King & King
Encyclopedia
King & King is a young children's book by Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland. It was originally written in Dutch
("Koning en Koning"), but later translated into English
. In the United States
, it was published by Berkeley, California
-based Tricycle Press (the children's imprint of Ten Speed Press
) in 2002; as of 2009, 20,000 copies have been sold in the United States. It has been published in at least eight languages and a theater stage version has been performed from Vienna
to Mexico City
. At Tricycle Press' request a sequel, King & King & Family, about the kings adopting a child, appeared in 2004.
The book has gained some prominence due to opposition from social conservatives who believe that children should not see LGBT
themes presented positively; this opposition has also boosted sales from supporters of LGBT rights.
to Mumbai
, but in spite of their various talents — Princess Aria of Austria
sings opera
, Princess Dolly from Texas
juggles and does magic tricks — they fail to interest the prince (though the prince's page falls in love with the princess from Greenland). After a while, along comes Princess Madeleine escorted by her brother Prince Lee. At the same time, both Bertie and Lee exclaim, "What a wonderful prince!" The princes immediately fall in love, and they begin marriage
preparations at once. The wedding is attended by all the rejected princesses and their families; the two princes are declared King and King, and the Queen can finally relax, sunning herself in a lounge chair near the page and the princess from Greenland. The story ends with a kiss between the two kings.
The illustrations are created as collages with cut paper and mixed-media art, including ink and paint.
, Kirkus Reviews
, the Horn Book Magazine
and Publishers Weekly
. It earned an Honorable Mention in the "most unusual book of the year" category for Publishers Weeklys 2002 "Off the Cuff Awards." San Francisco Chronicle
called the book "progressive
" and "inclusive" and The Philadelphia Gay News said it was a "great book to teach young readers about same-sex couples." It was an Inside/Out Book Club selection and was a Lambda Literary Award finalist in 2002.
A program called "No Outsiders," backed by the British Department for Education, used King and King as a teaching tool for introducing students to gay
issues, with one of its aims being the prevention of bullying of students who are perceived to be LGBT or who have LGBT parents. The program was inspired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
's remarks, "Everyone is an insider, there are no outsiders — whatever their beliefs, whatever their color, gender or sexuality."
Amy T.Y. Lai's "Waiving the Magic Wand: Forging greater open-mindedness by subverting the conventions of fairy tales" discusses the book in the context of a 2001 Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities article which argues that fairy tale
s play "an even greater role in shaping lawful behaviour than the recorded law, because it lies at the heart of the children's literary canon and has a much greater claim to universality of influence ... Not only do young children lack the critical faculties necessary to challenge the "truth" offered by these stories, but the jurisprudence of fairy tales maps onto a child's developmental phase of moral reasoning." Lai asserts that King & King is part of a "growing canon of contemporary fairy tales" that challenge traditional doctrines and subvert their ideologies by sidesteping the "trap of prolonging an oppressive punitive system." In this case "by including many unconventional elements - including single motherhood and alternative families
- and laying out a gay-positive
story with an ending that is gratifying for all parties, but without consciously constructing something like a judicial opinion that imposes a new legal or, worse still, punitive standard upon its reader."
King & Kings LGBT content - it is believed to be the first image of two men romantically kissing portrayed in a children's book - has led many social conservatives
to challenge it, on both a local and a national level. These challenges have included attempts to ban the book, to prevent it being used as a teaching tool, or to restrict children's access to it by removing it from school or public library shelves or by placing it in sections which young children cannot access.
(R - North Carolina
) proposed a law in 2005 called the Parental Empowerment Act, which would have established national boards composed of parents to review books purchased by elementary schools, and which would have prohibited states that did not do so from receiving federal education funding. "You can't ban the book," said Jones. "This is the only way to do it." The bill died in committee.
In September 2007, Democratic primary front-runners
were asked, in one of their debates
, their opinion on the book and whether they were comfortable with children having access to it. John Edwards
and Barack Obama
strongly supported it, while Hillary Clinton described it as an issue of "parental discretion."
