Children to be asked pronouns at libraries under new taxpayer-funded guidelines

Children as young as five will be asked if they identify as a she, he or they as part of new taxpayer-funded guidelines being introduced at public libraries across the state.

Children as young as five will be asked if they identify as a she, he or they as part of new taxpayer funded guidelines rolled out to public libraries across the state.

Library staff are being told to ask children what their preferred pronouns are, avoid “gendered-language” and to offer pronoun badges, pins or lanyards for patrons in a new government funded ‘Rainbow Toolkit’.

Staff at public libraries across Victoria have been given new guidelines on how to be LGBTQIA+ friendly, including adding books on gender diversity to their collections, promoting drag story time events and not assuming the gender or sexuality of children, teenagers and adults.

The ‘Rainbow Toolkit’ was launched by the state government on Friday to celebrate LGBTQIA+ awareness day.

Staff at public libraries across the state have been given new guidelines on how to be LGBTQIA friendly. Picture: Supplied

One section, labelled ‘Non-Gendered Interactions’, proposes that staff ask primary school aged children what their pronouns are.

“It is also important to recognise that, especially for young people, gender identity and sexuality can shift or evolve over time,” it reads.

“Even if you are familiar with a child, teenager, parent or other individual, leave room for them to express a change in their identity.

“Checking in casually about their pronouns (‘Do you still prefer he/him pronouns?’; ‘Do you still go by Sam, or is there something else you’d like me to use?’) can let a young person in particular know that you are safe, accepting and flexible and that, by extension, so is the library.”

Libraries are also being encouraged to add books on gender diversity to their collections.

Staff are also told to avoid terms like sir or ma’am and to use gender neutral terms instead, such as ‘this patron/person/visitor’.

“Children in particular may want to experiment with different gender expressions through dressing up, and we can support them by avoiding mapping our expectations of gender onto

them,” it reads.

The Allan government allocated $14,020 to develop the toolkit which was created following a survey of 156 respondents from LGBTQIA+ families, and 80 public library staff.

The majority of respondents, 85 per cent, said it was “extremely important” that their local library uses inclusive language for customer service interactions, including gender neutral pronouns.

In promoting the new guidelines, Equality Minister Harriet Shing said the state government will always back our LGBTQIA+ communities as “we work to build a state where all people, regardless of their sexuality or gender identity, can live wholly and freely”.

Equality Minister Harriet Shing says the state government will always back LGBTQIA+ communities. Picture: Nicki Connolly

But Senior Fellow at the Australian Catholic University Dr Kevin Donnelly called the toolkit “dangerous”.

“It’s an appalling indictment on those who seek to corrupt childhood and destroy the innocence of childhood,” he said.

“Also it’s dangerous that these gender activists, a lot of them who are inspired by cultural Marxism, seek to take the place of parents.”

Dr Bella d’Abrera from the Institute of Public Affairs said parents should be “very concerned” that the government both supports and funds the “indoctrination of children with fringe theories about sex and gender”.

“It is incredible that families can no longer even visit a public library without staff members attempting to recruit children into the radical gender cult,” she said.

“Children should be left alone to be children.”

Originally published as Children to be asked pronouns at libraries under new taxpayer-funded guidelines