The National Library Board (NLB) of Singapore has apparently withdrawn two children’s books, both of which included depictions of LGBTI people and same-sex parenting.

The move came following a complaint to the board from a contributor to an anti-LGBTI Facebook group – ‘We are Against Pinkdot in Singapore’.

Pink Dot is the region’s annual, increasingly popular LGBTI festival. The festival has grown in size over recent years and has increasingly been the target of anti-gay protests and criticism.

The complainer, Teo Kai Loon, wrote to NLB to complain about the books And Tango Makes Three and The White Swan Express.

The first, which was recently profiled on Gay Star News as a recommended book for toddlers, colorfully depicts the story of a couple of male penguins in a New York zoo who adopt a young penguin chick. The second book looks at the adoption of four babies by four foreign adopters, including a lesbian couple.

In responding to the complaint, the NLB’s assistant chief executive and chief librarian, Ms Tay Ai Cheng wrote the following response, which was posted by Taeo Kai Loon on the ‘We are Against Pinkdot in Singapore’ Facebook page:

‘Thank you for your email. I would like to assure you that NLB takes a strong pro-family stand in selecting books for children. We take a cautious approach in identifying titles for our young visitors. Besides going through the contents, we also refer to synopses, reviews and other books written by the authors.

‘We have withdrawn the books Tango Makes Three and the White Swan Express following your feedback.

‘We have a collection of more than five million books. While we try to sieve through the contents and exercise our best judgement, it is an arduous task to ensure complete adherence of details in the books to our pro-family stand. However, when library visitors like yourself highlight to us any conflicting content within books, we review such books thoroughly and withdraw them from circulation.’

The NLB has not responded to a request from GSN to comment further.

The Pink Dot LGBTI Pride festival took place most recently in Singapore on 28 June. It has run annually since 2009 and has grown in popularity: the most recent event attracted an estimated 26,000 attendees.

LGBTI people are offered scant legal protection in the area, and same-sex sexual activity between men in Singapore remains illegal. Official media censors on the island nation turn a blind eye to some pro-LGBTI expression but still restrict freedom of speech.