Warning in Egypt against pro-homosexuality books for children

Over the past few days, video footage went viral on social media of Egyptian social media influencer Youssra Kamel Kandil carrying English-language books for children that promote homosexuality in Egypt, warning parents to be careful and monitor what their children read.

“It is a poison. We poison their minds,” she said at the Bibliothek Egypt bookshop in Sheikh Zayed City, asking parents to be careful about what children read, as the books have the LGBTQ rainbow flag and homosexual couples with children.

Bibliothek Egypt, where the books were sold, said in a statement on July 7 that all books with references to homosexuals in the library were destroyed.

“As a result of a customer's alert, we discovered that one of our children's books contained inappropriate content, and we immediately destroyed these books. The management of Bibliothek has decided to remove all children's books from the shelves for a thorough review,” the statement read.

Also, the owner of the bookshop, Amr Barakat, told the “Yahduth fi Masr” [Happens in Egypt] talk show that the books promoting homosexuality in the bookshop were imported by mistake and were immediately withdrawn afterwards.

In the same talk show, the head of the Egyptian Publishers Association, Said Abdo, said that publishers, libraries, and bookshops can directly import books, which should pass through Egypt's publications censorship authority.

Abdo warned that these types of books could be present at private schools that import educational books from abroad.

In Egypt, the authorities go against homosexuality by means of Law 10/1961, known as the Debauchery Law, which stipulates that whoever is found in a public place inciting to immorality, debauchery, or prostitution, by word, gesture, or any other means, shall be punished with imprisonment for a period of no less than six months and no more than three years.