Cumberland Council motion to reject drag queen reading time for children lost

A bid to stop drag queen story time at a western Sydney council has been rejected after the motion was lashed for inciting hatred and ‘scare mongering’.

Drag queens story time sparked a heated debate at a Cumberland Council meeting.

A young woman who identifies as queer has slammed Cumberland Council after it became the most recent chamber in Sydney to debate stopping potential drag story time to children – despite no immediate plans to host such events at its libraries.

Jessica Duffy addressed conservative councillors Joseph Rahme and Steve Christou’s motion which called on the chamber to reject “drag or sexualised material designed to target children” following Local Government NSW’s push for councils to host more LGBT-inclusive events.

The motion was lost on the Mayor Lisa Lake’s casting vote after she was “sad” to see a “derisive” suggestion on the agenda.

Long-time Cumberland resident and youth Ms Duffy addressed the meeting on Wednesday and accused the council for making her feel excluded.

“It appears the councillors would rather tell queer children like me that they are not welcome, that they are obscene, that these two councillors would rather deprive these children of positive queer role models – which most drag queens are, by the way,’’ she said.

A drag queen reads a story to youngsters. Picture: David Caird

“All because you’re afraid of a man in a dress that will make your child gay?

“This motion is an act of aggression against the queer community – nothing less.

“Shame on you, Mr Christou and Mr Rahme for passing this, and shame on anyone who would rather strip queerness from this city than champion art, child mental health and workers’ rights.’’

Our Local Community councillor Christou said the council did not pay workers other than staff for story time events.

“I would suggest if certain sections of the community want drag reading time, they book a hall … like every other community and host drag reading time,’’ he said.

“The residents of Cumberland want to be treated equally. They don’t want a particular ideology shoved down their throat.

Steve Christou.

Joseph Rahme.

Independent councillor Joseph Rahme said the motion reflected democracy and free speech.

“We don’t need to be sexualising our infants,’’ he said.

“Let kids be kids. What they choose to identify as later in life is their prerogative and I’ve got no issue with that.’’

But Labor councillors Diane Coleman and Ola Hamed labelled the motion as scare mongering and a “time wasting motion to incite hate and division’’.

“Enough is enough – enough of the division, enough of the embarrassment, enough misleading the community, enough wasting the council’s time – let’s just focus on the priorities of this community,’’ Cr Hamed said.

“It is a political stunt for anyone who’s listening.’’

Cumberland Mayor Lisa Lake supports drag queen story time, even though there are no immediate plans to host such programs in the area.

Her Labor cohort Glenn Elmore accused Cr Christou of copying The Hills Shire Council’s motion this month when it voted to withdraw support for drag story time events after it was carried at the Local Government NSW annual conference in November.

The motion to reject any support for drag story time was lost on Mayor Lake’s vote.

“I believe this motion sends a harmful message to Cumberland that the LGBTQI+ community is not welcome and it’s capable of causing deep hurt to the community who are our residents,’’ she said.

She said the LGA conference resolution was not dictating the council’s programs but urged the councillors to be open.

Along with councillors Rahme and Christou, those supporting the motion to reject drag story time were Greg Cummings, Eddy Sarkis, Michael Zaiter, Helen Hughes and Paul Garrard.

Those who opposed the motion were Labor councillors Lake, Hamed, Sabrin Farooqui, Cr Mohamad Hussein, Diane Coleman and Suman Saha. Cr Kun Huang was absent from the meeting.

On Thursday, Cr Christou said a recission would be lodged so the matter could be reheard.