Studies show that students perform better in schools when their family life is positively reflected in their learning environment – in the lessons teachers teach and in the books they read. All children deserve to have themselves and their families respected in schools. Too often the children of LGBT parents feel invisible among their peers and in the stories their teachers tell. In the worst cases, children of LGBT parents can be teased, taunted, harassed and outright bullied simply because of other people's feelings about their family makeup. Education and leadership are the keys to ensuring greater tolerance of differences among our children now and full acceptance of those differences over time.

That's why we must ensure that books reflecting LGBT-headed families are not catalogued incorrectly or removed from the school and public libraries we access as part of our community life. Each year the American Library Association (ALA) tracks the number of challenges (i.e. individual attempts to change the categorization, location, or existence of materials in libraries) submitted around the country and raises awareness of these challenges in their annual Banned Books Week.

In 2006 and 2007, And Tango Makes Three, a book about male penguins raising a baby chick, topped the ALA 's list as the most challenged book in the country.

We want to help the ALA keep track of these challenges and ensure that fewer and fewer books are challenged nationwide. We need your help. If you hear of a challenge to a book, you can report it using our online reporting tool. We'll make sure the information gets to the ALA. (Alternatively, if you'd like to print out the same form on the ALA 's website and send a hard copy to them, you can access the form here.) For more detailed information on the challenge process and how the ALA creates their annual lists, visit their Challenge Support center.