Rather than let children be exposed to Marc Brown’s book Buster’s Sugartime — where Buster, of the PBS series, visits his mom’s two lesbian friends in Vermont, Karen and Gillian, and their three kids — the Tulsa County Union Public School District was considering a good old fashion booked burning!

Okay, no actual fire; this is the 21st century after all, and school boards don’t act crazy anymore!

Instead, the school district heard an appeal Wednesday night to remove the book (which also makes mention of Buster’s friend’s Lilly’s moms, Tracy and Gina!) from library shelves, after parents Don and Mary Danz complained about The Gays.

But after the Board of Education considered the matter at a public hearing — which did not permit comments from the public — they opted to do the responsible thing, and keep the book stocked. The 3-1 vote confirms an October ruling by the district’s Materials Review Committee, which voted 6-1 to deny the parent’s request.

According to the district’s review committee meeting minutes, the Danzes said their kindergarten-age son brought the book home from Thomas Jefferson Elementary School’s media center and that they thought the reference to “two moms” was not appropriate for elementary-age children. Don Danz, an attorney, told the school board that rather than from a religious or moral perspective, his problem with the book was that it advocated a practice that is not recognized under Oklahoma’s constitution. “For kindergarten through fifth grade, material that advocates — that’s the author’s stated goal — positions, behavior, relationships which are objectively contrary to well-established Oklahoma law” are inappropriate, Danz said. “If a subject matter is inappropriate for a grade level, passing or surpassing all the other criteria (that would make it appropriate) does not save it,” Danz said. “The tough decision is to pull this book. Don’t make this book part of the curriculum; don’t make same-sex unions part of the curriculum.”

[Tulsa World]

(Thanks, Keith!)