Okanagan Regional Library (ORL) president Don Nettleton and the management team will undergo sensitivity and diversity training following comments made about a drag queen storytelling event.

The incident arose in September when Nettleton sent out a memo about a new storytelling event planned for the Kelowna downtown library where drag queens would be reading stories to children during story time sessions on Saturdays in September and again in November.

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sa国际传媒淎 controversial and potentially very divisive story time program has arisen within the ORL,sa国际传媒� Nettleton said in the memo dated Sept. 18.

sa国际传媒淎lmost half of the leadership team was strongly in support of the library being involved in this type of programming sa国际传媒� while the other half of the leadership team saw offering such a program target at three to six year olds as inappropriate for their age.sa国际传媒�

In the memo, Nettleton went on to say that the event would also receive criticism from the Kelowna community.

sa国际传媒淭he announced program, while claiming to be promoting diversity and acceptance, will be offensive to a significant segment of our society,sa国际传媒� Nettleton said.

sa国际传媒淭hese two story times are set to take place in a core program aimed at very young children. The age of this programming will be concerning to many.sa国际传媒�

In response to his memo, the library received about 350 pieces of correspondence from the community reflecting opinions both in favour and against the planned story time events.

Michal Utko, director of marketing and community with ORL, confirmed cultural programming at the library sa国际传媒� including the drag queen story telling event sa国际传媒� will continue as is for the foreseeable future

He also said the sensitivity training for the management team will occur shortly.

sa国际传媒淚t hasnsa国际传媒檛 been scheduled yet. It will be something happens sooner than later, and no later than next month.sa国际传媒�

Despite the controversy, drag queen story telling events arensa国际传媒檛 new to Kelowna.

Indigo Kelowna has been offering drag queen story time events with iconic drag queens like sa国际传媒淒aisy Confusedsa国际传媒� and sa国际传媒淔reida Whalessa国际传媒� for at least two years.

connor.trembley@kelownacapnews.com
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