, 75 members of the state's legislature signed a petition for the Oklahoma Metropolitan Library System
(OMLS) to force libraries to place the children's book in the adult section. At the May 2005 hearing of the Public Services Committee many of the speakers asserted that "children's books showing family situations different from traditional marriage are pornography
," which the executive director of the OMLS denied stating, "none of the material in question is illegal or pornographic." Later that month the OMLS Commission voted 10-7 to move "easy, easy-reader, and tween" books containing "sensitive or controversial" themes to an area that could only be accessed by adults. The decision was based primarily on concern by social conservatives
that books that advocate acceptance of homosexuality, such as "King & King", were accessible by children. Staff of the Library system opposed such restrictions, and the American Library Association
strongly condemned the decision. Prior, state representative Sally Kern
had spearheaded an effort to keep such books away from children; in May 2005, the Oklahoma House passed a nonbinding House resolution 1039, also introduced by Kern, to "confine homosexually themed books and other age-inappropriate material to areas exclusively for adult access and distribution." The Commission's decision was implemented in February 2006 as a "Family Talk" section that contained such controversial content. Further restrictions were added in November 2008, when the Commission added the requirement that such material must be placed at least 60 inches off the ground in order to be out of the reach of many children.
. The Wirthlins' son's teacher had read King & King aloud to the class as part of an educational unit on weddings. Parents countered that the school's job was to teach about the world and that Massachusetts sanctioned same-sex marriage
. The plaintiffs claimed that using the book in school constituted sex education
without parental notification, which would be a violation of their civil rights and state law. Robin Wirthlin appeared on CNN
, saying
The judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying "Diversity is a hallmark of our nation."
The Wirthlins and the Parkers appealed the decision; a three-judge panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously in favor of the school. Judge Sandra Lynch, writing for the court, rejected the plaintiff's argument that their religious beliefs were being singled out as well as their argument that their First Amendment
right to free exercise of religion was violated, writing, "There is no evidence of systemic indoctrination. There is no allegation that [the second-grader] was asked to affirm gay marriage. Requiring a student to read a particular book is generally not coercive of free exercise rights." The court also ruled that the parents' substantive due process
rights were not violated, as these rights did not legally give them the degree of control they sought over the curriculum.
reported on the Hartsells of Wilmington, North Carolina
who are the parents of a then first-grader who brought the book home which ends with "the two princes kissing with a red heart covering their lips.", "My child is not old enough to understand something like that, especially when it is not in our beliefs.” They were most stunned by the picture of the two princes kissing each other romantically. In April 2004, a child asking his father about an image of two men kissing prompted him to complain, "By [my son] finding that book and asking why two men were kissing in it, I had to tell him about the two men being gay, which is something we disagree with." Shelby County, Indiana
's library vote disagreed with a formal complaint that said the parent was forced to explain "why two men were kissing", but did agree to move the book to a section for children eight to twelve.
In October 2006, also in Massachusetts, the anti-gay
group Family Research Council
(FRC) co-ordinated Liberty Sunday broadcast throughout the U.S., "aimed to show how the gay-rights movement is undermining religious freedom." The Economist
noted "examples [of gay-rights movements undermining religious freedom] are rather hard to come by [...] so “King & King” was frequently mentioned," with Tony Perkins of the FRC explaining "kids were treated to pictures of two princes kissing one another."
Conservative religious groups in the United Kingdom
opposed the "No Outsiders" project, introduced in 2007, which included the book. Stephen Green, the leader of Christian Voice
, described it as "tantamount to child abuse
." Elizabeth Atkinson, the project's director, said, "These books are presenting one aspect of the spectrum of daily life...Many, many children in this country have this as part of their everyday experience."
In September 2007, "[A]ppalled by images of two princes standing together at an altar and later kissing", the Macungie, Pennsylvania
supervisors were petitioned to pull the book from its library. The supervisors declined to overrule the library and the banning effort backfired when donations brought the book into more area libraries that did not have a copy.
(ALA) "defines a "challenged book" as one that has received a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school. The complaint on a challenged book includes a request that a book be removed from the shelf, or placed in a special section (usually available only to adults.)"
In a study of banned and challenged picture
and primary books
because of lesbian
, gay
, bisexual, transgender
, and queer
/questioning
(LGBTQ) concerns covering the twenty years (1989–2009) for which data was available, King & King was fourth on the list after Daddy's Roommate
by Michael Willhoite (1st), Heather Has Two Mommies
by Leslea Newman
(2nd) and And Tango Makes Three
by Peter Parnell (3rd). In their list of all banned and challenged books for 2000–2009, King & King is 20th out of 100. In time for Banned Books Week
(last week of September) in 2005, the ALA introduced Banned Books bracelets featuring covers of the popular challenged books, King & King is one of the six offered in children's sizes.
