News
Will Trump, gov’t agencies recognize Pride month?
Would be first GOP president to issue such a proclamation
Picture it: President Trump enters the East Room of the White House on a warm D.C. day in June to the sound of cheers from adoring members of the LGBT community holding up their iPhones to document the occasion with videos and photos.
With his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner at his side, Trump welcomes guests and commemorates June as Pride month by recognizing the LGBT community’s accomplishments in recent years.
Having trouble with this image? It could be because ofĀ the anti-LGBT positions and actions Trump and his administration have taken or perhaps because such an event would anger anti-LGBT groups that supported his election. It could be because instead of cheering him, LGBT people angered by his policies would boo Trump out of the room.
It might also be because recent reports Trump may have abused executive power or committed obstruction of justice raise questions about whether Trump will even be president in June.
Assuming Trump remains in office, it remains to be seen what steps he’ll take, if any, to recognize June as Pride month. Kelly Love, a White House spokesperson, said via email when asked if Trump wouldĀ issue a Pride proclamation or host a White House Pride reception, “We will let you know as soon as we announce our June proclamations.”
During the 2016 election, Trump in an interview with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl said he’d “look into” whether he could issue a proclamation as president recognizing June as Pride month, essentially dodging the question.
āI would look into it,” Trump said. “And I feel so badly what happened [in Orlando]. And we have to do something about it.ā
President Clinton started the tradition of issuing a proclamation to recognize June as Pride month. Although President George W. Bush discontinued that tradition, it was renewed by President Obama, who also in each of his years in office held a White House reception to celebrate Pride with members of the LGBT community.
If Trump were to continue the recognition of June as Pride month with either a proclamation or a reception, he would be the first Republican president to do so. It would also be consistent with his claims during the presidential campaignĀ that he’s a bigger friend to LGBT people than his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Gregory Angelo, president of Log Cabin Republicans, said his group ā largely alone among LGBT organizations thatĀ support and interact with the Trump administration ā has proposed the idea of Trump recognizing Pride, but no commitments wereĀ made.
“The suggestion has been formally made to the White House,” Angelo said. “Conversations are ongoing. It’s too soon to comment further.”
Given Trump’s predilection forĀ photo ops ā such as the pictures he’s taken with business leaders and presidents of historically black colleges ā one possibility for Trump recognizing Pride is a shot of him in the Oval Office with Angelo and high-profile LGBT people who supported him like Peter Thiel, Caitlyn Jenner or Ric Grenell.
It’s not just whether Trump will recognize Pride that remains in question. In years past, the affinity groups for LGBT workers at federal departments hosted Pride celebrations.
Some of those celebrations were newer than others. The Pride celebration at the Pentagon only came about after “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal in 2010, but celebrations at the U.S. Justice Department occurred even during the Bush administration and former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey addressed LGBT employees in 2008. By the end of last year, virtually each of the departments had some kind of celebration.
Under the Obama administration, the heads of the departments were featured speakers atĀ the Pride events and delivered remarks in solidarity with LGBT people. It’s certainly hard to imagine Attorney General Jeff Sessions addressing LGBT employees at the Justice Department.
The Washington Blade reached out to multiple affinity groups for LGBT federal workers, but ā perhaps in a sign of fear of reprisal ā they were largely silentĀ on plans for Pride celebrations with June just a few weeks away. FedQ, the umbrella organization for the groups, didn’t respond to multiple requests forĀ comment.
John Elias, president of DOJ Pride, was the only head of an LGBT affinity group to respond to the Blade’s request and would say only that plans are underway for some kind of Pride recognition.
“The Department’s LGBT Pride Month Observance Program is in the planning phase,” Elias said. “I expect the format will remain as it has been in recent years.”
Elias didn’t respond to a follow-up email on whether that meant Sessions would be invited to speak at the event and if he planned on attending as Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch did under the Obama administration.
UPDATE: After the initial publication of this article, a number of affinity for LGBT federal groups responded to affirm their agencies are set to hold events recognizing June as Pride month.
At the Small Business Administration, spokesperson Mark Gibson said, “Plans are currently underway but nothing is concrete as of yet.”
Rudy Reyns, president of DOD Pride, said an event would take place in Pentagon Center Courtyard on June 12 and Defense Secretary James Mattis has been invited to attend if his schedule allows.
A representative from HUD Glove said the group is planning four events to recognize June as Pride month. The group has invited HUD Secretary Ben Carson to speak, the representative said, although he hasn’t yet confirmed his attendance.
