’s sections.

And quite a battle it’s been! Last year Tango was reported to be the book that was most opposed by parents and library patrons, which brings us back to the latest example and this lovely quote from a concerned parent who hasn’t even looked at the book:

“I don’t have a problem with the book being at the library, but it is not appropriate material for children in that (1- to 3-year-old) age group,” [Lodi, CA resident Stephanie] Bramasco said. “I’d feel the same way if the penguins were murderers or rapists. Don’t sugarcoat that type of material by making it pertain to cute penguins, or dogs or kittens or whatever. It’s not appropriate material for a 3-year-old to see and hear.”

Yep, that type of material, naturally occurring and consensually practiced same sex attraction, is right up there with rape and murder. In their carefully reasoned (snark) statement on the book, Focus on the Family helpfully reminds us:

“When homosexual activists say that because something happens in nature, then naturally humans should follow suit, they ought to remember that there are a lot of birds in the wild that eat their own young.” [*]

Melissa Fryrear with Focus on the Family’s Love Won Out Conference says it’s part of a well-thought out plan.

“Clearly, part of the pro-gay agenda is to normalize homosexuality. That’s actually in pro-gay literature and one way that pro-gay advocates do that is to try to make a connection of the issue of homosexuality to something that for example, is acceptable like a cute and fuzzy little penguin.”

And it seems to be working. On average, two percent of US teens say they question their sexuality, but in San Francisco where the pro-gay doctrine has been taught for years, that number jumps to 18%. Janet Folger is with Faith2Action.

No citation for their statistics. But I’d point out that the parent who believes naturally occurring same sex attraction to be the equivalent of rape and murder is not living here in the Bible Belt South. Her Lodi home is less than 100 miles from San Francisco’s Castro district.

* When, six years into their relationship Roy and Silo broke up, one of the Tango authors, Justin Richardson, said, “We wrote the book to help parents teach children about same-sex parent families. It’s no more an argument in favor of human gay relationships than it is a call for children to swallow their fish whole or sleep on rocks.’’