ALA banned books in all categories
The American Booksellers Association
, books in all categories
The Independent Bookseller Association
book, at a recommended reading level for children ages 4–8. It was written and illustrated by Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland.
This second installment follows the newlywed kings on their honeymoon. The two explore a jungle, finding various animals that all have children; King Bertie expresses the wish that he and King Lee have a child of their own. When they return home, they find that a lonely orphan girl has stowed away in their suitcase. They adopt her, name her Daisy, and raise her as a princess.
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
("Koning en Koning"), but later translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, it was published by Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
-based Tricycle Press (the children's imprint of Ten Speed Press
Ten Speed Press
Ten Speed Press is a publishing house founded in Berkeley, California in 1970. Philip Wood, founder and publisher, began his career with Barnes & Noble in 1962 and in 1965 at Penguin books...
) in 2002; as of 2009, 20,000 copies have been sold in the United States. It has been published in at least eight languages and a theater stage version has been performed from Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
to Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
. At Tricycle Press' request a sequel, King & King & Family, about the kings adopting a child, appeared in 2004.
The book has gained some prominence due to opposition from social conservatives who believe that children should not see LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
themes presented positively; this opposition has also boosted sales from supporters of LGBT rights.
Plot
"On the tallest mountain above town," the young Prince Bertie still has not married, as is the custom in his kingdom. His mother, a grouchy Queen who is tired of ruling and wishes to pass on the responsibility to her son, insists he must find a princess to marry. The prince tells his mom "Very well, Mother.... I must say, though, I've never cared much for princesses." His mother marches princess after princess through the castle, from places ranging from GreenlandGreenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
to Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, but in spite of their various talents — Princess Aria of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
sings opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, Princess Dolly from Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
juggles and does magic tricks — they fail to interest the prince (though the prince's page falls in love with the princess from Greenland). After a while, along comes Princess Madeleine escorted by her brother Prince Lee. At the same time, both Bertie and Lee exclaim, "What a wonderful prince!" The princes immediately fall in love, and they begin marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
preparations at once. The wedding is attended by all the rejected princesses and their families; the two princes are declared King and King, and the Queen can finally relax, sunning herself in a lounge chair near the page and the princess from Greenland. The story ends with a kiss between the two kings.
The illustrations are created as collages with cut paper and mixed-media art, including ink and paint.
Public reception
King & King has been reviewed by the School Library JournalSchool Library Journal
The School Library Journal is a monthly magazine with articles and reviews for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with a focus on technology and multimedia. Reviews are included for preschool to 4th grade,...
, Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus . Kirkus serves the book and literary trade sector, including libraries, publishers, literary and film agents, film and TV producers and booksellers. Kirkus Reviews is published on the first and 15th of each month...
, the Horn Book Magazine
Horn Book Magazine
The Horn Book Magazine, founded in Boston in 1924, is a bimonthly periodical about literature for children and young adults. It began life as a "suggestive purchase list" prepared by Bertha Mahony Miller and Elinor Whitney Field, proprietresses of the country's first bookstore for children, The...
and Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
. It earned an Honorable Mention in the "most unusual book of the year" category for Publishers Weeklys 2002 "Off the Cuff Awards." San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
called the book "progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
" and "inclusive" and The Philadelphia Gay News said it was a "great book to teach young readers about same-sex couples." It was an Inside/Out Book Club selection and was a Lambda Literary Award finalist in 2002.
A program called "No Outsiders," backed by the British Department for Education, used King and King as a teaching tool for introducing students to gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
issues, with one of its aims being the prevention of bullying of students who are perceived to be LGBT or who have LGBT parents. The program was inspired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...
's remarks, "Everyone is an insider, there are no outsiders — whatever their beliefs, whatever their color, gender or sexuality."
