Reverse the ban on promoting Pride in Essex Libraries

Reverse the ban on Pride promotion in libraries

Reform took control of Essex County Council in May, and one of their first actions was to stop all libraries across Essex from promoting Pride.

Essex Pride will take place on 20th June in Chelmsford. Essex Liberal Democrats will be there to support and celebrate with the LGBT+ community. But Essex Libraries are no longer allowed to display posters for it, or mention it on their social media.

We think this is wrong.

Libraries should be for everyone, and that means they should be promoting a diverse range of events. By dictating what the professional staff who run libraries are allowed to promote, and not promoting diversity events, Reform is bringing divisive political views into our libraries.

Reverse the ban on promoting Pride

Essex County Council is legally required to have due regard to the need to:
encourage persons who share a relevant protected characteristic to participate in public life and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not, including tackling prejudice and promoting understanding.

We the undersigned believe Essex CC is failing in the above duty by removing materials promoting Essex Pride and similar events from the county's libraries and we call on the Council to overturn that decision.

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