Changing its mind about banning access to a children's book about a male penguin pair, the Florida education board

 Changing its mind about banning access to a children's book about a male penguin pair, the Florida education board

In the actual story of two male penguins that were dedicated to one another in the Central Park Zoo in New York, "And Tango Makes Three" is told.

Due to Florida's "Don't Say Gay law," a famous children's book about a male penguin pair producing a chick was banned from school libraries for months. A central Florida school district now claims to have reversed that decision.

A First Amendment case filed in June by students and the writers of "And Tango Makes Three" was last week requested to be dismissed by the School Board of Lake County and Florida education officials.

They said in their case that the limitations and Florida's new legislation, which forbids discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity in certain school levels, should be overturned.

According to motions submitted on Friday by Florida education officials as well as participants of the school board of the district that does not include Orlando, the lawsuit is moot because age restrictions on "And Tango Makes Three" have been lifted as a result of a memo from the Florida Department of Education stating that the new law only was applicable to classroom instruction and not school libraries.

Disney and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is aiming to be the GOP presidential contender in 2024 and has made the culture wars a driving element of his campaign, have been at odds over the "Don't Say Gay" rule.

After Disney publicly opposed the bill, DeSantis and conservative lawmakers take over control of the district.

Florida education authorities filed a request to dismiss the complaint, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction since the plaintiffs never had standing to sue in the first place and because the issue was moot.

The school board and representatives of the Florida Department of Education requested U.S. District Judge Brian Davis in Ocala, Florida, on Monday to halt all discovery proceedings until he decides whether to dismiss the lawsuit.

The court agreed that the problem of obtaining access to the book was irrelevant since the school board had withdrawn the limitations, but last week he declined to give a preliminary injunction that would have made an instant decision in favour of the students and writers without the need for a trial.

In the actual story of two male penguins that were dedicated to one another in the Central Park Zoo in New York, "And Tango Makes Three" is told. They were having trouble hatching more than one egg at a time, so a zookeeper who spotted them building a nest and attempting to incubate an egg-shaped rock handed them an egg from a different penguin pair of with the two eggs. Tango was the name of the chick raised by the male penguins.

According to a list created by the American Library Association, the book is one of the 100 that have faced the most censorship attempts in the last ten years.