TALLAHASSEE — A federal judge this week rejected a challenge to a 2023 decision by the Escambia County School Board to remove the book “And Tango Makes Three” from school libraries, ruling the move did not violate First Amendment rights.

“And Tango Makes Three,” which tells the story of two male penguins who raised a penguin chick at New York’s Central Park Zoo, has become a prominent part of a debate in recent years about removing or restricting access to books at Florida schools. The Escambia County lawsuit alleged the book was targeted for its depictions of same-sex parents raising a child.

But Chief U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, in an 18-page ruling Tuesday, turned down First Amendment arguments raised by the book’s authors, Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, and another

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