As it happened: Cumberland City councillors meet as same-sex parents book ban debate rages

This is where we’ll leave our live coverage of tonight’s long and fiery Cumberland Council meeting, where councillors debated a divisive ban on a children’s library book about same-sex parenting.

If you’re just tuning in, here’s a rundown of how the marathon meeting – and protests outside the council’s chambers – unfolded:

• The western Sydney council’s ban on the same-sex parenting book has been overturned after four hours of debate at a rowdy meeting on Wednesday night, as protesters clashed outside.
• The council faced national and global outrage from across the political spectrum for banishing the book, Same-Sex Parents by Holly Duhig. The book was part of a series depicting diverse family structures for a younger audience, and features two men and a child on the front cover.

Protesters clashed outside the council chambers amid a heavy police presence.Credit: Rhett Wyman

• The majority of councillors voted in support of a motion to move the book to the junior non-fiction section. Our Local Community councillor Steve Christou, who was a vocal supporter of the ban, was one of two councillors to vote against making the book available again in libraries.
• More than 200 protesters clashed as they chanted and yelled outside the council’s chambers in Merrylands amid a heavy police presence before and during the meeting. The crowd included members of the left-wing Pride in Protest group, and a group of older local men.
• Inside the meeting, councillors traded insults, members of the community made impassioned pleas for the council to dump the ban, and rowdy spectators in the public gallery were repeatedly urged to keep quiet as Mayor Lisa Lake was forced to eject several people.
• Speaking outside the meeting, Christou said he was “disappointed by some colleagues that held a firm position and … with pressure put on by the media, that they changed their position”.

Thanks for joining us, enjoy the rest of your evening.

Speaking outside the meeting, Councillor Steve Christou said he was “disappointed by some colleagues that held a firm position and … with pressure put on by the media, that they changed their position.”

Christou was one of only two councillors to vote against making the book available again in local libraries.

The evening is ending with a shouting match between Christou and Caroline Staples, a grandmother who organised the anti-ban petition and who earlier spoke in the council chambers during the public section of the meeting.

The final vote saw several changes.

In the final hour, Councillor Steve Christou was abandoned by his own party colleagues in Paul Garrard and Helen Hughes, who in the end voted to support the motion to reverse the ban and stock the book in the junior non-fiction section of Cumberland City libraries.

The only councillor who supported Christou was Eddy Sarkis, who left Christou’s Our Local Community party in February after it failed to select him for preselection.

Cumberland City councillors vote to reverse a controversial ban on a same-sex parenting book.

After four hours of debate, we have an outcome: a book on same-sex parents will not be banned from Cumberland City libraries.

Instead, it will be moved to the junior non-fiction section.

The original motion, put forward by Labor’s Kun Huang, was passed 12-2 just before 10.45pm. One councillor, Joseph Rahme, was absent.

Councillor Mohamad Hussein, who had voted for the ban originally, changed his vote at the last minute to support the change.

Councillor Steve Christou is now speaking about his colleague Paul Garrard’s motion.

He’s getting increasingly agitated about the issue and is attacking Labor councillor Ola Hamed, who didn’t vote at the last meeting because she says she received death threats.

Christou says two-year-olds should not be reading this book, even though the debate has moved on to a motion that focuses on the booking being made available in the junior non-fiction or adult section.

“I’m sick of hearing the educators know best, [that] the librarians know best,” says Christou. “All we’re saying is let parents decide.”

And with that, Garrard’s amendment is lost and we’re back to the original motion of reversing the full ban and making the book available in the junior non-fiction section in line with Australian library guidelines.

Councillor Mohamad Hussein, who had left the chamber to abstain from the vote, walked outside to his supporters. He said he thought the final vote may take place in “five more minutes”.

We can only hope ...

But we don’t get far beyond the previous amendment – Councillor Paul Garrard is now trying to move a new amendment that deals specifically with this book, Same-Sex Parents.

He says the motion should force this book to be moved to the adult section.

“I stand here before you as a rampant homosexual ... homosapien,” he says as he opens his argument.

Cumberland City councillors vote on an amendment on a controversial night in Merrylands.

Councillor Steve Christou’s amendment to put the book in the adult section of the library has just been lost.

Four councillors – Hussein, Sarkis, Garrad and Christou – voted in support of the motion. Seven – Hamad, Huang, Ellmore, Saha, Coleman, Farooqui, Lake, Cummings and Zatar – voted against it.

So we’re now back to discussing the original motion moved by Huang, which is to keep the book in the section of the library that Australian library guidelines say it should be in: junior non-fiction.

Protests outside the Cumberland City Council chambers in Merrylands earlier tonight have now eased with most of the crowd dispersing.

Our photographer Rhett Wyman has been outside all night to document the controversial meeting.

Good news for council watchers and fans of chaos: the meeting, still hot with debate, has been extended to 11pm.

Meeting regulations state council should ordinarily finish its meetings by 10pm, but it can be extended if councillors agree.

The time is clearly wearing on some: Councillor Glenn Elmore just called Steve Christou’s amendment “stupid”, before saying: “You are a very, very rude person. You weren’t taught any manners.”

Christou took it as an insult to his parents and demanded an apology.

Councillor Steve Christou says he received death threats for his support of the effective ban on same-sex parenting books at Cumberland local government area libraries.

Christou has requested amendments to the council’s original motion that would require the children’s book at the centre of the debate to be placed in the libraries’ adult non-fiction section.

Cumberland councillor Steve Christou seized tonight’s chaotic council meeting to make a clear pitch to voters before the NSW local government elections in September.Credit: Jessica Hromas

The changes, backed by councillor Eddy Sarkis, would also compel the council’s general manager to “implement procedures to ensure children under 18 can only access books which are age appropriate”.

Should those changes be introduced, Christou would want the general manager to conduct a review to ensure the council was complying with the new procedures.

Explaining his position, Christou said: “People approached me and voiced their opinions. I have received death threats, I have received abuse, my family has been abused … they don’t deserve that.”

Christou said that, despite these threats, he would continue to represent the views of concerned residents, insisting his opposition to the material was “not an attack on gay or same-sex couples”.

“What we’re saying is, address the concerns of locals and place the book in the adult section of the library.

“We cannot have toddlers asking questions of their parents about genders and ‘non-binary’ that their parents are not ready to face.”

Christou ended his speech with a clear pitch to voters before local government elections in NSW later this year.

“September is around the corner, you will see tonight which councillors represent you, and which councillors don’t. You will get an opportunity to vote on your elected representatives.”