District of Columbia
D.C. bill to study trans deaths faces opposition from LGBTQ advocates
Measure calls for creating Medical Examiner committee to identify trends
In a little-noticed development, D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) introduced a bill in September 2023 calling for creating a special committee within the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to determine and study trends related to the cause of death of transgender and āgender diverseā people in the District of Columbia.
The bill is called the Transgender and Gender Diverse Mortality and Fatality Review Committee Establishment Act. Among other things, it mandates that the medical examinerās office through the newly created committee āidentify and characterize the scope and nature of transgender and gender-diverse mortalities and fatalities, to describe and record any trends, data, or patterns that are observed surrounding transgender and gender-diverse mortalities and fatalities.ā
In a development that some observers say caught Pinto off guard, officials with two prominent D.C. LGBTQ supportive organizations ā the Whitman Walker Institute and the LGBTQ youth advocacy group SMYAL ā expressed strong opposition to the bill in testimony submitted in April as a follow-up to a Council hearing on the bill conducted by Pinto on March 21.
Among other things, the officials ā Benjamin Brooks, Whitman-Walker Instituteās Associate Director of Policy and Education; and Erin Whelan, SMYALās executive director, said the committee to be created by the bill to identify trans people who die would be an invasion of their and their familiesā privacy. The two said the funds needed to pay for identifying whether someone who dies is transgender should be used instead for other endeavors, including supporting trans people in need, and protecting their rights.
The hearing record for the Councilās Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, which Pinto chairs and which conducted the hearing, shows that Brooks and Whelan were among four witnesses that testified against the bill. Six witnesses, including officials with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Medical Society of the District of Columbia, testified in support of the bill.
Also testifying in support of the bill with suggested revisions was Vincent Slatt, who serves as chair of the D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commission Rainbow Caucus.
Jenna Beebe-Aryee, Supervisory Fatality Review Program Manager for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, testified that the bill would be āremarkably challengingā for that office and its partnering city agencies to carry out, including what she said would be a difficult process of identifying whether someone who has died is transgender or gender diverse. But she did not state that her office and the Office of the Mayor outright oppose the bill.
The bill has remained in Pintoās committee since the time of the hearing, with no indication from Pinto of what her plans are for going forward with the bill, including whether she plans to make revisions and if or when she may plan to bring the bill to the full Council for a vote.
Victoria Casarrubias, Pintoās communications director, told the Blade last week that Pintoās office had no immediate comment on Pintoās plans for the bill.
The 17-page bill, according to its introductory summary page, would also ācreate a strategic framework for improving transgender and gender-diverse health outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities in the District,ā and to ārecommend training to improve the identification, investigation, and prevention of transgender and gender-diverse fatalities, and to make publicly available an annual report of its findings, recommendations, and steps taken to evaluate implementation of past recommendations.ā
The bill authorizes the D.C. mayor to appoint the members of the newly created medical examinerās committee and requires that members include representatives of six D.C. government agencies, including the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner; the departments of Health; Behavioral Health; Health Care Finance; Human Services; and the Mayorās Office of LGBTQ Affairs.
It calls on the Office of LGBTQ Affairs to provide support to other city agencies in developing procedures for identifying transgender people who the agencies have provided services for and who have died.
It also requires the mayor to name as committee members representatives of organizations providing health care and services for the transgender community as well as a social worker specializing in transgender related issues and a college or university representative āconducting research in transgender and gender-diverse mortality trends or fatality prevention.ā
Seven other members of the 13-member D.C. Council signed on as co-introducers of the bill. They include Council members Robert White (D-At-Large), Anita Bonds (D-At-Large), Christina Henderson (I-At Large), Matthew Frumin (D-Ward 3), Janese Lewis George (D-Ward 4), Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), and Vincent Gray (D-Ward 7).
Spokespersons for Gray and Bonds told the Blade the two Council members continue to support the bill and would consider any revisions that those who have expressed concern about the bill might suggest.
āThe establishment of this committee will continue the Districtās leading role in LGBTQIA+ advocacy and legislation,ā Pinto states in a letter accompanying her introduction of the bill. āThe Committee will be the first entity of its kind in the United States,ā according to her letter.
Pinto cites in her letter studies and national data showing that deaths of trans people are disproportionately higher due to a variety of causes, including illness compared to cisgender people in the United States. āTrans women in particular are disproportionately vulnerable to the aforementioned risks, as well as to violence and murder, with one in four trans women likely to be victimized by a hate-related crime,ā Pinto said in her letter.
