Decision details

Moved by Councillor Scott, seconded by Councillor Worling –

It is resolved that:

(A)        Council note:

(i)           according to the City’s 2018 Community Wellbeing Survey indicated 21.3 per cent of respondents identified as being part of the LGBTQIA+ community;

(ii)         the City of Sydney is the home for the largest LGBTQIA+ community across Australia;

(iii)        everyone should feel safe, welcome and represented within the City of Sydney;

(iv)        the City of Sydney Library holds and maintains one of the largest LGBTQIA+ collections in the country, established in 2006. The collection covers physical and digital books, movies and audio for children, young adults and adults;

(v)         the City of Sydney library team strongly advocates for defending the rights of the LGBTIQA+ community and creating a welcoming and safe space for all;

(vi)        Drag Queen Storytime is a children’s event started in 2015 in San Francisco, aiming to promote diversity within a community;

(vii)      The Storytime event is directed at children between the ages of three to six, hosted by drag queens who read children’s picture books in public libraries;

(viii)     Drag Queen Storytime is a fun and inclusive event that celebrates the diversity we have within the City of Sydney;

(ix)        Drag Queen Storytime is especially important for children in rainbow families who may not see themselves represented in main-stream media;

(x)         Rainbow Families is a charity that help to support and advocate for LGBTQIA+ parents and families, running programs and support for families at every stage of their journey;

(xi)        in March 2024, the Inner West Council unanimously resolved to work with Rainbow Families to present a series of Drag Story Time events at an Inner West Council Library, ensuring community groups continue to feel safe, connected and supported;

(xii)      the Inner West Council now regularly hosts a series Drag Storytime events;

(xiii)     a range of Drag Queen Storytime events have had to be cancelled due to groups of extremists threatening the safety of organisers and participants;

(xiv)    the City hosts an annual library stall at Mardi Gras Fair Day and an online Pride book club theme every march to coincide with Mardi Gras Festival;

(xv)      in August of 2023, Tranby presented First Nations LGBTQIA+ performers reading poetry from their anthology published for Sydney World Pride in Darling Square Library;

(xvi)    in 2024, for Mardi Gras a series of four special event rainbow storytimes were delivered by library staff;

(xvii)   the City of Sydney has previously hosted and promoted successful Rainbow Families Drag Queen Storytime events, open to the Rainbow Family Community, but there are no future City of Sydney run Drag Queen Story Time events listed; and

(xviii)  City run Drag Queen Story Times be held on hold a regular basis in the City’s own library event calendar, open to all members of the public;

(B)        the Chief Executive Officer be requested to:

(i)           allocate funding for City run Drag Queen Storytime sessions in the 2024/25 City budget;

(ii)         guarantee the City run a series Drag Queen Storytimes at all City of Sydney libraries; and

(iii)        report back to councillors with progress of the above in the CEO Update.

Carried unanimously.

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