Amy T.Y. Lai's "Waiving the Magic Wand: Forging greater open-mindedness by subverting the conventions of fairy tales" discusses the book in the context of a 2001 Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities article which argues that fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
s play "an even greater role in shaping lawful behaviour than the recorded law, because it lies at the heart of the children's literary canon and has a much greater claim to universality of influence ... Not only do young children lack the critical faculties necessary to challenge the "truth" offered by these stories, but the jurisprudence of fairy tales maps onto a child's developmental phase of moral reasoning." Lai asserts that King & King is part of a "growing canon of contemporary fairy tales" that challenge traditional doctrines and subvert their ideologies by sidesteping the "trap of prolonging an oppressive punitive system." In this case "by including many unconventional elements - including single motherhood and alternative families
American family structure
The American family structure is considered a traditional family support system involving two married individuals providing care and stability for their biological offspring. However, this two-parent, nuclear family has become less prevalent, and alternative family forms have become more common....
- and laying out a gay-positive
Gay pride
LGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
story with an ending that is gratifying for all parties, but without consciously constructing something like a judicial opinion that imposes a new legal or, worse still, punitive standard upon its reader."
Opposition
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
to challenge it, on both a local and a national level. These challenges have included attempts to ban the book, to prevent it being used as a teaching tool, or to restrict children's access to it by removing it from school or public library shelves or by placing it in sections which young children cannot access.
National significance
In response to King & King, Congressman Walter B. JonesWalter B. Jones
Walter Beaman Jones, Jr. is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1995. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district encompasses the Outer Banks and areas near the Pamlico Sound. Jones' father was Walter B. Jones, Sr., a Democratic Party congressman from the neighboring 1st district...
(R - North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
) proposed a law in 2005 called the Parental Empowerment Act, which would have established national boards composed of parents to review books purchased by elementary schools, and which would have prohibited states that did not do so from receiving federal education funding. "You can't ban the book," said Jones. "This is the only way to do it." The bill died in committee.
In September 2007, Democratic primary front-runners
Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008
The 2008 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 U.S. presidential election...
were asked, in one of their debates
Democratic Party (United States) presidential debates, 2008
The 2008 Democratic Presidential Debates were political debates prior to and during the 2008 Democratic Primaries. The debates began on April 26, 2007, in Orangeburg, South Carolina.-Election 2008:...
, their opinion on the book and whether they were comfortable with children having access to it. John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
and Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
strongly supported it, while Hillary Clinton described it as an issue of "parental discretion."
Ongoing conflict in Oklahoma
In 2005, in OklahomaOklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, 75 members of the state's legislature signed a petition for the Oklahoma Metropolitan Library System
Metropolitan Library System (Oklahoma)
The Metropolitan Library System is a public library system that serves Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. It consists of 12 full-service libraries as well as 5 smaller extension libraries...
(OMLS) to force libraries to place the children's book in the adult section. At the May 2005 hearing of the Public Services Committee many of the speakers asserted that "children's books showing family situations different from traditional marriage are pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
," which the executive director of the OMLS denied stating, "none of the material in question is illegal or pornographic." Later that month the OMLS Commission voted 10-7 to move "easy, easy-reader, and tween" books containing "sensitive or controversial" themes to an area that could only be accessed by adults. The decision was based primarily on concern by social conservatives
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
that books that advocate acceptance of homosexuality, such as "King & King", were accessible by children. Staff of the Library system opposed such restrictions, and the American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
strongly condemned the decision. Prior, state representative Sally Kern
Sally Kern
Sally Kern is an Oklahoma state legislator and former schoolteacher from Oklahoma City known for her outspoken public views against homosexuality. On May 2, 2011, she was publicly reprimanded by the House of Representatives for comments she made the preceding week against minorities and women...
had spearheaded an effort to keep such books away from children; in May 2005, the Oklahoma House passed a nonbinding House resolution 1039, also introduced by Kern, to "confine homosexually themed books and other age-inappropriate material to areas exclusively for adult access and distribution." The Commission's decision was implemented in February 2006 as a "Family Talk" section that contained such controversial content. Further restrictions were added in November 2008, when the Commission added the requirement that such material must be placed at least 60 inches off the ground in order to be out of the reach of many children.
Federal lawsuit
In 2006 Robb and Robin Wirthlin and David and Tonia Parker filed a federal lawsuit against the school district of Estabrook Elementary School, which their second graders attended in Lexington, MassachusettsLexington, Massachusetts
Lexington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,399 at the 2010 census. This town is famous for being the site of the first shot of the American Revolution, in the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775.- History :...
