‘The View’s Joy Behar Begins Banned Book Club With Same-Sex Penguin Love Story

The women of The View have never been afraid to speak their mind and hold power to account throughout its 25-year history. Joy Behar has been there since the beginning and has challenged people on their views during that time. Her latest segment on the show, “Joy’s Banned Book Club,” aims to shine a light on books that are being removed from school libraries around the country.

State and local governments across the US are banning books from schools

With the rise of conservative extremism around the country, state and local leaders are using their power to restrict access to books in schools. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, for example, has used his “Stop WOKE” Act as a way to remove books that have been taught in schools for decades such as To Kill a Mockingbird.

The vast majority of the books being banned deal with topics such as race, sexuality, and gender. Their removal from school libraries is purportedly to protect children. The language in Florida’s law, for example, demands that no individual “should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin.” 

Joy Behar launched Joy’s Banned Book Club to shine a light on these books

One of the commonly-banned books from these collections is the 2005 children’s book And Tango Makes Three. The book was written by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell with illustrations by Henry Cole and is based on the real-life story of two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo who formed a bond and raised a newly born chick. But in February 2023, the Florida’s Escambia County School Board voted to remove it due to what the board called “sexual innuendo.”

On The View, Joy Behar is using her platform to showcase these books that are being scuttled across the country. The result is the segment “Joy’s Banned Book Club.”

“Book bans have become an almost daily occurrence,” Behar opened the segment. “Last year alone, there were more than 2,500 instances of books being banned in over 5,000 schools including some of the best books ever written like To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and The Catcher in the Rye.”

“Even children’s books are under fire,” she continued. “So with that in mind, we’re introducing a new segment on the show this week which we like to call ‘Joy’s Banned Book Club.'”

And Tango Makes Three was the inaugural selection for the book club. Behar was quick to point out that it was “not some kinky Fifty Shades of Grey for penguins,” saying, “It’s a sweet, graceful way to introduce children of acceptance of same-sex relationships and non-traditional families.”

‘And Tango Makes Three’ is a beloved children’s book

Since its publication in 2005, And Tango Makes Three has won numerous literary awards. Unfortunately, criticism of the book dates back to the years after it first hit shelves, rather than more recent efforts to suppress it.

The book’s author, Justin Richardson, spoke out about the criticism back when it was released nearly two decades ago.

“We wrote the book to help parents teach children about same-sex parent families,” he told The New York Times. “It’s no more an argument in favor of human gay relationships than it is to call for children to swallow their fish whole or sleep on rocks.”