Chief U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, a Trump appointee, rejected the idea that the First Amendment was violated by Florida's Escambia County School Board.
Mat Staver of The Liberty Counsel explains that the book "And Tango Makes Three" is about homosexuality.
"And Tango Makes Three" follows two male penguins who adopt Hatch and then raise Tango, a penguin chick at New York's Central Park Zoo. It's a book about same-sex marriage, and it is for young children."
A 2023 lawsuit by the book’s co-authors and a young female student wanting to borrow the book from her school library challenged the school board that removing the book based on its pro-LGBT stance was “viewpoint discrimination.”
Winsor wrote that “the government does not create a forum for others’ speech by purchasing books for a public library.”
Essentially, the September 30 ruling stated that the book’s authors have no First Amendment right to a spot on a government library shelf and the student has no First Amendment right to receive the authors’ specific message through the library.
Winsor explained the library’s decision to remove the book does not keep the book or its viewpoint from the student since the book is available elsewhere. Furthermore, Winsor noted, the authors also do not have a First Amendment right to demand that the library “ignore the book’s viewpoint” when deciding whether to include it in its collection.
Staver went on to explain the court made a right decision in this case, that libraries need discretion in purchasing books and in removing books based on various factors.
"By the fact that they purchase a book doesn't mean that it becomes a public forum. Otherwise, that would mean every person can force a library to carry a book or force a library to maintain the book after it has purchased the book."
Winsor wrote the library did what "libraries have been doing for two centuries" by deciding which books are appropriate.
