NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. – A federal lawsuit is accusing Nassau County school officials of violating the First Amendment and Florida’s Sunshine Laws by removing dozens of books from public school libraries behind closed doors last year, including the children’s book “And Tango Makes Three.”
The plaintiffs include students and their parents in the school district, as well as the authors of “And Tango Makes Three.”
That book tells the true story of a pair of bonded male penguins at a New York City zoo who, with the help of a zookeeper, incubated an egg and adopted the chick when it hatched.
The lawsuit says when the book was challenged in Nassau County public school libraries last year, the district found it didn’t contain anything obscene or sexual that violated the law, but decided to remove it anyway.
Now, the federal lawsuit argues the book’s removal was discriminatory
According to the suit, the Nassau County School District violated state and federal law when it removed or restricted 36 books from school libraries last year.
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“The removal was done behind closed doors. There was no, you know, public meeting held, or anything of that nature. So I think the local media didn’t even learn of what had occurred until a few months afterwards. And that’s when we learned as well,” said Lauren Zimmerman, who is an attorney representing the plaintiffs.
The suit says back in September, a local representative of a group called Citizens Defending Freedom, or CDF, sent an email to the district requesting dozens of books be removed from the shelves.
CDF has pushed for certain books to be removed from schools across the country.
Among those they wanted off the shelves in Nassau County is, “And Tango Makes Three.” According to an exhibit submitted by the plaintiffs, CDF said their concern is, “This book contains assumed alternate sexuality in animals.”
The lawsuit says: “‘Tango’ is factually accurate…It is a biological fact that same-sex behavior is ‘a nearly universal phenomenon in the animal kingdom,’” and “‘Tango’ helps children to learn about science through simple, non-vulgar words and illustrations.”
According to a document filed by the plaintiffs, all 36 books CDF objected to were removed or age-restricted. But the reason “Tango” was removed wasn’t because it was prohibited by law for “depict[ing] or describ[ing] sexual conduct,” as the district found other books were, but for “lack of circulation.”
The lawsuit claims that was just an excuse.
“Our investigation has shown, first off, that the book was being checked out by students in the district, and also that there [are], you know, hundreds of other books in the Nassau County public library system that have not been checked out at all, or certainly that have been checked out less than ‘Tango,’ and yet they remain. And our view is because they weren’t challenged,” Zimmerman said.
The suit also says after “Tango” was removed, the district implemented a new administrative rule that closely mirrors their actions in removing or restricting the 36 books, allowing books to be banned without public input.
“This new rule seems to be a post hoc attempt to justify the conduct here. But the rule itself, we believe, is violative of Florida law,” Zimmerman said.
The lawsuit is seeking a reversal of the removal or restriction of the 36 books in question, including “And Tango Makes Three.”
A spokesperson for the Nassau County School District said they are not commenting right now because of the pending litigation.