Students and authors sue Florida school district that banned a book about two male penguins

Six Florida students, their parents and two authors sued a central Florida school district Tuesday for banning some students’ access to a children’s book about two male penguins who raise a baby penguin together.

Last year, the school board in Lake County, near Orlando, barred students who are in kindergarten through third grade from accessing “And Tango Makes Three,” a 2005 book based on a true story about two male penguins at New York City’s Central Park Zoo who adopted and raised an orphaned penguin chick named Tango.

The district said at the time that its decision was based on Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, which prohibits “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten through third grade “or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.” Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the measure, which critics dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law, in March 2022.

DeSantis signed a bill that expands the law last month. The new measure prohibits sexual orientation or gender identity instruction in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, restricts reproductive health education in sixth through 12th grade and requires that reproductive health instruction “be age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.” The law applies to both public and charter schools.

Tuesday’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for Middle Florida, argues that the law is “vague and overbroad” and that the district, by restricting access to “And Tango Makes Three,” violated the First Amendment.

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