Authors and Students Sue Over Florida Law Driving Book Bans
A group of students and the authors of a children’s book about a penguin family with two fathers sued a Florida school district and the state’s board of education on Tuesday, saying that restricting access to the book in school libraries was unconstitutional.
The suit argues that the book was targeted on ideological grounds, as a result of new legislation that has led to a spike in book removals.
The state law, known by its opponents as “Don’t Say Gay,” bars instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation. In an attempt to follow the statute, the school district, Lake County, restricted access to 40 titles, the vast majority of them books that deal with L.G.B.T.Q.
issues and themes. The lawsuit by the authors of the picture book, “And Tango Makes Three,” seeks to make it available again and to have the law found unconstitutional.
