queer penquins upset parents

I would agree with that.
7, 8 and 9 year old children are just begining to grasp the physical concept of sex. That concept makes sense when it is with a man and a woman.
2 men? 2 women ? Yeah.. I can see how that would be confusing, and just not add up in a little persons mind.

Banning the book?
Well, that falls in line with censorship.

It is 2 animals. I dont personally think there needs to be much explination in that.
The two penguins are taking care of a baby who has no parents.
How is that sexual?

I have a different take on this topic. I don't think exposure to homosexuality harms children in any way. It is "natural," and it's not frequently portrayed that often for people to see.

I grew up in the town next to Shiloh. What a small world. Anyway, I can understand banning it from the school library but I do understand that it should be availbale to parents who choose for their children to read the book. However, if it gets a lot of hype, I'll guarantee that the book will be read and passed on to the other kids. Maybe not 6,7,8 year olds but a little older if the book is controversial the kids will read it and pass it on.

Is there any video of one of these penguins plugging the other one in the ass? Otherwise they might just be good friends.....

Agreeing with shewolf, How is the book sexual? There are people in the world of same sex raising children. Isn't this an introduction to acceptance of who people are?

Good grief. The two male penguins are raising the chick, they didn't create the baby penguin. I think that what we have here is a tempest in a teapot.[/b]

Does the book talk about sex?

If not, do books that have a mother and father in them bring up the concept of heterosexual sex?

I went through this all pretty thoroughly in the "Postcards from Buster" thing. (Can find it if need be.) Showing parents, as part of a loving family, doesn't have anything intrinsically to do with sex at all.

martyb, Precisely! For parents or anybody to speak ill of any group teaches their children the wrong message. That's the reason why we have discrimination against gays and lesbians.

Jeez, it's based on a true story for God's sake...

Banning the book doesn't solve the problem of SMUT at the zoo!! Won't someone please think of the children! I think we should make those sicko real penguins that the story's based on join a church and promise never to act on their homosexual impulses ever again. Amen!

Seriously, if two boy penguins raising a chick will confuse children with sexual issues, I guess we'd better excise all references to mommies and daddies in all kids' books, because their little brains will explode if confronted with such rampant sexuality. *cough cough*

Yeah, I haven't read the book but if parents are going to make a big deal out of it then it will become a book about homosexuality rather than two adoptive parents loving a poor abandoned chick.

With all the hype I predict it to be a big seller.

I would agree with that.
Espically with CI's point.

We still dont allow homosexuality to be a regular part of our society for some strange reason.
People still call it weird, abnormal, and wrong.
Yet it is perfectly natural and nothing that is TRULY anyones business.

It is treated much the way divorce was about 50 years ago. The nasty little secret that noone talks about, yet goes on all the time. People who WERE divorced were 'bad' and something was obviously 'wrong' with them. No one wanted to be around them for fear of 'catching it' HA!
People probally didn't talk about it with kids then either.

Now, divorce happens every where. Kids are used to it, exposed to it, and in the middle of it . That is just how some families are and it is ok.

If we treated homosexuality the same way, we wouldn't have parents cowering over a silly book about two animals who are raising a baby because they think its 'homosexual'

In fact, unless there ARE pictures like BPB said, then we can not say that they are 'gay' at all.
Animals adopt babies that do not belong to them all the time. Some even adopt outside of their breed.

In the wild, when raising chicks, Penguins often go months with out food while one of the pair is out hunting and eating.
That penguin returns with a good store of body fat to incubate the egg for the next month while the other partner goes out to eat for a few weeks.

how do we know that these 2 are just not mimicing THAT behavior?

Re: queer penquins upset parents

Obviously someone isn't ready ready to handle this, but I don't think it's the children.

You are exactly right!

Yes, it is. And I think that's exactly why some people don't like it, and call for restricted access to it. Homosexuality is unnatural; let's not threaten this message with facts that carry a pro-sin, liberal bias.

I think it's about time to go public with my campaign to ban children from zoos.

There's simply nothing appropriate about children learning about nature.

It's a mistake in every possible way.

Somebody mentioned animals caring for babies of other species. I think I remember something about an animal caring for a human baby. So much for small minds.

bingo

Queer penguins. <snort> Damn dys and his intriguing titles!

There people need to get a grip. The story is a nice one: about two penguins taking care of an egg. Geez. Wholesome crap and all that.

Unless this is an uprising against the recent obsession with penguins...

No kidding, ehBeth.

The circularity of this stuff is what really gets me. Why shouldn't kids see it? Because it's sufficiently unusual that it'd raise uncomfortable questions. Why is it sufficiently unusual? Because kids don't see it. :-?

Kids are going to find out that homosexuality exists at some point, and I think it's far preferable that it be integrated as something normal and unremarkable from early on, not least in case the child in question turns out to be gay or lesbian him- or herself.