News – Page 11

Rainbow Territory media release: Equality before the law matters

PRESS RELEASE

Monday, 8 June 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Darwin, Northern Territory

Equality before the law matters

Rainbow Territory is a group that advocates for the human rights of Northern Territorians who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ).

Rainbow Territory acknowledges Ms Natasha Griggs MP, David Tollner MLA and John Elferink MLA’s recent public announcements of their support for marriage equality.

The group commends Ms Griggs for conducting a marriage equality poll of her electorate. Her change of position parallels the strong support for marriage equality within Darwin and Palmerston.

“Griggs’ change is a positive step for equality. Rainbow Territory hopes that Tollner and Elferink’s support for equality under federal law will extend to equality under Territory law. As it stands LGBTIQ Territorians face ongoing discrimination in employment, adoption and other areas” said Rainbow Territory member, Jane Black.

Marriage equality is an important and positive step for LGBTIQ law reform. It is just one of the changes in Australian law that Rainbow Territory is calling for.

“When community leaders declare their support for marriage equality for LGBTIQ people, it sends a message to society that inequality is no longer acceptable. This is another step towards ending LGBTIQ discrimination” said Rainbow Territory member, Jane Black.

Even when marriage equality is passed into law in Australia, LGBTIQ Territorians will remain unequal under some Territory laws.

Rainbow Territory are currently analysing the survey results of more than 100 people in relation to the changes to NT legislation and policy that some LGBTIQ Territorians want to see.

LGBTIQ equality before the law can have a flow on effect by contributing to a more positive environment for LGBTIQ people on the streets, in the family home, schools and workplaces.

Rainbow Territory invites the community to unite with the LGBTIQ Territorians by writing letters of support and encouragement to media outlets and our local and federal representatives.

If you would like to get involved in our LGBTIQ law reform campaign contact Rainbow Territory through our website www.outnt.info/rainbowterritory/

We welcome new members from throughout the Territory.

Rainbow colours of law reform

NT News, print edition, 1 June 2015

Rainbow Territory, an organisation that advocates for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) community, held its second law reform writing meeting in Darwin yesterday.

Rainbow Territory spokeswoman Sam Bowden said the purpose of the event was to draft letters to local and federal politicians in a bid to change legislation.

“We’ll be sending the letter to a lot of people including Chief Minister (Adam Giles) and the NT Attorney-General (John Elferink),” she said.

Ms Bowden said the organisation wanted “gender identity” to be included in the Discrimination Act and an exemption for education institutions to discriminate on the basis of sexuality to be removed from it.

She said protection on basis of sexual orientation and gender identity should be included in the Anti-Vilification Act.

“We want to see these laws amended and to be able to access fertility services,” Ms Bowden said. “The tide has turned slowly when it comes to marriage equality but the rest depends on the hearts and the minds of other people.”

Ms Bowden said community spirit had the power to prompt change.

Rainbow Territory strategy workshop outcome

To keep the community in the loop Rainbow Territory has provided a rough summary of their recent strategy workshop. The strategy will be documented and published in the next month or so.

How did the the workshop go overall?

Well. We worked collaboratively and tackled some really ‘big picture’ questions. Productive. Fun. Plenty of food. Challenging but supportive, invigorating. Everyone was very forthcoming and open – led to productive discussions. Bonding and sharing and deep feelings through ice breaker activity. Very well facilitated, negotiated breaks. Finished on time. Listened. Broke into groups to visually represent Rainbow Territory. Good to play coits during the lunch break!

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What did Rainbow Territory try to tackle?

Basically the big picture. Who do we represent? What do we stand for and where do we see ourselves? What are we doing? What are we going to do? Working out what Rainbow Territory is working to achieve and in what areas of it is going to work in order to help get the community there.

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How did you go about it?

At a really high level we thought about and discussed “Where are we now?”, “Where do we want to be?”, “How do we get there?”.We reviewed the survey results. We looked at statistics on lgbtqi populations, discrimination. We thought about our own experiences. We thought about who was not properly represented in the survey, or at the workshop on the day.

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Some of the insights from survey and discussions included:
Being strategic in law reform – trying to change things that are achievable. Making sure we tell the less common stories for example beat safety, loneliness, social isolation – not just telling the common stories from the survey. We are behind the other states in terms of the law.

Importance of acknowledging difficulties in being representative across the whole Territory and not wanting to speak on behalf of people outside of DarwinDiscussion on the day of our current strengths and weaknesses
Diversity / Access to community / Support activist networks
/ Personal / Public awareness / Inequality and lgbtqi discrimination

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For those who couldn’t attend, what was their input?

The importance of alliance-building. The importance of values for a group or organisation. The importance of changing things for the better in an equitable and not just equal way.

