Authors of the children’s book “And Tango Makes Three” and parents of students have reached a settlement with the Nassau County school district that will lead to 36 books returning to school libraries after being removed last year, according to court documents filed this week.
The settlement came in a federal lawsuit filed in May amid widespread controversy about removing books from school libraries in Florida and other states. Two federal lawsuits are pending, for example, about the Escambia County School Board’s removal of books.
“And Tango Makes Three,” which tells the story of two male penguins who raised a penguin chick at New York’s Central Park Zoo, has become a prominent part of the debate in Florida. Lawsuits allege it has been targeted for depicting same-sex parents raising a child.
Nassau County officials said they removed “And Tango Makes Three” and two other books last year because of a lack of circulation, according to the settlement. District officials said they removed 33 other books because of alleged “obscene” material that would violate state law.
But the lawsuit contended “And Tango Makes Three” was removed because of anti-LGBTQ bias, and the settlement includes a statement that district officials “agree that And Tango Makes Three contains no ‘obscene’ material in violation of the obscenity statute, is appropriate for students of all ages, and has pedagogical value.”
The settlement lists 22 other books that are slated to be returned to libraries by Friday. Examples include “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison and “The Clan of the Cave Bear” by Jean Auel.
Also, the settlement calls for the book “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky to be made available to students in grades 9 through 12.
In addition, 12 books will be made available to students ages 18 or older or who have parental consent. Examples are “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer and “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini. The settlement also calls for the district to form a review committee to consider the 12 books.
The law firm Selendy Gay PLLC, which represents “And Tango Makes Three” authors Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and the parents, issued a news release Thursday that described the settlement as “major.”
“This settlement — a watershed moment in the ongoing battle against book censorship in the United States — significantly restores access to important works that were unlawfully removed from the shelves of Nassau County, Florida’s public school libraries,” Lauren Zimmerman, one of the firm’s attorneys, said in a prepared statement. “Students will once again have access to books from well-known and highly-lauded authors representing a broad range of viewpoints and ideas.”
Parnell and Richardson also are plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Escambia County school district over the removal of “And Tango Makes Three.” That case, however, does not appear near settlement.
U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor issued an order last week saying mediation was not necessary after the two sides filed a joint document saying the “distance between the parties’ acceptable resolutions of this case renders mediation futile.”
–Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida
Deborah Coffey says
Hooray! A win for freedom. Now, we need to stop all the Fascists at the polls.
Jan says
Reading this was a breath of fresh air.
Michael J Cocchiola says
It’s a start.
JW says
Maybe there is hope that America’s childish adults are growing up but too many are still acting like little children.
Since it is election time, just see the difference between the adult Harris and the bullying child Trump.
Edith Campins says
A step forward. Let’s keep at it.
Jack Howell says
Finally, a little bit of sanity!
Robert says
Once again thank God DeSantis rulings gets other thrown. It continues to show the State of Florida how his rulings are unjust and unconstitutional.
He is trying to shove Project 2025 into the State of Florida and once again it isn’t going to work.
Skibum says
I think we can all recall a time in our lives when, as kids, we did something that our parents or other adults were trying to keep us from doing. So I hope this school district prominently displays a big sign at the librarian’s desk advertising each of the “previously banned books that are now back on library shelves. Read, read, read!
Victor says
Freedom? The books are not slave, those books are giving bad example for innocent kids. It’s shouldn’t be put back to school, now the kids will be brainwash by those LGBT books scheme.
Skibum says
Oh Victor, are you going to admit that you do not have a brain of your own? No means to think critically and make decisions for yourself without falling for anything and everything that you see, hear, or read? Can you not tell right from wrong? Did you never learn from reading a book, which means deciding on your own whether what your were reading was something you could apply to your own life or if it was something that you discarded as meaningless or not for you? Why in the world could you possibly believe that anyone else who picked up a book would automatically be completely submissive to whatever was inside, without any ability or desire on their own to put the book down if they didn’t like it? I believe we all have free will, we each have individual wants and needs and desires, and not one of human kind should ever be told that he or she has to fall into a mold set by another person… not you, not me, or anyone else for that matter. Nobody forced you to read certain books, or kept you from whatever reading material you liked. Nobody told you what colors to wear, what kind of car you should have, yet for some very odd reason, people like you want to restrict the right of others to make decisions for themselves. That is a tragedy, and is wrong on so many levels. I hope you and others get over that disease.
Laurel says
I have always wanted to hear someone like Victor to tell me all about the day they decided to stay “straight.” That’s quite a big decision. I bet that would be a good story! Yet, I still haven’t heard one single reply. Maybe today?