. The Wirthlins' son's teacher had read King & King aloud to the class as part of an educational unit on weddings. Parents countered that the school's job was to teach about the world and that Massachusetts sanctioned same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage in Massachusetts
Same-sex marriage in the U.S. state of Massachusetts began on May 17, 2004, as a result of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional under the Massachusetts constitution to allow only heterosexual couples to marry...
. The plaintiffs claimed that using the book in school constituted sex education
Sex education
Sex education refers to formal programs of instruction on a wide range of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, abstinence, contraception, and...
without parental notification, which would be a violation of their civil rights and state law. Robin Wirthlin appeared on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, saying
The judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying "Diversity is a hallmark of our nation."
The Wirthlins and the Parkers appealed the decision; a three-judge panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously in favor of the school. Judge Sandra Lynch, writing for the court, rejected the plaintiff's argument that their religious beliefs were being singled out as well as their argument that their First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
right to free exercise of religion was violated, writing, "There is no evidence of systemic indoctrination. There is no allegation that [the second-grader] was asked to affirm gay marriage. Requiring a student to read a particular book is generally not coercive of free exercise rights." The court also ruled that the parents' substantive due process
Substantive due process
Substantive due process is one of the theories of law through which courts enforce limits on legislative and executive powers and authority...
rights were not violated, as these rights did not legally give them the degree of control they sought over the curriculum.
Other locations
In March 2004 the Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
reported on the Hartsells of Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
who are the parents of a then first-grader who brought the book home which ends with "the two princes kissing with a red heart covering their lips.", "My child is not old enough to understand something like that, especially when it is not in our beliefs.” They were most stunned by the picture of the two princes kissing each other romantically. In April 2004, a child asking his father about an image of two men kissing prompted him to complain, "By [my son] finding that book and asking why two men were kissing in it, I had to tell him about the two men being gay, which is something we disagree with." Shelby County, Indiana
Shelby County, Indiana
As of the census of 2000, there were 43,445 people, 16,561 households, and 12,056 families residing in the county. The population density was 105 people per square mile . There were 17,633 housing units at an average density of 43 per square mile...
's library vote disagreed with a formal complaint that said the parent was forced to explain "why two men were kissing", but did agree to move the book to a section for children eight to twelve.
In October 2006, also in Massachusetts, the anti-gay
LGBT rights opposition
LGBT rights opposition refers to active opposition to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights. Organizations influential in LGBT rights opposition frequently challenge judicial rulings, and legislative initiatives, and dispute findings that sexual orientation is an immutable...
group Family Research Council
Family Research Council
The Family Research Council is a conservative or right-wing Christian group and lobbying organization formed in the United States in 1981 by James Dobson. It was fully incorporated in 1983...
(FRC) co-ordinated Liberty Sunday broadcast throughout the U.S., "aimed to show how the gay-rights movement is undermining religious freedom." The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
noted "examples [of gay-rights movements undermining religious freedom] are rather hard to come by [...] so “King & King” was frequently mentioned," with Tony Perkins of the FRC explaining "kids were treated to pictures of two princes kissing one another."
Conservative religious groups in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
opposed the "No Outsiders" project, introduced in 2007, which included the book. Stephen Green, the leader of Christian Voice
Christian Voice (UK)
Christian Voice is a Christian pressure group based in the United Kingdom. Its stated objective is "to uphold Christianity as the Faith of the United Kingdom, to be a voice for Biblical values in law and public policy, and to defend and support traditional family life." It is independent of...
, described it as "tantamount to child abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
." Elizabeth Atkinson, the project's director, said, "These books are presenting one aspect of the spectrum of daily life...Many, many children in this country have this as part of their everyday experience."
In September 2007, "[A]ppalled by images of two princes standing together at an altar and later kissing", the Macungie, Pennsylvania
Macungie, Pennsylvania
Macungie is a borough in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is the second oldest borough in the county and a suburb of Allentown, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of the state.-History:...
supervisors were petitioned to pull the book from its library. The supervisors declined to overrule the library and the banning effort backfired when donations brought the book into more area libraries that did not have a copy.
Banned book
The American Library AssociationAmerican Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
(ALA) "defines a "challenged book" as one that has received a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school. The complaint on a challenged book includes a request that a book be removed from the shelf, or placed in a special section (usually available only to adults.)"
In a study of banned and challenged picture
Picture book
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. The images in picture books use a range of media such as oil paints, acrylics, watercolor and pencil.Two of the earliest books with something like the format picture books still retain now...
and primary books
Primary education
A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
because of lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, bisexual, transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
, and queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
/questioning
Questioning (sexuality and gender)
The questioning of one's gender, sexual identity, sexual orientation, or all three is a process of exploration by people who may be unsure, still exploring, and concerned about applying a social label to themselves for various reasons...
(LGBTQ) concerns covering the twenty years (1989–2009) for which data was available, King & King was fourth on the list after Daddy's Roommate
Daddy's Roommate
Daddy's Roommate is a children's book written by Michael Willhoite and published by Alyson Books in 1991 . The book, about a young boy whose divorced father now lives with his gay partner, deals with the controversial subject of homosexual parents.Daddy's Roommate was one of the first children's...
by Michael Willhoite (1st), Heather Has Two Mommies
Heather Has Two Mommies
Heather Has Two Mommies is a children's book written by Lesléa Newman with Diana Souza's illustrations, first published in 1989. It is about a child, Heather, raised by lesbian women: her biological mother, Jane, who gave birth to her after artificial insemination, and her biological mother's...
by Leslea Newman
Lesléa Newman
Lesléa Newman, born in 1955 in Brooklyn, New York, is an American author and editor. She is Jewish, a feminist and openly lesbian.She has written and edited 57 books and anthologies. She has written about such topics as being a Jew, body image and eating disorders, lesbianism, gay parenting, and...
(2nd) and And Tango Makes Three
And Tango Makes Three
And Tango Makes Three is a 2005 children's book written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole. The book is based on the true story of Roy and Silo, two male Chinstrap Penguins in New York's Central Park Zoo...
by Peter Parnell (3rd). In their list of all banned and challenged books for 2000–2009, King & King is 20th out of 100. In time for Banned Books Week
Banned Books Week
Banned Books Week is an annual awareness campaign that celebrates the freedom to read, draws attention to banned and challenged books, and highlights persecuted individuals...
(last week of September) in 2005, the ALA introduced Banned Books bracelets featuring covers of the popular challenged books, King & King is one of the six offered in children's sizes.
ALA banned books in all categories
- 2003, 9th
- 2004, 8th
The American Booksellers Association
American Booksellers Association
The American Booksellers Association is a non-profit industryassociation founded in 1900 that promotes independent bookstores in the United States and Canada. The ABA and its members support freedom of speech, literacy, and programs that encourage reading...
, books in all categories
- 2004, King & King & Family (2nd)
- 2005, King & King (4th) 2005
The Independent Bookseller Association
- King & King was 2004's most frequently challenged title.
Sequel
King & King & Family (Tricycle Press, March 2004 ISBN 1-58246-113-9) is the sequel to King & King. It is a 32-page hardcover English languageEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
book, at a recommended reading level for children ages 4–8. It was written and illustrated by Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland.
This second installment follows the newlywed kings on their honeymoon. The two explore a jungle, finding various animals that all have children; King Bertie expresses the wish that he and King Lee have a child of their own. When they return home, they find that a lonely orphan girl has stowed away in their suitcase. They adopt her, name her Daisy, and raise her as a princess.
See also
- Children of Lesbians and Gays EverywhereChildren Of Lesbians And Gays EverywhereCOLAGE is an organization, created in 1989 by the children of several lesbian and gay male couples who felt a need for support. Though its membership is not necessarily lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning -identified, COLAGE's focus on the issues of LGBT parents' families makes...
- Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education NetworkGay, Lesbian and Straight Education NetworkThe Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network is an organization in the United States that seeks to end discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression in K-12 schools. GLSEN is headquartered in New York City and the District of Columbia...
- LGBT parentingLGBT parentingLGBT parenting refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people parenting one or more children. This includes children raised by same-sex couples , children raised by single LGBT parents, and children raised by an opposite-sex couple where at least one partner is LGBT.LGBT people can...