Abbie Jane: My Local Council’s Motion to Remove LGBTQIA+ Books Really Worries Me

Abbie Jane from The Rainbow Shoelace Project (and our October issue cover star) talks about Port Macquarie’s local council putting forward a motion to remove LGBTQIA+ books, and how worried it makes her feel as a young LGBTQIA+ person and writer.

Recently I discovered that the Port Macquarie Hastings local council had a notice of motion surrounding the options to remove books titled Welcome to Sex and Gender Queer.

Words can’t possible express how disgusted and utterly disappointed I was when hearing this. As a young queer person that has grown up in a supportive and open household I have been equipped with the knowledge on queer and sex related topics however there are so many other young people out there that don’t have access to this kind of education.

When young people are uneducated it leads to bad and sometimes dangerous decisions being made. Whether it’s about gender reaffirming care or safe sex, these topics should not be taboo and should be discussed.

If there are no medically accurate and factual books discussing sex, then young people will take it upon themselves to do their own research, this can lead to misinformation and very dangerous situations such as STIs and other unsafe sexual practices. It is important that we have sex education books designed for young people so they can be properly educated.

In this council meeting, LGBTQIA+ books and sex education books targeted at young people were compared to “grooming” not only is this incredibly offensive to victims of grooming and sexual assault but also the queer community. This also makes topics such as sex seem shameful and inappropriate whereas it’s just a regular human component.

These members of local government are clearly uneducated, ignorant and bigoted. If you have not experienced living like as a queer person you have no right to claim that the topic is “inappropriate” or that for it to be discussed with young people that makes it “grooming”. As soon as the book title Gender Queer was brought up, this motion became homophobic.

It is extremely unfair to the LGBTQIA+ community, having straight members of council completely dehumanised and discriminate against the entire community.

This is my way of telling not only the Port Macquarie Hastings Council but also all levels of government to think before they speak. To be better as a whole and be inclusive towards each and every individual and think about young people from a wider and more diverse perspective.

Has nobody learned from Cumberland Shire Council?

I have a book coming out early next year which has themes pertaining to the LGBTQIA+ community – will my book be banned from the Port Macquarie Library?