Nassau County forced to admit children’s picture book pulled from schools was not ‘obscene’ in lawsuit settlement

Opponents of book banning achieved a significant victory in Florida when Nassau County was forced to admit a book pulled from school shelves, And Tango Makes Three, was not “obscene” under Florida law.

And Tango Makes Three is a children’s book written by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell and illustrated by Henry Cole. Although it is a children’s picture book appropriate for all ages, it has been a frequent target of book banners because it features two male penguins in a relationship. The book was actually inspired by the true story of Roy and Silo, two male penguins who bonded at New York City’s Central Park Zoo and raised a baby chick together. And Tango Makes Three introduces the topic of same-sex marriages and families in a child-friendly manner. As a result, anti-LGBTQ+ conservatives have relentlessly lobbied to ban it, making the picture book one of the most frequently challenged books in America.

The challenges to And Tango Makes Three, though, have offered some of the strongest evidence of the unconstitutional nature of book banning. The problem is that conservatives try to legally justify book banning by arguing the books they are banning are “obscene” or “sexually explicit.” However, given that And Tango Makes Three is a children’s picture book with educational value and no sexual content, it doesn’t meet the legal definition of “obscene.” Even under their own book-banning legislation, conservatives have no grounds to ban the book, and doing so has led to Florida schools facing numerous lawsuits. Now, at least one district has publicly acknowledged that And Tango Makes Three is not “obscene.”

School district faces defeat in book-banning lawsuit

The Nassau County school district in northeast Florida recently settled a lawsuit it faced over its book-banning practices. And Tango Makes Three authors Parnell and Richardson joined forces with two parents to file a lawsuit against the school district. Their suit argued that Nassau County violated the First Amendment by pulling 36 books from school shelves. The district had no legal grounds to pull these books, so it did so behind closed doors, barring the public entirely from the decision and offering no explanation for the removal.

Nassau County agreed to settle the lawsuit, including restoring all 36 books to school shelves. In addition to restoring the books, it has also agreed to publicly acknowledge And Tango Makes Three is not “obscene.” Florida’s laws hold that books can only be pulled if they violate the state’s policies on “obscene” and “sexual” content. School officials listed “lack of circulation” as the justification for removing the book, although it removed the book after complaints of “sexuality” from the Christian nationalist group Citizens Defending Freedom. It seems the school was using various excuses to ban any books it wanted to, especially since it instated a policy stipulating it could ban books without public input.

Regardless of the purported reason, pulling the books behind closed doors gave the impression school officials had legal grounds to do so because the books were “obscene.” Hence, Parnell and Richardson ensured the settlement included Nassau County’s acknowledgment that And Tango Makes Three is not obscene and is appropriate for all ages. The acknowledgment was quite significant, as the school admitted it denied students rightful access to the book and harmed the authors’ reputation by misconstruing the book as obscene. It’s an egregious wrong and raises the question of how many other schools are pulling books from shelves that officials know are not obscene.

Now that a school district has admitted And Tango Makes Three‘s appropriateness, it spells legal trouble for the numerous other school districts, such as Escambia County, still challenging the book and fighting for its removal. On top of that, all 36 books named in the lawsuit have officially been returned to school shelves in Nassau County. Ultimately, the settlement proves the effectiveness of legal action against book banning and raises hope that more lawsuits will prevail to continue restoring students’ access to books.