Councils are supposed to represent, not to discriminate.

Cumberland City Council in Western Sydney have taken some steps backward in time and voted to remove books containing LGBTQIA+ parenting material from all council-run libraries in their boundaries. 

Steve Christou, who is a current councillor at the Cumberland City Council and former mayor, put forward a motion “that council take immediate action to rid same-sex parents books/materials in council’s library service.” 

Six councillors voted in favour of the motion. Five councillors, including Mayor Lisa Lake voted against it.

Christou told the council that the motion is representative of the “religious and conservative” community he serves in Cumberland City Council. 

“This community is a very religious community, a very family-orientated community.” And here I was thinking that in 2024 we had finally accepted that families with same-sex parents are still families. 

“They don’t want such controversial issues going against their beliefs indoctrinated to their libraries.” 

“This is not Marrickville or Newtown, this is Cumberland City Council, and we need to respect the wishes of our residents.” 

According to Christou, such material “opens up our children” to “sexualisation.”

I do not believe it is the place of the council to dictate what people can and cannot have access to, especially books. They do not have the right to tell people what they can and cannot read. 

Should a motion be tabled that crime books encourage crime and may provide encouragement for committing violent acts? Should those books be removed from shelves too? 

Are councils not elected to represent instead of discriminate? This is blatant homophobia from a group of councillors, who seem to have the view that their opinions and views are the only ones that matter, above the people they are supposed to be representing. 

The Cumberland City Council area has a population of 245,323 and has eight local libraries. 

This is absolute bullshit. We have freedom of speech and information, this blatantly goes against it. 

While they have not gone as far as to burn the books, you could liken it to the fact that Nazi Germany would burn any books that they considered to be “degenerate.” Nearly 100 years on from such times, I cannot believe that this is something we are discussing. It is censorship in the 21st Century.  

The book that has apparently prompted this is entitled Same-Sex Parents, written by Holly Duhig. The description of the book reads it “explores same-sex parents, equips children with the confidence to answer questions, and shows that all families are different but equally loving.” 

This action says to me, and I’m sure to many other people that the Cumberland City Council believe there is only one way that a family should look and any family that looks different from that stereotypical image is not welcome in their community. It says that they do not accept diversity in their council area. It says that if you are different in any way you are not welcome, we do not want to learn about you, we do not want you. 

This decision should be reversed. Diversity should be celebrated. The people of Cumberland City Council need to have a good look at what type of people they have “representing” them.