#tango makes three

[shadsie]

I have collected so many LGBTQ+ themed children’s books / teen comics *-* Maybe one day I can read them to my kids

Sometimes the future seems a bit more hopeful

[dontmakemedothisagain]

You know what makes me really happy?

Im a pansexual generation Z kid, and I have a little sister. She's only six years younger than me, but the world she's growing up in is so so much more accepting than when I was her age. I grew up with words like"fa***t" being thrown around as insults with half of us not even knowing what it meant, other than it was offensive. I lived in a world where only straight people existed, no one else. Heck I didn't even know what the word lesbian meant until I was 13. I didn't know the "friends" my aunt always had around were girls she was dating, even though looking back it was so obvious. I just didn't have that exposure. But now, I am honestly so happy to see my sister growing up with books like "Tango makes three" and shows like the Loud House and Andi Mack. Even cameos in movies like Frozen and Finding Dory make me happy because they're there, they exist. To see LGBT representation in the media was something that was never available to make as a kid in any form. So much has changed in just a few years. So much is available to just the younger half of this generation. It makes me so happy to know that my little sister is growing up in this steadily more accepting society. And despite the train wreck this world is in, it gives me hope.

[galateaunloved]

making my queer pilgrimage but im going to the nyc central park zoo to send a kiss to tango

[flaggedforreview-blog]

Censored topic of the day:

Tango makes three

When a daddy penguin and a daddy penguin love each other very much they adopt an egg, then their story is censored around the world, but why?

[nekojoo]

Me: I want to draw Victuuri as penguins! Also Me: Yay I’m gud at dis. :D  Also, Hokkaido now accepts same sex marriages! Head canon that they will go there for honey moon. 

[hermiginnyharvelle]

I went to a play today and it's about a state senator in Alabama that wanted to ban a picture book in the 1950's because it was about a black and a white rabbit getting married. I was about to be like "wow I can't believe people would freak out about a picture book about ANIMALS for pete's sake" but then I remembered that it's 2015 and people are mad about a picture book about two male penguins raising a chick, so yeah I guess I actually can believe it.

[hipster-animals]

June wedding, option 2.

[decidedlybambi]

“And Tango Makes Three” Tops List of Banned Books Published on September 28th, 2011 Written by: Mhaire F

This week is Banned Books Week, and we’re celebrating by showcasing various books which have been censored for a variety of reasons. Celebrate this week by picking up one of these books and reading. The Central Park Zoo in New York has an unlikely but lovable pair of animals. This is a true story. It is so charming that Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell teamed up with well-known illustrator Henry Cole to create a children’s book out of the story. They called it “And Tango Makes Three.” It is nothing short of delightful. It has been on the banned books list since it was published in 2005. It is usually listed as the number one most-banned title, although one year went fell to second place. Roy and Silo are a pair of chinstrap penguins who reside in the penguin quarters. When the girl penguins noticed the boy penguins and when the boy penguins noticed the girl penguins, Roy and Silo, two boys, noticed each other. They bowed and sang to each other and made a nice nest. But it was a little empty. They then noticed that the other Penguins couples could do something they could not do. They tried and tried, even rolling an egg shaped rock and sitting on it for hours, but they could not hatch it. One of the zookeepers noticed, and when another penguin couple produced two fertile eggs, he gave one of the m to Roy and Silo. The odds of having two fertile eggs raised to adulthood by one couple are slim. Twins are hard everywhere, it seems. Roy and Silo knew ‘just what to do” and kept the egg warm, turning it over and over so all sides would benefit, and finally, their daughter Tango arrived. (Get it? Because it takes two to make a Tango?). Her fathers fed her and sang to her and snuggled her warm at night. “She was the very first penguin to have two daddies.” And there it is, the line that prompted the ban. This book talks about love, and family, and the heartbreak of being childless. It talks about families who are not conventional and who love each other anyway. Indeed the inside fly cover reads: “In the zoo there are all kinds of families. But Tango’s family is not like any of the others.” Now, as far as I could research, Tango, Roy and Silo are still a happy family. It took the kindness of a zookeeper, and an extra egg to create it. It makes me wonder what would happen if there were kind zookeepers in the wild. Maybe Tango would not have been the first penguin with two daddies, or two mommies. The concept of homosexuality is the reason for the ban. Except the book isn’t about that, and it is now on my bookshelf, where any of my friends can read it, no matter their age. Children between the ages of six and nine have definite ideas about gender roles, but are willing to accept the idea of two daddies, or two mommies, or one mommy or one daddy. This is 2011. They live with all different kinds of families now. I showed it to a 13-year-old friend of mine, and he flipped through the pages trying to find the reason for the ban. He couldn’t do it. He didn’t see anything wrong with Roy and Silo. I am so grateful for that, and hope that many more kids see this book the same way. Better yet, that their parents do.