An award-winning #book about the true story of the #SameSex #penguin couple raising a chick was banned in #Florida in response to the state's #DontSayGay #law.
The 2005 book #AndTangoMakesThree by Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell was removed from #libraries & #classrooms in Florida.
The school board said titles were "administratively removed due to content regarding #SexualOrientation / #gender identification prohibited in #HB1557.”
“The loss of Sphen is heartbreaking to the penguin colony, the team and everyone who has been inspired or positively impacted by Sphen and Magic’s story,” he said.
To help him mourn the loss, the aquarium said that it took #Magic, who turns 9 this year, to see #Sphen after he died. He started singing. The rest of the colony joined in.
The couple’s fame drew local & international tourists, who watched them waddle around their home in the aquarium on Sydney’s docks. Unusually for #gentoo #penguin couples, the aquarium said, the pair were so close they even spent time together outside of breeding season. After spending more than half his life w/ his partner, #Magic will now face his first breeding season without #Sphen, said Richard Dilly, general manager at #Sea Life #Sydney Aquarium.
The #penguin keepers embraced their partnership & gave them a dummy egg to foster. They were later given a real egg after a heterosexual penguin couple appeared to be neglecting their parenting duties. #Sphen & #Magic, who had achieved relative stability w/their big nest, diligently nurtured their bundle of joy, swapping shifts to incubate the egg & keep it warm. They hatched a chick, Sphengic, now called Lara, in 2018 & paired up again in 2020 to hatch Clancy.
In a colony of young, flirty #penguins at #Sea Life, the 2 had eyes only for each other: bowing, singing & bringing each other pebbles for a potential future nest…. Young #gentoo penguins can take some time to choose their partners, but #Sphen & #Magic did not waste any.
“They weren’t interested in other birds in the colony,” Tish Hannan, the head of #penguin supervision at the aquarium, said in an interview in 2019. “They’ve chosen each other. That’s it. They’re bonded now.”
#Sphen, the #penguin died earlier this month after his health deteriorated, the #Sea Life #SydneyAquarium team said in an email. The aquarium did not give additional information on his ailment but said that it made the difficult decision to euthanize Sphen, “easing him of any pain or discomfort.”
For Sphen & #Magic, a summer meet-cute in Sydney sparked their 6-yr partnership. Sphen, 3 years older, had come from SeaWorld, while Magic was born in an aquarium in Melbourne.
OMG! Poor Magic!!
#Sphen, #Penguin Whose #Gay Love Story Earned Global Fame, Dies
For 6 years, Sphen & #Magic were devoted partners, #AdoptiveParents & #queer icons. After Sphen died this month at age 11, Magic began singing.
Sphen, a male #gentoo #penguin whose enduring partnership w/another male penguin in the colony led them to become international queer icons, has died, acc/to the Sydney aquarium that housed them. He was 11.
#LGBTQ
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/22/world/australia/sphen-gay-penguin-dead.html