On the 1st of May Cumberland City Council voted to “take immediate action to rid same sex parents books/materials in Council’s library service”. This clearly queerphobic motion by the far right councillor Steve Christou comes off the back of the council also banning drag storytime earlier in the year. This clear shift towards open bigotry on the council has been shamefully aided by some members of the Labor Party, one voting for the motion and two abstention, despite the majority of the Labor councillors voting against the motion.
Even more dangerous has been the reactivation of Christian Lives Matter, a far right religious extremist group behind the gay bashing of Community Action for Rainbow Rights activists in Belfield last year when they were protesting an event featuring Mark Latham. These same bigots have been attending council sessions and intimidating the councillors. We must fight back against these forces as we always have, through mass mobilisation.
As always, our community must fight for its own liberation. In response to the motion, Pride in Protest is organising a protest outside of the council this Wednesday
Christou shamefully attempts to play on Sydney’s social divisions, by presenting the debate as one between inner-city lefties and religious ethnic minorities. It is false. The ban on the book did not originate from any religious institution, but is simply another one of Christou’s culture war schemes. Not a particularly skilled politician, Christou regularly attempts to raise his profile by playing the “anti-woke” card on a number of issues, from 5G towers to Welcomes to Country before council meetings.
Neither is he a defender of the ethnic or religious minorities in the council. He has opposed council funding of Diwali and Lunar New Year events on the grounds that they are not part of “Western culture”. He caused a ruckus when he couldn’t purchase a bacon and egg roll at a council event, and attempted to sue a person who raised a petition against him. Most importantly, Christou is now aligned with One Nation, a party that has historically aimed to deport most of the ethnic minorities in Cumberland.
There has been some discussion that these book and drag storytime bans are simply an importation of American politics. Whilst there’s some truth to this claim, there are local reasons for these developments as well. Conservatives in Australia have switched to transphobia after their defeat during the marriage equality plebiscite, and through this transphobia they’ve been able to attack drag events and finally come after the broader queer community once again.
Furthermore, the NSW Labor government is uniquely weak on queer rights compared to other state Labor governments; the laws here are the worst in the country and much of this political moment could have been avoided if the Labor Party was an actual advocate for the community. This has been demonstrated clearly by their response to this tragedy. The Minns government has committed to apologising for past anti-queer laws in the state and has threatened council subsidies if the motion isn’t rescinded, but has not moved on larger reforms like passing the Equality Bill in full.
As always, our community must fight for its own liberation. In response to the motion, Pride in Protest is organising a protest outside of the council this Wednesday, with the following demands:
- Cumberland City Council rescinds the bans on books depicting same-sex parenting and drag queens reading story books in libraries.
- Chris Minns and NSW Labor expel Labor council members who have caused these bans.
- NSW Labor passes the Equality Bill in full.
This is a culture war that we cannot afford to lose. We hope to see everyone there protesting for queer rights this Wednesday at 6pm at 16 Memorial Ave, Merrylands NSW 2160. For more information see the FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/952064153588797/