The one question in Victoria’s rainbow libraries toolkit now being asked that has infuriated parents and experts

Librarians in one Australian state were encouraged to ask children as young as five about their gender nouns, sparking outrage from parents and experts.

The Victorian Government on Friday unveiled a ‘rainbow library toolkit’ which has since been distributed to more than 290 public libraries across the state.

Launched by the Jacinta Allan government, the toolkit includes a new set of guidelines to ensure libraries become more inclusive places for LGBTQIA+ communities and families.

Some of the inclusivity advice provided in the toolkit includes adding gender-diversity books to library collections, promoting drag queen storytimes, and avoiding “gendered language.” Sky News reported.

A section titled “Non-Gender Interactions” urges librarians not to adopt the pronouns of elementary school children.

“It is also important to recognise that, especially among young people, gender identity and sexuality can change or evolve over time,” the toolkit says.

‘Children in particular may want to experiment with different gender expressions through dressing up. We can help them do this by avoiding projecting our expectations of gender onto them.’

The toolkit also encourages library staff, even if they know a child who visits their library, to “hold space for them to express a shift in their identity.”

This includes examining whether the child still uses the same pronouns as in the past.

“By taking a moment to ask how young people are doing with their pronouns (‘Do you still prefer the pronoun he/him?’; ‘Are you still called Sam, or is there something else you would like me to use?’) you can let a young person in particular know that you are safe, accepting and flexible, and that by extension the library is too,” the toolkit says.

‘(This) can especially let a young person know that you are safe, accepting and flexible and that, by extension, the library is too.’

Local Government Minister Melissa Horne said the library toolkit ensures that “all Victorians” belong in libraries, “regardless of their identity”.

The ‘rainbow library toolkit’ was launched in Victoria on Friday with the aim of making libraries more inclusive (pictured the Victorian State Library in Melbourne)

Equality Minister Harriet Shing said the toolkit showed the government would always support LGBTQIA+ communities and that it was committed to making the state a place where people could live “fully and freely”.

The toolkit’s development was based on feedback from 156 LGBTQIA+ families and 80 library staff surveyed, prompting outrage from critics.

Conservative education experts are among those who have criticized the state government’s move.

Dr Kevin Donnelly, a senior fellow at Australian Catholic University, described the toolkit and guidelines as a “dangerous” example of how activists can take the place of parents, saying it can “destroy the innocence of childhood”.

Director of the Foundations of Western Civilisation Program at the Institute of Public Affairs, Dr Bella d’Abrera, told Daily Mail Australia that parents should also be “very concerned”.

LGBTQIA+ families and library staff were interviewed (pictured is a couple holding the LGBTQIA+ rainbow flag)

“The government supports and funds the indoctrination of children with strange theories about sex and gender, years before it is appropriate,” Ms d’Abrera said.

‘There is no circumstance in which it is appropriate for a librarian to have conversations about gender and sexuality with other people’s children.

‘It’s unbelievable that families can’t even go to a public library anymore without staff trying to recruit children into the radical gender cult.

‘Children should be left alone so they can be children.’

Daily Mail Australia contacted Dr Harriet Shing for comment.