Think again
A children’s book about a lion raised by two men has been banned in Florida because right-wing activists suspect the men might be gay – despite nothing in the book suggesting they have any romantic relationship, according to a report.
The Florida Department of Education released new information about books that were banned or temporarily removed pending investigation in various county school systems as part of the state’s new laws making it easier to challenge material in a school library, reported the Tallahassee Democrat. One of the books was “Christian, the Hugging Lion.”
According to the report, schools in Manatee County, a conservative community just south of Tampa, withdrew the book that’s based on the true story about a pair of men who raise a lion in their London apartment, then are lovingly remembered by the animal when they go to Africa to see him years later.
Nothing in the book indicates the two men are in a same-sex relationship — but activists speculated that they might be, which was enough for a complaint about the book.
As the report notes, “Christian, the Hugging Lion” was written by the same authors who wrote “And Tango Makes Three,” a book about a pair of male penguins who raise a family. That book is also restricted in some Florida schools, and the authors have filed a federal lawsuit against Florida and a county school board.
This is only the latest in a series of bans and restrictions on content in schools being pushed in Florida. Last month, state laws prompted a school system in Hillsborough County to heavily redact the works of William Shakespeare, teaching only excerpts of his plays.
I don’t understand why anyone would think people this obsessed wouldn’t work to overturn gay marriage. They don’t even want their kids contemplating that two people of the same sex might live together much less be married. Watch out room mates! They’re coming for you too!
Seriously, thinking little kids must be protected from the true story that two men who raised a lion and set it free is just sick. All the kids would see is two nice men who loved an animal and an animal who loved them back. The horror.
This is bad:
This, on the other hand, is fine:
