Remember the last CMS book controversy? Here’s what it tells us about the latest

A little more than a decade ago, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials pulled from four elementary school libraries a non-fiction book about a chick and its two penguin fathers. A few CMS parents and Mecklenburg commissioner Bill James had questioned the book – “And Tango Makes Three” – which some believed promoted homosexuality.

The controversy sparked headlines here and across the country before CMS quickly put the book back on the shelves. “And Tango Makes Three” stayed in the news, however, becoming one of the most banned books in the U.S. for a five-year stretch.

Now, as CMS has become tangled in new book controversy, Tango has another lesson to offer.

As the Observer’s Ann Doss Helms reported Tuesday, CMS reversed plans to use “Jacob’s New Dress,” a book about a boy who likes to dress like a girl, in four elementary schools. The book had been selected as part of an anti-bullying program, but at least one teacher complained to N.C. lawmakers, who seemed poised to do something about it.

Instead, former N.C. Rep. Charles Jeter, who is the school district’s government liaison, helped find a resolution. CMS will use “Red: A Crayon’s Story,” which is about a red crayon that sees itself as blue, as a replacement for “Jacob’s New Dress.”

The NC Values Coalition celebrated the move Tuesday. “The purpose of our elementary schools is to teach writing, reading and arithmetic, not to encourage boys to wear dresses,” said executive director Tami Fitzgerald. “These lessons found in ‘Jacob’s New Dress’ and ‘My Princess Boy’ and other transgender curriculum are not appropriate for any child whose parents support traditional family values.”

Let’s be clear: Including “Jacob’s New Dress” in an anti-bullying program was not about promoting a transgender agenda, but about promoting acceptance and safety for vulnerable students. That’s something Fitzgerald unfortunately seems to value less.

A bigger question is why far-flung N.C. lawmakers, at least some of whom favor less-intrusive government, seemed once again poised to interfere in a local issue. It’s a good bet that CMS would have grappled with questions surrounding “Jacob’s New Dress” without the threat of the Raleigh cavalry riding in. We’re glad the district found a substitute book that conveys a similar message in a manner that’s less uncomfortable for some teachers and parents.

That message, by the way, is hardly a new one. It’s that while people may be different than us, they deserve to be free from bias, discrimination and harm.

That also was an underlying message in “And Tango Makes Three,” which has dropped off banned book lists in recent years as the notion of same-sex parents has found greater acceptance. By no means are gays and lesbians safe from bias and violence now, but progress has come slowly and inevitably, as it does for minority groups.

The same will happen, in small steps, with the transgender community. CMS should be applauded for taking one.

This story was originally published March 22, 2017 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Remember the last CMS book controversy? Here’s what it tells us about the latest."