The Return of the Penguin

The school superintendent of Loudoun County, Virginia may be changing his mind about removing And Tango Makes Three from elementary school library shelves. He now says he “exceeded the authority” given to him by the school board, reports the Washington Post. Since the challenge to the book only applied to the Sugarland Elementary School, it should only have been removed from shelves there, not at elementary schools throughout the district.

At Tuesday’s Board meeting, “more than 20 people wearing black-and-white clothes evocative of penguins” stood in support of replacing Tango on the shelves. (I love it! In fact, I’d love to start a movement to wear black and white on the first day of Banned Books Week next fall, as a way of raising awareness about the need for visibility of non-traditional families in children’s books. Pass it on!) The School Board is also considering changing its policies so principals and superintendents would not be able to remove books without Board review and public input.

The complaint against Tango had been filed May 28 by Sherrie Sawyer, a teaching assistant at Sugarland Elementary, who seemed most concerned that she might be mistakenly seen as a supporter of “homosexuality”: “I believe a student reading this book would be confused and would get the idea that homosexuality is a lifestyle that is supported by all. I believe that children at Sugarland would get the idea that the library staff and all Sugarland staff are supporters of this lifestyle,” she said in her complaint.

Tell you what, Sherrie. We’ll take all the children of LGBT parents, and all the gender non-conforming kids and put them in a separate classroom so their presence doesn’t make it seem like that “lifestyle” is acceptable. No, that would mean duplicating classroom materials, plus extra buses. Not to mention the bulletproof windows so they don’t. get. shot. Can’t afford that. Instead, how about all of you who don’t want to be mistaken for supporters of this lifestyle wear lapel pins that say “Bigot”?

(And if you’re thinking you’ve heard of Sugarland before, you’re right, sort of. The controversial episode of PBS Kids show Postcards from Buster, which featured two lesbian moms who own a Vermont maple-sugar farm, was titled “Sugartime” or, in some listings, “Sugarland.”)