āAlthough data are limited, some studies suggest that transgender people are ātwice as likely to die as cisgender peopleā due to āheart disease, lung cancer, HIV-related illness and suicide,ā with trans women being ātwo times as likely to die compared to cis men and āthree times as likelyā compared to cis women,ā Pinto states in her letter.
In their testimony against the bill, Brooks of Whitman Walker and Whalen of SMYAL said the problems they believe the bill will bring about outweigh the benefits that Pinto says it will provide for the trans community.
āIt is improper for the District government to be investigating and determining someoneās gender identity,ā Brooks said in his testimony. āThis would require District agencies to coordinate investigations into deeply personal characteristics of many people,ā he said. āThis invasion of privacy is a poor use of the governmentās time and energy.ā
Brooks stated that the city has existing policies and requirements designed to find ways to improve the lives of transgender and gender diverse residents. He pointed to the LGBTQ Health Data Collection Amendment Act of 2018, which requires the Department of Health to produce a comprehensive report on the health and health disparities faced by the D.C. LGBTQ community. According to Brooks, the Department of Health has not released such a report since 2017.
āWe strongly recommend that rather than proposing to spend precious time and scarce resources on a novel and invasive committee, the District should put those resources towards fulfilling existing data collection and reporting obligations,ā Brooks states in his testimony.
Whelan of SMYAL expressed similar concerns in her testimony. āTransgender and Gender-Diverse (TGD) people do not need yet another violation of their privacy and exposure to more questions and interrogation for them to provide the reasons for the incredible amount of violence and loss the transgender and gender-diverse community faces,ā Whelen says in her testimony.
āWhat we do need are solutions on how to address the underlying causes of anti-transgender violence, in addition to the barriers that prevent transgender and gender-diverse communities from accessing and maintaining safe and stable housing, and accessing affirming mental health resources,ā Whelan adds in her testimony. āWhat we as a community need is diligent action in a positive direction to actually address the lack of resources, services, and violence towards this community.ā
Supporters of the bill might point out that it includes strongly worded language calling for keeping personal information about transgender and gender-diverse people who die confidential and calls for criminal penalties for anyone who violates the confidentiality provision by disclosing the information, including whether a deceased person identified as transgender.
Brooks said strong grounds exist for not enacting the bill despite its privacy provision.
āThe collection of sensitive information, particularly for decedents who cannot advocate for their own right to privacy, always raises the potential for inappropriate disclosure regardless of potential penalties,ā he said. āThe threat of criminal prosecution can be a deterrent to the intentional inappropriate sharing of private information; however, it may not stop accidental or inadvertent disclosure,ā he said.
Slattās testimony calls for six specific suggested revisions in the bill pertaining to ways the newly created medical examiner committee would obtain information about trans people who die, including the suggestion that the Mayorās Office of LGBTQ Affairs become involved in identifying trans people who pass away and be given one or more additional staff members to help support its increased responsibilities under the legislation.
āMembers of the ANC Rainbow Caucus have discussed this proposed bill and find that it is a remarkable and historic step towards addressing trans and gender-diverse mortalities and fatalities,ā Slatt says in his testimony.
āAt a time when trans and gender-diverse people are under attack by municipalities across the nation, the District of Columbia is setting an example on how to create not just a culture of inclusion, but also a culture of belonging for trans residents,ā he stated.
Rehoboth Beach
New Rehoboth city manager called strong LGBTQ ally
Taylour Tedder backed first-ever Pride proclamation in conservative Nevada city
Taylour Tedder, whose appointment as the new Rehoboth Beach, Del. city manager has come under fire over his salary and benefits package, is described as a strong and committed LGBTQ community ally by the leader of an LGBTQ rights organization in Boulder City, Nev., where Tedder served as city manager for three years before being hired for that same position in Rehoboth.
He is scheduled to begin his new job in Rehoboth on May 15.
Brynn DeLorimier, president of Dam Pride, the LGBTQ organization of Boulder City, told the Washington Blade Tedder played a lead role in helping the group successfully lobby the mayor and City Council in what she calls a conservative, Republican-dominated city to approve earlier this year a first-ever proclamation naming June 2024 as Pride Month in Boulder City.
