Backflip on same sex book ban ‘win’

While hundreds of passionate protesters gathered outside the council – with police keeping them apart – others packed into the council meeting to hear council debate the issue and after more than four hours, decide the book that ignited the issue would be available in the junior non-fiction of its libraries.
There was growling, hissing and homophobic slurs being hurled but that didn’t stop many residents pushing to have the gay book ban reversed.
Speaking at the council meeting, resident Jessica Crowley slammed the ban.
“My soon to be wife and I have a daughter, she is six-months-old …. Does she not deserve to be represented,” Jessica asked.
“Every family’s perfect, irrespective of who their parents are.”
Another speaker, Jessica Maher said the ban was censorship and the council should focus on what the community needed, like more parking, affordable housing and better infrastructure.
“If you don’t like a book, don’t read it,” she said.
Protester Balaji Naranapatti, an immigrant who has been in the Cumberland area for more than 20 years, said everyone should be able to live as equal citizens without discrimination and “that’s why I was there to show support for the LGBTQIA+ community”.
The council also decided that all books will be catalogued and placed within the library according to the records of Libraries Australia (National Library of Australia) and in the rare event that a book is received by council that requires a subjective decision by council staff to give it a classification, the general manager will implement guidelines to assist library staff to ensure that all books are placed in the appropriate sections of the library.
A spokesperson for the Parramatta Greens, welcomed the reversal of the ban and said it was abhorrent that “this censorship attempt occurred in the first place”.
“LGBTQIA+ people and families are a valued part of our community here in Cumberland and deserve to feel safe and included,” they said.