In 1998, Roy and Silo, a pair of male chinstrap penguins at Central Park Zoo in New York, were given an abandoned egg to incubate after zookeepers observed them performing mating rituals together. For 34 days, they took turns sitting on it. When the egg hatched, the story became a viral sensation. The New York Times celebrated “A Love That Dare Not Squeak Its Name”. Roy, Silo and their daughter Tango became the subject of a LGBTQ-friendly children’s book, And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell.
Biology professor Nathan Lents remembers receiving copies of Tango as a gift when he and his husband became foster parents. Fast-forward to the present day, and Tango tops Pen America’s list of the most frequently banned picture books in the US. It was part of a high-profile lawsuit in Nassau County, Florida, and was designated for pulping by officials in Singapore. In 2025, it’s apparent that “conventional categories for gender identity and expression, and sexual attraction and romanticism, are just not cutting it any more”, Lents writes. Queer, non-binary, transgender, polyamorous – terms that were perhaps once obscure are here to stay. But at the same time, a powerful backlash is under way.
