Rainbow Libraries Toolkit criticism is 'perplexing'

Rachel spoke in support of Victoria’s Rainbow Libraries Toolkit, responding to a petition presented by Bev McArthur, Liberal Member for Western Victoria.
The petition called for the cessation of the Victorian Rainbow Libraries Toolkit rollout. The Rainbow Libraries Toolkit was developed as a guide for library staff on ensuring safety, inclusion and equality for all Victorians accessing public libraries.

Wednesday the 19th of March 2025
Victorian Legislative Council

Rachel PAYNE (South-Eastern Metropolitan):

I rise to speak to this motion today. Last night I spent a bit of time going through a hard copy of the rainbow toolkit. I am a little perplexed as to why we are here today. I do not believe that the other side has actually read the toolkit, because what is in there is not anything that is referred to in this petition. This is quite perplexing to me.

The petition requires that the government withdraw the rainbow libraries toolkit rollout from Victorian public libraries. Again, I find this fascinating, because surely as the employer of libraries the government is required to provide guiding materials to allow employees, in this case librarians, to perform their duties to the best of their ability and to ensure that they are providing a safe environment for people accessing services. I want to make this comparison: is this any different to any other public institution? Is it any different to a hospital staff member being provided training on culturally safe practices for CALD community patients? I would argue it is not. It is no different.

The reality is rainbow families are part of our community, and they are a growing part of our community. They should be celebrated, and the children of rainbow families should feel safe going into a library and they should see books that include them. This goes without saying for people who are culturally diverse; they should see books in libraries that represent who they are as well. Women, we should see books in libraries that are our stories. This is the reality of the society that we live in.

The rainbow toolkit came about because library staff were surveyed as to what their needs were. The outcome of that and the feedback that was provided was essentially what is in this toolkit. Also, community members and organisations were provided the opportunity to provide advice as well to encourage information on what made them safe and welcomed. But I must also emphasise that this was following the protest against drag story time events and it was in response to staff and patrons feeling unsafe. In particular in the area I represent, in the south-east, we saw events shut down in Casey and Monash. A Chelsea cafe is no longer there because it decided to host an Easter egg story event and that got shut down.

But I will reflect on some of the media that was reviewing those events during that period of time. It astounds me that it turned into violent threats. It astounds me that several events were forced to be shut down because families and children were threatened with violence. The particular event that I am referring to here in the media was around the Oakleigh library and Monash council, and it was on a specific day, 18 May, which is IDAHOBIT – the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. I just find it astounding. If you are not wanting to take your children along to these events, simply do not take them. But if rainbow families in particular want to have an opportunity to have a safe space for family to be celebrated, they should have that opportunity to celebrate, particularly on a day that is so pivotal to our community. The bottom line is that is that no-one should feel unsafe at work, and that is where this feedback came about.

Just to hurry myself along, the next part of the petition refers to people feeling ‘uncomfortable, insecure and confused’ by being approached in a library by potentially a librarian who is wearing a pronoun badge – I am quite unsure of that. But I do say in response to that that looking at the toolkit, all I could find in there was gender-neutral language like ‘Hi, folks’ instead of ‘Hi, Sir’ or ‘Hi, Madam’ – I hate being called ‘madam’. I do not know about you, Mrs McArthur, but I would rather have someone greet me with ‘Hi, folks’. Essentially I just want to reiterate: who is this hurting? Because it is not really hurting anyone who is going into these libraries and experiencing that. It is as simple as wearing a badge or having those conversations around, ‘Who are you here to see today?’ and not making assumptions about people. I would think time would be better spent going into Kmart and demanding that they take bikinis off the shelves for five-year-olds, because I think that is more indoctrinating than a library toolkit.

> Concerns about anti-LGBTIQA+ hate speech in the South East – Rachel Payne
> Justice Legislation – Anti-vilification Protections Expanded – Rachel Payne
> Transgender Day of Remembrance – Rachel Payne
> LGBTIQA+ legal service launched in the south-east – Rachel Payne
> Counting LGBTIQA+ Australians in the census – Rachel Payne
> Casey Rainbow Community Picnic – Rachel Payne
> LGBTIQA+ rights and Anti-vilification laws – Rachel Payne