āI feel heās very supportive,ā DeLorimier said. āWeāre really, really sad to see him go. I have a feeling we wonāt find a city manager as progressive and diplomatic as he is,ā she said. āSo, Rehoboth Beach is really lucky to have him.ā
Since it voted unanimously on April 8 to hire Tedder as city manager, the seven-member Rehoboth City Commission, which acts as a city council, has come under criticism from some Rehoboth residents for providing Tedder with a contract that includes an annual salary of $250,000, coverage of $50,000 for his moving expenses, and a $750,000 house loan that will be forgiven in full if he remains in his job for seven years.
Rehobothās two gay commissioners, Patrick Gossett, and Edward Chrzanowski, are among the commissioners who have been criticized for voting to hire Tedder on grounds, among other things, that his salary and benefits package are out of line with that given to Rehobothās previous city managers,
Rehoboth Mayor Stan Mills, who also serves on the commission, called Tedder āfiscally savvy, experienced in the day-day-day operations of a destination community, enthusiastic and energetic, and a fantastic communicator,ā according to the Cape Gazette newspaper. Mills and others supportive of Tedderās hiring have noted that in recent years city manager positions have become highly competitive among cities large and small across the country.
They point out that Rehobothās previous city manager, Laurence Christian, resigned and left the city in November of last year after serving only about 10 months. A salary and benefits package like what Tedder has received is needed to find and retain a talented and qualified city manager, his supporters have said.
Nearly all the public discussion about Tedder has centered on his salary and benefits as well as claims by some critics that he may not have certain job requirements specified in the Rehoboth City Charter. The Washington Blade could not find reports of any public discussion on whether the Rehoboth City Commission, including the two gay Commission members, sought to find out Tedderās record and position on LGBTQ issues in a beach city with a large number of LGBTQ residents and visitors.
Kim Leisey, executive director of CAMP Rehoboth, the LGBTQ community Center, said she too had not heard of any discussion on Tedderās record or positions on LGBTQ issues.
The Blade couldnāt immediately reach Tedder for comment. DeLorimier of Dam Pride, which she said is named for the Hoover Dam located in Boulder City that makes the city a national tourist destination, said Tedder told her his contract with Rehoboth prevents him from speaking with the press until he begins his new job on May 15.
Mills, the Rehoboth mayor, in response to a request for comment by the Blade, said he and the other commissioners could not publicly disclose the questions asked and responses they received, including any related to LGBTQ issues, in their interviews with candidates applying for the Rehoboth City Manager position under a confidentiality policy, according to Lynne Cohen, the Rehoboth City communications director.
āHe did mention to me that the job posting for the city manager position mentioned or includes language that the City of Rehoboth Beach has a vibrant LGBTQ+ community,ā Cohen said. āAnd that they had asked every candidate if they had read the job posting, and they indicated they had,ā Cohen told the Blade in recounting her conversation with Mills.
Rehoboth officials have said Tedder was selected after a six-month nationwide search.
Prior to his tenure as city manager of Boulder City, Tedder served for a little over five years as assistant city manager for the city of Leavenworth, Kan., a suburb of Kansas City.
DeLorimier said she initially approached Boulder City officials last year to request that a Pride proclamation be issued in time for the June 2023 Pride celebration, but the mayor, a conservative Republican, turned down the request during a meeting that Tedder attended. She said the meeting became tense, noting that the mayorās abrupt decision to say no came after she argued that LGBTQ residents in Boulder City deserved recognition during Pride month.
āAt that point Taylour Tedder spoke up,ā DeLorimier recalled. āHe said, well, maybe start a group and gather support from the community and come back and ask again next year.ā And that is exactly what she and others did, according to DeLorimier, who told of her and her fellow LGBTQ activistsā effort to create Dam Pride.
She also pointed out that Tedder mentioned that the cityās longstanding tradition of changing the color of a string of lights hanging over the cityās main street to celebrate special occasions like Christmas and Valentine’s Day, referred to as the āBistro Lights,ā could also be adopted to reflect Pride month.
āTaylour said, by the way, we can change them to rainbow colors with the flip of a switch,ā DeLorimier recalls. āHe offered that up himself. So, that indicates to me heās very supportive of the cause.ā
Added DeLorimier, āI really feel like Taylour helped us. He gave us all the help we needed. And we will be celebrating Pride month, our very first one, this June.ā
World
Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia
Nonbinary Swiss singer Nemo won this year’s Eurovision
EUROVISION
Swiss singer Nemo won the Eurovision Song Contest with their operatic pop-rap song āThe Codeā about their journey to accepting their nonbinary identity.
āI went to hell and back, to find myself on track, I broke the code,ā Nemo sang in the chorus of their winning song.
