Cumberland City Council has overturned its controversial library ban on a children’s book about same-sex parents after fiery debate at a meeting on Wednesday night.
The book, titled Same-Sex Parents by Holly Duhig, is part of a series depicting diverse family structures for a younger audience. It features two men and a child on the front cover.
A motion put forward by Cumberland City Councillor and former mayor Steve Christou to ban the same-sex parenting book from Council libraries passed last week. The decision received mixed reviews from across the political spectrum.
In response, Council voted on Wednesday, May 15 to reverse the ban after four hours of debate and numerous failed attempts at amendments.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, councillors voted for a motion to reinstate the book into its library collections, but to move it from the children’s section to the junior non-fiction section in line with Australian library guidelines.
That motion, put forward by Labor’s Kun Huang, was passed 12-2 just before 10.45pm. The only councillor to support Christou was Eddy Sarkis. Christou was abandoned by two party colleagues, who voted in favour of the motion.
Speaking outside the meeting after the vote, Christou said he was “disappointed by some colleagues that held a firm position and… with pressure put on by the media, that they changed their position.”
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Merrylands council chambers on Wednesday night, chanting and yelling amid a heavy police presence.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
