Fri, 17 Nov 2006

Gay penguin book shakes up Ill. school

The book is based on a true story - but I guess truth is the first casualty when politics gets involved.

AP - A picture book about two male penguins raising a baby penguin is getting a chilly reception among some parents who worry about the book's availability to children — and the reluctance of school administrators to restrict access to it.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

/Politics | 3 writebacks | permanent link

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On 11/17/2006 10:21:47
Bjorngrímnir wrote

I think it's kind of funny, parents teach their children about the value of truth, then promptly deprive their children of it. I know it's important to protect children, but I can think of more important things to protect children from than the story of a couple guy penguins trying to raise up a little one. In the zoo here in Bremerhaven, we had some gay penguins - the zoo came under public criticism when someone suggested trying to 'make' them not be gay. This situation, the criticism and explanations of both sides were, as far as I know, made available for anyone (including children) to learn about.

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On 11/17/2006 14:21:22
Kathryn wrote

Oh good lord. This is based on a true story, and it's not as if the penguins had sex. (Though I've no objections to gay sex in any species.) What I find truly dismaying is that we seem unable in our culture to accept or allow the male of any species to be nurturing unless it's done in a male-female dyad. Heaven forbid a group of men get together and show affection and tenderness. It might make our culture weak. Bah!

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On 11/18/2006 15:02:53
wrote

PBS Nature recently

had a show about penguins. The male emperor penguins (if I remember the species correctly) incubate the egg during the antartic winter while the female takes to the ocean to gorger herself, returning a considerable time later to feed the little ones. I guess male penguins are nurturing and fulfill a bit of a maternal role. I guess it isn't too far a trip for the a male penguin to be gay. Of course leave it up to PBS to promote that sort of gay behavior.... please note I'm being sarcastic here. The special was very interesting. To keep warm the males all huddle together and take turns being at the outside of the group. They hold the eggs on top their feet, under their blubber and waddle around. From a distance the flock (or whatever you call a big group of penguins) look like a big single organism. Great show PBS.

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