Dressed in a frilly pink blouse and miniskirt, Nemo dazzled the audience at the Malmƶ Arena in Sweden, home to last yearās winner, Loreen.
Nemoās win is the first win for Switzerland since Canadian singer Celine Dion competed under the Swiss flag in 1988.
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held by the European Broadcasting Union since 1956, in which representatives of all member states present original songs. The entrants are voted upon by a panel of judges and by viewing audiences, who award points to their 10 favorite performances.Ā
Over the years, the competition has become well-known as a camp spectacle and a favorite event for the European LGBTQ community, with many high-profile queer competitors and winners, including Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst, who returned to this yearās show to perform a tribute to ABBA, who won the competition for Sweden with the song āWaterlooā in 1974.
This yearās UK entrant was nonbinary performer Olly Alexander, formerly of the band Years & Years. Their song āDizzy,ā a homoerotic pop-dance track that featured a quartet of dancing boxers, finished in 18thĀ place with only 46 points, after receiving no points from the voting audience.
This yearās competition was not without controversy.
The venue was met with a large protest demanding that Israel, which has competed in Eurovision since 1973, be removed from the competition due to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. Additional security measures were put in place for the competition
Israelās entrant, Edan Golan, had been a favorite early in the competition, but her song āHurricaneā finished fifth. The song had also drawn controversy, and Golan was ordered to change the title and lyrics by the EBU from āOctober Rainā due to its references to the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.
Golan travelled with agents of the Israeli Security Agency Shin Bet after death threats were made on her social media.
Additionally, Dutch performer Joost Klein was disqualified ahead of the final competition after an alleged altercation with a female production staffer that has led to a police investigation.
UNITED KINGDOM
Actor Ian Gelder, best known for his role as Kevan Lannister in the HBO seriesĀ “Game of Thrones,”Ā has passed away at age 74, five months after he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.
Gelderās husband, Ben Daniels, announced his passing in a post on Instagram on Tuesday.
āIt is with huge, huge sadness and a heavy heart broken into a million pieces that Iām leaving this post to announce the passing of my darling husband and life partner Ian Gelder,ā Daniels wrote in the caption of a photo taken of the couple at Christmas, shortly after Gelderās first round of treatment for his cancer.
āHe was my absolute rock and weād been partners for more than 30 years. If we werenāt together, we spoke to each other every day. He was the kindest, most generous spirited, and loving human being. He was a wonderful, wonderful actor and everyone who worked with him was touched by his heart and light,ā Daniels wrote.
Gelder was diagnosed with bile duct cancer in December. Such cancers are often not detected by health care providers until they have spread to other parts of the body.
Gelder had a long career in film and television and on the British stage, frequently appearing in Londonās West End and Shakespeareās Globe Theatre.Ā
Among his numerous television appearances was a stint on the “Doctor Who” spinoff “Torchwood,” and the celebrated UK sitcom “Absolutely Fabulous.”
POLAND
Declaring that she would āgo to hell and make a deal with the devilā to advance the rights of Polandās LGBTQ community, Equalities Minister Katarzyna Kotula joined the Equality March in ÅĆ³dÅŗ, the countryās fourth-largest city, on May 11.
The march was the 13th edition of the event, and the first time it had been attended by a government minister.
Last year, Poland elected a new government coalition of center-left leaning parties that have pledged to support LGBTQ rights, a sharp contrast to the right-wing, LGBTQ-hostile government that preceded them.
Still, the government has been slow to act on its stated promises to the LGBTQ community, including a law on civil unions, a ban on hate speech, and a gender recognition act, amid squabbling from more conservative members of the coalition.
Kotula has said that sheās waiting to introduce the civil union bill until she can get agreement from the coalition on key sticking points, including adoption rights.
āFor civil partnerships, for marriage equality, for the Gender Reconciliation Act, for dignity and human rights for the LGBT community, I will go to hell and make a pact with the devil. I promise that when we meet here next year, at least some of these demands will be implemented,ā Kotula said at the march. āI will do everything to take care of your dignity and your safety.ā
The organizers of the march, the Equality Factory, are calling for even greater rights, including full marriage equality, abortion and contraception rights, comprehensive sex education in schools, and facilitation of medical treatment for gender transition.
āWe are marching because words about equality cannot be thrown around. We are not a bargaining chip. We were promised something and the election promises should be fulfilled. The most important requirement to be implemented is the act on civil partnerships. This is not only about LGBTQ+ people, but also about protecting heterosexual people in relationships, because there is no such thing as cohabitation in Polish law. This should be important for all Poles,ā Ida Mickiewicz-Florczak from the Equality FactoryĀ told the Polish news site Odaka.
