And Tango Makes Three

[old bob]

I just found in my daily newspaper of today the amazing story of Roy and Silo, two male Chinstrap Penguins in New York's Central Park Zoo. For six years they formed a couple and were given an egg to raise. When zookeepers realized that Roy and Silo were both male, it occurred to them to give them an egg to hatch. An egg was obtained from a male-female penguin couple which had previously been unable to successfully hatch two eggs at once. Roy and Silo hatched and raised the healthy young chick, a female named "Tango" by keepers, together as a family!

"Tango Makes Three" is a 2005 children's book written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole, based on this penguin's story.

The book has won many awards but also been at the center of numerous censorship and culture war debates on same-sex marriage, adoption and homosexuality.

Co-author 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." New York Times (2005).

 

Is this an old story and just an occasion for the correspondent of my newspaper in the States to write a "dead" article to justify his salary or is it still a present time's debate ?

 

Want to read more ? see here

[Lugh]

Every year at the beginning of the school year some brand new, politically conservative, overly protective, sometimes religious kindergarten parent gets shocked so badly that they piss their panties and call their lawyer over the reading material in the library at the local school. If it's not same sex pairing penguins, which do happen in nature btw, then it's the story of two princes or my two mommies or heaven forbid the kindergarten curriculum which includes non-traditional types of families.

[R-Jayy]

That is so cute.

I heard about that not too long ago

[Nephylim]

People complain. If they can't find something to complain about... they complain about it. And don't even talk about narrow mindedness. The story is sweet, the book fabulous and the rest sad.

[David McLeod]

The co-author's comment was the best part of this story. I used to think "Huckleberry Finn" was banned because of its language and treatment of persons of color. Now I know better. It was because Huck once dressed as a girl. The American Library Association has some great information on "frequently challenged" books (we no longer say "banned," I guess). Go to www.ala.org and put "banned" in the search box. Hmm. I think I see a new topic. If I can figure out how, I'm going to put up a poll, "How many have you read." Please look for it.

[Dargon]

That story sounds so beautiful!!! I've heard about it and thought it was so sweet... I'd love it if homossexuals were allowed to adopt children and raise them as their own. There are so many children in orphanages who could benefit from a loving family. In my country gays and lesbians can't even get married, let alone adopt. Some ultra-conservatives here piss all over themselves at the mere thought.

 

I believe it's still a debate nowadays and will be for years to come.

[Graeme]

The book made the news here in Australia as part of the annual 'banned books' awareness campaign, because it's been challenged in some libraries in the USA. I don't know if it's in any of the libraries here.