A suburban Sydney council chambers has become the battleground for two warring groups after a decision to ban books featuring same-sex parenting.
Two groups of about 100 each gathered outside the Cumberland city council building in Merrylands on Wednesday night, one calling for the book to be returned to library shelves and the other arguing its content amounted to a moral sin.
Protesters from warring sides yelled over the top of one other for hours with young families, couples and students turning up with placards and flags in hand.
The Pride in Protest spokesperson Wei Thai-Haynes said books that depicted rainbow families, or drag performers reading stories, were “a normal part of life and not ‘indoctrination’ or ‘sexualising children’”.
“For rainbow families living in the Cumberland council area, this is a hurtful and divisive act which impacts them and their children,” she told reporters last week.
The NSW arts minister, John Graham, said banning books was a bad sign for civilisations, adding local councillors should not engage in censorship.
The original article contains 515 words, the summary contains 169 words. Saved 67%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A suburban Sydney council chambers has become the battleground for two warring groups after a decision to ban books featuring same-sex parenting.
Two groups of about 100 each gathered outside the Cumberland city council building in Merrylands on Wednesday night, one calling for the book to be returned to library shelves and the other arguing its content amounted to a moral sin.
Protesters from warring sides yelled over the top of one other for hours with young families, couples and students turning up with placards and flags in hand.
The Pride in Protest spokesperson Wei Thai-Haynes said books that depicted rainbow families, or drag performers reading stories, were “a normal part of life and not ‘indoctrination’ or ‘sexualising children’”.
“For rainbow families living in the Cumberland council area, this is a hurtful and divisive act which impacts them and their children,” she told reporters last week.
The NSW arts minister, John Graham, said banning books was a bad sign for civilisations, adding local councillors should not engage in censorship.
The original article contains 515 words, the summary contains 169 words. Saved 67%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!