Even if the civil partnership law passes through Parliament, it may face a veto from President Andrzej Duda of the opposition Law and Justice Party, which has vociferously opposed LGBTQ rights. So far, Duda, who will be in office until presidential elections in May 2025, has not indicated how he will act on the bill, stating heās waiting until it is introduced to comment.
SOUTH KOREA
The Seoul Queer Culture Festival has found a new home after two years of struggle with the city council repeated denying permits for the annual festival.
The Queer Culture Festival had been held at Seoul Plaza at City Hall ever since 2015, but last year it was denied a permit, which the conservative-leaning city council decided to give to a Christian youth concert instead. This year, the city council has announced that the plaza is being used for a outdoor library all through spring and summer, effectively blocking all event applications.
āI think Seoul city is focusing on events that only suit its taste,ā Yang Sun-woo, chief organiser of the festival, told Reuters. āIf Seoul cared about LGBT people, they would have understood the significance of the event.ā
In response, organizers of the Queer Culture Festival have decided this yearās edition will take place on a several blocks in downtown Seoul, which only required the permission of police, rather than city council.
The festival, which takes place over two weeks in June, kicks off with a parade on June 1 and will feature a queer film festival, live performances, and 60 booths for vendors and interactive events.
For its part, Seoul City Council denies that anti-LGBTQ discrimination played a part in its decision to twice deny permits for the event.
The city government said it is āalways listening to voices and providing necessary support to protect human rights of LGBTQ people as members of society,ā in a statement.
The Queer Culture Festival was also denied a permit by the Seoul History Museum.
The U.S. Embassy in Seoul will also support the event, as it has in previous years.
āAs in past years, embassy representatives will join in Pride events worldwide, including here in the Republic of Korea, to raise awareness of the challenges faced by LGBTQI+ individuals,ā the embassy told Reuters in a statement.
AUSTRALIA
Cumberland in New South Wales drew international headlines this week after its city council voted 6-5 to ban books on same-sex parenting from local libraries. Four council members were not present for the May 1 vote.
The motion amends the councilās library strategy to order āthat council take immediate action to rid same sex parents books/materials in councilās library service.ā
The move from the council, which represents around 250,000 people in the western suburbs of Sydney, was swiftly condemned by residents, LGBTQ leaders, and representatives of the state government.
New South Wales Attorney General Michael Daley has referred the motion to the stateās Anti-Discrimination Board for advice, while Arts Minister John Graham has warned the council that the new policy directive puts state library funding for the council in jeopardy, as it would breach public library guidelines. Heās asked council to reconsider the ban.
āItās a terrible message to send, to have this councilor importing this US culture war into our country and playing it out on the shelves of the local library,ā Graham said on a morning television show. āI think the community expectations are clear ā the local councilor should be coming around to pick up their bin, not telling them what to read.ā
Cumberlandās local council is dominated by the relatively LGBTQ-friendly Australian Labor Party, but the motion from Our Local Government Party Councilor Steve Christou carried with support from Liberal-Party-affiliated Independents and a single vote from a Labor councilor, who has since been condemned by the party.
The move comes just a few months after the same council voted to ban drag queen storytime events at local libraries.
Christou says the motion was inspired after he received complaints from constituents who saw the book “Same-Sex Parents” by Holly Duhig on display in the childrenās section of a library. The book explores what itās like to have two moms or two dads from a childās perspective.
During the debate on the motion, Christou alleged that the book āsexualizedā children and repeated dog-whistle allegations against queer people and parents.
āWeāre going to make it clear tonight that ā¦ these kind of books, same-sex parents books, donāt find their way to our kids,ā Christou said, according to the Guardian. āOur kids shouldnāt be sexualized.ā
Christou said the proposed amendment was āfor the protection and safety of our children.ā
āHands off our kids,ā he repeated.
Christou has said the amendment was demanded by his community, which he says is a āvery religious community,ā despite the fact that a petition against the amendment garnered more than 10,000 signatures in 24 hours.
āThis community is a very religious community, a very family-orientated community.
āThey donāt want such controversial issues going against their beliefs indoctrinated to their libraries. This is not Marrickville or Newtown, this is Cumberland City Council.ā
The petition was launched by a Cumberland area grandmother to what she describes as a ārainbow familyā Caroline Staples. Staples will present her petition to the council on May 15.