In the Western Australian town of Albany, the local LGBTQI+ community is working to fight off a group attempting to ban sexual education books in libraries.
The southern city has been left divided in the past few months as the Keeping Children Safe Albany pushes forward with its controversial agendas.
The group want to restrict access to two sex education books — Welcome to Sex by Dr Melissa Kang and Yumi Stynes, and Sex: A Book for Teens by Nikol Hasler — in libraries and are concerned about a “twerkshop” event held during the Albany Pride Festival.
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Welcome to Sex is listed under the “junior non-fiction” category in the Albany Public Library and has been nominated for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award.
It is no stranger to controversy. The book was pulled from Big W shelves last year after staff faced abuse from some angry customers.
Keeping Children Safe Albany, led by former One Nation candidate Michelle Kinsella, obtained enough signatures to force council into a special meeting of electors, which was held on Monday night.
They urged council to investigate “the promotion of sexualising children in the City of Albany through unrestricted books in the Town Library and events held during the month of February 2024”.
More than 400 people from both sides were in attendance and passed five motions, according to Albany Mayor Greg Stocks.
Those motions included restricting access to those two books and inquiring whether those running the twerkshop event had a working with children’s check.
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A counter-motion on behalf of Albany Pride was passed for all local organisations interacting with children, including churches, to obtain a working with children’s check.
Albany Pride gathered with flags and banners outside the meeting as an act of protest against Keeping Children Safe Albany.
The group, in a joint statement with Rainbow Futures WA, said it’s standing against “confused bigotry”, adding that people who are serious about keeping people safe can contribute to welcoming environments where all children are accepted and supported.
“We care deeply about the safety of children; many of us are also parents who work hard to safeguard them against abuse and harm,” the statement read.
“It is up to adults to show young people, who are often the targets of this misinformation, that we have their backs and that they can grow up proud of who they are.
“Moral panic over book content doesn’t keep children safe. Sanitising libraries so they reflect only one perspective doesn’t keep children safe.
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“Attempting to divide a town with bigotry doesn’t keep children safe – it actively harms them.”
Other LGBTQI+ groups like Equality Australia, WAAC, Living Proud, Youth Pride Network and Equal Voices WA have thrown their support behind Albany Pride in the ongoing fight.
The five motions will come to a vote at a council meeting on September 24.
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