Library backs down on anti-gay DVD

On November 23, the SX News websire reported that Penrith City Library, in far western Sydney, had tentatively rejected a DVD promoting the "ex-gat movement" donated to its collection by the right-wing Christian Democratic Party.

The Blue Mountains branch of Community Action Against Homophobia had campaigned against the DVD being in the library. CAAH-BM spokesperson Bryn Hutchinson told SX News his group was "very pleased to hear that the Sy Rogers Testimonial DVD will not be added" to the library's DVD collection. "The ex-gay movement is promulgating material that is not only scientifically bankrupt but also psychologically damaging. Young people who are trying to come to terms with their sexuality do not need the added confusion of false and ideologically driven misinformation."

Penrith City Council media liaison officer Carl Spears told SX News that the DVD may still end up on library shelves if provided it gains classification from the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification, but added that it would not be accepted if it contained explicitly homophobic content or incited violence against gays and lesbians.

From GLW issue 693