A Sydney council has voted to ban books about same-sex parenting.
Cumberland City Council, which includes the western Sydney suburbs of Auburn and Merrylands, made the decision last Wednesday.
Former mayor and current councilor Steve Christou tabled the amendment “for the council to take immediate action to remove same-sex parenting books and materials from the council’s library service”.
The motion was approved with six councilors in favor of the amendment and five against, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.
Christou showed a photograph of a book called Same-Sex Parents, by author Holly Duhig, which he said had sparked complaints from his constituents.
The book features a gay male couple and their son on the cover.
Holluy Duhig’s book, titled ‘Same-Sex Parents’, features two men and a boy on the cover.
Former mayor and current councilor Steve Christou (pictured) tabled the amendment “for the council to take immediate action to remove same-sex parenting books and materials from the council’s library service”.
“This is not Marrickville or Newtown, this is Cumberland City Council, and we must respect the wishes of our residents,” Mr Christou said during the debate.
He said the council’s religious and conservative community did not want “controversial topics that went against their beliefs indoctrinated in their libraries”.
Mayor Lisa Lake voted against the ruling.
“If it’s not a banned book, then there’s certainly no reason it shouldn’t be available to anyone who might be looking for it in our libraries, and it’s certainly not our place to censor it,” Lake said.
“It does not reflect the principles that Cumberland City Council generally espouses in our community.”
Christou rejected the suggestion that the ban was discriminatory, telling the Herald that the book sexualized young children.
“Children are innocent and should be allowed to enjoy appropriate story time in their libraries without being burdened by issues of sexualization,” she told the newspaper.