TRANSCRIPT
(Crowd chanting) "Stay away from our kids!", "We demand our equal rights!", "Stay away from our kids!", "We demand our equal rights!", "Stay away from our kids!", "We demand our equal rights!"
Amid a heavy police presence, more than 200 protesters gathered outside the local council chambers [[in Merrylands]], with attendees holding opposing views on a children's book about same-sex parenting in the local library.
The meeting was held just two weeks after the Cumberland City Council voted in favour of banning the book, after the state government warned of potential funding cuts.
New South Wales Arts Minister John Graham said the council's decision contravenes the Library Act 1939 section on freedom of access to information guidelines.
That provision states that as long as the book title is not restricted by federal or state authorities, it "should not be excluded from a public library on moral, political, racial, religious, sexist, language, or other grounds".
Legal Director for Equality Australia, Ghassan Kassisieh grew up in Western Sydney. He told SBS it was a long night.
"The debate, over the four hours, there were groups of protesters outside, those that wanted to maintain the ban remained for the entirety of the night over sometimes banging on the windows but the quiet yet persistent voice of equality and inclusion for all of us, and that there's a place for all of us in our communities won the day. You know, and as I reflect today, it's time for our community to take a collective breath and remember that there is a space for all of our families and we deserve to be seen and valued in our local communities, and I'm just so grateful for the council voting 12 to 2 to recognise that."
The Cumberland City Council covers a population of about 240,000 people living near Parramatta.
Earlier in May, the council narrowly voted to "take immediate action to rid same-sex parents books/materials in council's library service".
The decision was made after Cumberland councillor Steve Christou brought forward the motion, telling council members he was contacted by "distraught parents" over the the book Same-Sex Parents by Holly Duhig.
The book depicts diverse family structures for a younger audience, with a front cover showing two men and a child.
"This is not the first time that we've received such complaints, in September of 2023. We received similar complaints about a different book, and this book was talking about gender identity and pride. And the book emphasised that, you know, again in the two-year-old section, that it's okay to be non binary, and it's okay, you know to transgender issues. Now, there is nothing wrong with such books, as long as it's age appropriate."
The local council vote on the motion to reinstate the books passed with 12 members for and two against.
As a result, the book at the centre of the ban will return to the children's section of libraries.
Two separate petitions urging the return of the book collected more than 50,000 signatures.
Mr Kassisieh says local grandmother Caroline Staples drove a lot of that result - and it reflects the strong community sentiment on the issue.
"She was bringing forward this petition, really as an ally, but also as a grandmother, on behalf of her own family, but all of the families in the area that deserve to be represented on the shelves at their local library, and it's really up to everyone, to make up their own mind about what books they borrow and they don't."
The motion to ban it received national and global attention, with some fearing it signalled the importation of American culture wars into Australia.
Mr Kassisieh says it is concerning that the book ban was brought about by councillor Christou when he revealed in the latest council meeting that he had not read the children's book by Holly Duhig.
"It was addressed last night that the 2,400 people of the Cumberland area were perfectly happy with a children's book being available to those who want to read it. It was very clear, he made clear that he hadn't read the book and I think what we can get out of last night is, all of us deserve better from our elected representatives. We don't want to see these divisive motions tearing our suburbs apart. We've got better things to do than be dealing with a book-by-book analysis of what should be in in our libraries."
Councillor Christou says it is disappointing that a whole group in the community have been silenced.
"Now whilst one group got to present a petition of 50,000 signatures, another group had their voice silenced. They started a petition on a similar platform, saying uphold the ban, and their petition was promptly taken down, and their voices and signatures silenced. How's this fairness in our community? We want to talk about fairness and respect and loving everybody's views. Well how is listening to one side of the community's views respect but silencing another side of the community's views, respectful, it's not on, and I'm here to represent our local community."
Earlier this year, a motion was passed by Cumberland City Council banning drag queen storytime events, where drag queens read books to children in libraries.
Despite participation in such events being completely voluntary, the events have also been cancelled in Victoria after alleged threats were made to performers and organisers.
Drag Queen Dolly Diamond was affected by those cancellations in Victoria. She says the ban make no sense.
"Is it simply reading stories to children. Is it all right to dressed up like this? Or would it be more acceptable if I was the same human being dressed up like a banana? Or a Kangaroo? It's still me reading to children."
In the US, there has been a strong increase in book bans, with Texas recording the most attempts.
Data by writers group PEN America notes nearly 6,000 (5,894) instances of schoolbook bans over a two-year period between July 2021 and June 2023 across 41 states.
In a number of cases, the removed books are eventually returned to the shelves - but each case involved a wholesale removal before any considered evaluation took place.
Mr Kassisieh says that situation is not what the community of Western Sydney wants or needs.
"We all deserve to belong in the suburbs that we call home. We don't want to see American style culture wars imported into our suburbs. And when the community's voices heard, we see that there's a great cost. When a few try and weaponize the sorts of issues for their own gain."
