\n<\/p>\n
A boast by a Reform UK councillor that he ensured the removal of \u201ctrans-ideological material and books\u201d from the children\u2019s section of his county\u2019s libraries has fallen flat after it emerged that no such material ever existed there.<\/p>\n
Paul Webb, the cabinet member for communities at Kent council, whose portfolio covers libraries, posted a video to X in which he said he had been \u201crecently contacted by a concerned member of the public who found trans-ideological material and books in the children\u2019s section of one of our libraries\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI\u2019ve looked into this and this was the case. I\u2019ve today issued instructions for them all to be removed from the children\u2019s section of any of our libraries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do not belong in the children\u2019s section of our libraries. Our children do not need to be told they were born in the wrong body. So from today this will stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Webb\u2019s message was retweeted by Linden Kemkaran, the council leader, who in her own message, dotted with fire emojis, said: \u201cAnother victory for #commonsenseinKent my brilliant cabinet member Cllr Paul Webb has just got this trans material REMOVED from the children\u2019s sections of all Kent\u2019s libraries. Telling children they\u2019re in the \u2018wrong body\u2019 is wrong and simply unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/span>Paul Webb, the cabinet member for communities at Kent council, said he had \u2018issued instructions\u2019 for the books to be removed from libraries.<\/span> Photograph: X<\/p>\n Kemkaran\u2019s tweet included a photo of a book called The Autistic Trans Guide to Life on what looked to be a library display shelf, next to a sign about Pride events.<\/p>\n Some local residents expressed doubt at the narrative, with the local news website the Kent Current noting that according to the county\u2019s library system, all five copies of the book were kept in the adult nonfiction section, while the photograph appeared to be of a display at the entrance of Herne Bay library, not its children\u2019s section.<\/p>\n When asked about this by the Guardian, Kent council said it could confirm that no books aimed at adults about transgender issues had been held in the children\u2019s sections of Kent libraries.<\/p>\n It confirmed that the complaint was about a book on show near a library entrance which had since been \u201crelocated to a section that is unlikely to be visited by children\u201d.<\/p>\n In a statement the Reform-led council said: \u201cKent county council have confirmed that children are not and will not be exposed to adult transgender literature in our libraries.<\/p>\n \u201cStaff at the county\u2019s 99 libraries have been asked to ensure that books are always stocked in age-appropriate categories and that no adult literature makes its way into areas specifically aimed at children, or where children will be selecting books, such as the public welcome displays.<\/p>\n \u201cIt follows feedback from a resident who spotted a transgender book aimed at adults in a public display at the entrance of one library in Kent. The book has since been relocated to a section that is unlikely to be visited by children.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A boast by a Reform UK councillor that he ensured the removal of \u201ctrans-ideological material and books\u201d from the children\u2019s section of his county\u2019s libraries has fallen flat after it emerged that no such material ever existed there. Paul Webb, the cabinet member for communities at Kent council, whose portfolio covers libraries, posted a video<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[2767,1001,343,2766,2772,2773,2770,838,2768,2771,2769],"class_list":{"0":"post-10026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-social-issues","8":"tag-boast","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-childrens","11":"tag-councillors","12":"tag-falls","13":"tag-flat","14":"tag-library","15":"tag-reform","16":"tag-removing","17":"tag-sections","18":"tag-transideological"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}