By now, you may have heard that Singapore's National Library Board has banned six books for not being "pro-family" enough. Said books were not sold or donated or archived; instead they are (or were) condemned to be destroyed by pulping.
Said books are:
1) And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson:the real-life story of two male penguins raising a baby chick at the Central Park Zoo;
2) The White Swan Express: A Story About Adoption by Elaine M. Aoki: about an adoption agency in China, and the couples seeking to adopt children there, including a lesbian couple.
3) Who's In My Family: All About Our Families by Robie H. Harris: a survey of different kinds of families, including single-parent families and gay families.
4) It’s Not The Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families And Friends by Robie H. Harris
5) It’s So Amazing!: A Book About Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, And Families by Robie H. Harris
6) It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, And Sexual Health by Robie H. Harris
The first three books were withdrawn based on complaints from the public; the last three were disappeared independently.
I'm too upset to say anything much about this. Sorry.
UPDATE:
JUST IN: MCI Minister Yaacob Ibrahim has instructed the National Library Board to place two controversial children's books in its adult section, instead of pulping them.
That applies to the first two books, not the next four. And in the meantime, we've discovered that an Archie comic's been banned from sales by the MDA.
There's still a hell of a lot of work to be done.
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