The City of Port Phillip is known as a welcoming City and we are proud of our history in supporting inclusion.
We greatly value our large LGBTQIA+ community and will be celebrating Pride Month in June with several events.
A Drag Storytime at St Kilda Library was under consideration as one of these events, but had not been approved when a draft flyer for the event was shared with some parents at a library branch yesterday.
Following a thorough risk assessment, which included security and safety concerns, our Pride Month program was finalised today. Full details will be made available soon on our Port Phillip Library Service website.
Due to the security and safety concerns, and to avoid any disruption and distress to young participants and their families, staff and other library users, we will not be holding this event in person. Our Drag Storytime will instead be made available online for interested families.
In the current environment, we believe proceeding with events differently is the best way of supporting our LGBTQIA+ community at this time.
We condemn the hate speech directed to our Council, staff, Councillors and the performer on this topic.
