Hills Shire Council has passed a motion that rejects any encouragement or facilitation of drag events like drag story time, in which children are read books at public libraries by drag performers.
The motion passed at a council meeting on Tuesday night with the support of 10 councillors, including two Labor councillors, while one Labor and one Greens councillor were against it.
The motion does not impose a ban on drag story time events within the area or in council-run venues. But it does clearly state the council’s position against sponsoring such activities.
The motion was brought forward by Liberal councillor Jerome Cox.
Cox told GSN that the motion was in response to a separate motion at the Local Government NSW (LGNSW) conference “which took [up] significant time … and meant important motions that were priorities for the council didn’t have time to be considered”.
He said motions relating to infrastructure, “over-development”, and flood assistance for affected communities within the council’s boundaries were among those unable to be considered as a result.
Cox said he did not think it was appropriate for council to fund or host drag story time events, as they are an event he believes the community is divided on.
“I don’t think we should be partnering with groups that have an agenda – social, religious or otherwise,” he said.
When asked if he believed drag story time had an agenda, he did not elaborate, saying only that he would not “get drawn into my views on topics”.
He said he believed the Hills Shire Council had never hosted a drag story time event.
Cox’s motion called on the Hills Shire Council to reject any encouragement or facilitation, from LGNSW or any other group, for the council to host drag or “sexualised material designed to target children”.
When asked, Cox denied that the motion suggested drag was sexualised in nature due.
“The motion uses the words ‘…drag or sexualised material…’. If drag was part of the sexualised material it would be ‘…drag or other sexualised material…..’,” he said.
When pressed as to why the motion included the term “sexualised material”, and if he was trying to link it to drag, Cox said the link was only that he did not approve of either drag or sexualised material at council-hosted events.
“They are both things that will not be hosted, [which is] why they were both in the motion. Some residents of the shire consider drag to be sexualised in nature, some don’t. Council as I indicated did separate them in the motion,” he said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Hills Shire Council said the motion was aimed at ensuring that the council “does not provide activities of a sexualised nature or content to young children”.
“This motion was in response to an LGNSW motion that sought to influence councils to deliver these types of programs.”
Hills Shire Greens councillor Mila Kasby, who voted against the motion, defended drag story time as non-sexual and age-appropriate.
“The council resolution is offensive to the LGBTQI+ community and all who support equality,” Kasby said on social media.
“The resolution is likely to be hurtful and lead to feelings of exclusion and isolation by members of the community.
“I am so ashamed to be a member of a council which passed this terrible and hurtful resolution.
“Councils should be making it clear that homophobia and transphobia will not be tolerated, not perpetuate outdated and harmful misinformation.”
Esther Niamh, a member of the activist group Pride In Protest, attended the council meeting and told GSN that throughout the meeting Cox complained that LGNSW had placed the motion in favour of drag story time ahead of other issues he deemed more pressing.
“Ironically, the Hills Shire council has designated that banning drag is of the utmost priority, as this item is the first on the agenda,” she said.
There were no community members present at the meeting who requested to speak on the motion, Niamh said.
Niamh added that the passing of the motion was a case of local councillors succumbing to far-right pressure.
“Queer people have been under attack by the far-right, groups like Christian Lives Matter… It is these people who perpetuate homophobia and transphobia through acts like banning drag story time,” Niamh said.
Gay Sydney News reporter