Who'd have thought that a children's book about penguins could have caused such a stir? And Tango Makes Three shot to the top of the American Library Association's (ALA) list of most frequently challenged books last year.Because it seems, animals are not allowed to be gay.
The book is about two male penguins who bring up a chick, and is based on a real life incident in which a zookeeper noticed two of his penguins, Roy and Silo, were trying to hatch a stone.
The authors Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell were inspired by an article about homosexual behaviour among animals that ran in the New York Times and in writing the book spent time at the zoo observing the penguins to make sure they got their facts right.
(You can read a review of the book here.)
The negative reaction to the book in the States was expected since, as Richardson says:.
... homosexuality and talking to children about sexuality have been highly politicised.Now the book is to be launched in the UK, and no (here I wave my little Union Jack) such outcry is anticipated.
(Cartoon nicked from the Illinois Review - sorry, couldn't resist it!)Update:
The Viz finds a story about gay flamingos.
16 comments:
gay flamingos
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/britainanimalsgay
Viz
hehe.. cute panel cartoon!
funnily, a lot of children's cartoons too have homosexual connotations. i'm wondering if it's also becos the creative minds behind them swing that way. cos i know a guy who swings that way, is really awesome in his ideas for children's shows!
It's no secret that London is the new San Francisco.
Kino has it. Power to Malaysian gay parents! (If they can afford the ridiculous price.)
there are no gay parents in Msia lah.
Viz
Lots of closeted parents in Malaysia though!
"closeted parents"??
u mean there are parents who don't want people to know that they are parents???
Viz
gay penguins trying to hatch a stone.
that cheers me up no end...but also make me feel sad ... still, i wish all the best to all the other gay penguins in the world...closetted or not...
the americans have always been prudish. i remember taking a class on children's lit, and how they argued about the morals of rabbits and bears etc. i kept quiet because i was the only asian, but i thought they were barmy. we even discussed enid blyton, and some of my coursemates felt that she wasn't giving the right signals to kids. the feminism class i had to take was another experience altogether. everything a man uttered or did was wrong. haiyoh, always went back to my room with a headache.
i thik the story's sweet. i'll get it for my niece and nephew...
eh, animals cant be gay? ........
heh. just a thought - i'm pretty sure the religious texts dont tell all animals how to behave, just humans.
I read somewhere there have been documented cases of gay dolphins and chimpanzees. And dolphins, monkeys and humans are the very few biological creatures that masturbate.
And I think ALL dogs are gay anyway - constantly licking their own balls, how GAY is that? :-)
I read somewhere there have been documented cases of gay dolphins and chimpanzees. And dolphins, monkeys and humans are the very few biological creatures that masturbate.
And I think ALL dogs are gay anyway - constantly licking their own balls, how GAY is that? :-)
I once went to a film festival and there was this one session on short films.
One film was in French and it is about a male rabbit that belonged to a girl. One day during a play session with the neighbours, the mother saw that the rabbit was humping the neighbour's male rabbit and she was horrified. She forbade the girl from playing with the rabbit and she became depressed and rebellious.
One day she came back from school and asked where is her rabbit. The mother and the father were quiet at the dinner table with some kind of meat. The girl screamed and ran away from home.
..After which she ran out of money and was forced to sell herself to survive. That would be the ultimate irony :D
No actually she ran to the neighbour's house which belonged to a gay male couple. They brought her back to her home and have a talk with the parents about homosexuality.
The rabbit story is to emphasize how absurd it is some anti-gay campaigns can be.
Sorry, but I like my ending better :D wait wait, they're talking to her parents about homosexuality ? isn't that like going to someone's house and talking about how drinking urine is acceptable ? that's just something you don't accept, and it's going to be a bit of a torture to sit there and listen to it. How do you even know the mother was horrified that the rabbits were gay ? maybe she was just horrified that they were humping in public ?
^^^ major homophobe. Homosexuality is not a choice, douchebag. Go back to your cave.
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