Legislative Chairman Dave Manchester released the following statement regarding the recent issue of “Drag Queen Story Time” that will be held at the Steele Memorial Library. Legislator Joe Brennan raised the issue, and his strong opposition to it, at the Budget Meeting of the Chemung County Legislature Monday night.
news release - Manchester statement re CCLD
Legislator Brennan posted the following statement on his legislative Facebook page on Tuesday morning Nov. 5th: “Highly inappropriate that this is being sold to our children. Please consider voting NO on Library funding on the back of the ballot. Found out about this last minute, share to spread the word! Vulgar comments will be deleted, so be respectful.
In a statement to WENY-TV he stated:
“My number one concern is always for the safety and wellbeing of our children. Before “Miss Vanessa” was identified as a library clerk, my concern was that we may have unvetted individuals providing unsanctioned content to impressionable children. My focus going forward will be to submit resolutions to hold any employees, volunteers, or contractors who may be instructing children, to the same or higher standard as anyone who teaches in a public school. This may include collecting resumes with references, conducting criminal background checks and performing random drug screening. I also want to ensure that the content is deemed age appropriate by both the State Board of Education and Local School Boards.”
Legislator Sonsire posted this on her Facebook Page Monday night following the meeting:
“I could not disagree more strongly with views expressed by Chemung County Legislator Joe Brennan at the conclusion of tonight’s Budget Committee Meeting.
Programming by the Chemung County Library District aimed at promoting acceptance and inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community is something to be commended, not condemned, and the suggestion that the Legislature put pressure on the Library District to censor its constitutionally-protected program content is extremely inappropriate, if not outright unlawful.
If anyone feels the programming is unsuitable for their children, there is a very simple answer – don’t go.
I am proud that our Library District has the courage to host events that spotlight marginalized parts of our society – and hope the day when it no longer requires courage to do so comes very soon.”
The full five minute video of the discussion regarding this issue can be viewed by CLICKING HERE