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What is Rainbow Territory’s vision?

A society that is free, equitable, connected

In a society where lgbtqi people can be free to be themselves and fully participate in society.

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How do we get there?

Slowly!
Keep talking to each other to get a plan that we are all happy with.

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What are your main focus areas for the future

Community building

Law reform

Uni of Melbourne – Calling on LBQTI women to do an online survey for the Rainbow Women’s Help Seeking Research project

The Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne is currently undertaking a study exploring help seeking behaviour amongst lesbian, bisexual, queer, same-sex attracted, trans and gender diverse, and intersex women. The study has been funded by beyondblue, the National depression and anxiety initiative.

We are looking for women at least 18 years of age who live in Australia to complete an anonymous online survey that will take approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

The findings of the survey will be used to provide recommendations for improving health-related resources for LBQTI women, including information about mental health.

We would be extremely gratefully if you would forward this email to any people you know who might be eligible or post a link to the survey on your website or forum.

The web address for the survey is https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/rainbowwomenhelpseekingstudy

The Chief Investigator of this project is Associate Professor Ruth McNair from the Department of General Practice, at The University of Melbourne. If you have any questions about the research please do not hesitate to contact Ruth on: 0419 120 663 or at: r.mcnair@unimelb.edu.au

Recent poor media coverage of the LGBTQI community

Two recent NT News articles have highlighted the poor reporting of the LGBTQI community. These articles help to perpetuate myths about our community and should be challenged.

“Criticism over AIDS support”
On 11 May 2015 the NT News published a short article covering NTAHC’s concerns about the low level of funded services for LGBTQI people in the NT. While coverage of this issue is good, the headline suggests that AIDS is part and parcel of being a member of the gay community. This mindset was prevalent in the 80s, and it is very concerning that this attitude remains within the mainstream press in 2015. The article also lists the Q in LGBTIQ as “questioning”. This excludes members of our community who identify as queer.

“Caught blue handed in the mood for glove”
The headline of the second article published the same week as above is typical tongue in cheek from NT News. However the article has underlying messages that include:

gay people are dangerous and you need to be prepared to defend yourself, and
children are at risk from gay people.

If the NT police chased after every person who asked a stranger for oral sex they would be very busy, and mainly on Mitchell St. at 3am.

What you can do about this
If you read an article you are not happy with:

write a letter to the editor outlining concerns that you have in relation the article
complain to the media outlet that published the article, the Press Council or Media Watch

If you are a person who is quoted or an organization that has completed a press release and you feel you have been misrepresented

inform the media outlet about your concerns and ask for a correction. This is especially important in relation to online articles as the text can be updated after publishing.
complain as above
if you are putting out a press release consider sending through these guidelines to the media outlet so they can be better informed about how to report. Although from the United States, they are good start.

Review of CDU and its support of lgbtqi staff and students

The short version – according to this report CDU needs to do a lot better for its lgbtqi students and staff. This guide has been released ranking Australia’s universities’ support of queer students (and staff).

http://lgbtiuniguide.org.au/universities/northern-territory/charles-darwin-university/

Rainbow Territory present at UN Youth Assembly NT as part of IDAHOT

Last Saturday two Rainbow Territory members Alex and Gail were involved in the United Nations Youth Assembly Human Rights Summit on LGBTQI issues, held at Charles Darwin University. The Summit was one held in most state and territory capitals around Australia, as part of the weekend of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. Aimed at students from years 9-12, the Darwin summit attracted approximately 15 young people.

In delivering the keynote address, Alex from Rainbow Territory looked at the current issues of discrimination facing the rainbow community, provided practical tips on how to engage with the LGBTQI community, as well as spoke about advocacy at a grass roots level. Both members then responded to several questions from audience members on issues such as bullying and name-calling and spoke informally with many other participants during the break. Great job Alex and Gail, and thanks to NTAHC for letting us know about the forum.

More info about IDAHOT.

Updates to community resources on outnt.info

Did you know the outnt website has a community resources page? New resources have recently been added following some research by Rainbow Territory. Trans*, intersex, youth, and domestic violence information and resources have been added. Including information about the Safe Schools Coalition, which is coming soon to the Territory (yay!).

http://www.outnt.info/community-resources/

The page lists NT and national resources including health, legal, history, and activist contacts. Check it out and suggest ones that are not there, especially NT based resources.

OUT NT newsletter #8

All the news that is fit to click!

Hello.

It’s been a little time in between newsletters, but that is not the only reason for a choc-a-block edition of OUT NT. Things are getting busy, and the community is getting active. This is really exciting.

While there is a lot of stuff organised, without community input and participation it is a bit like dancing by yourself – fun, but could be a lot more fun with others. So please check out what is happening, tell others, and get on down.

OUT NT also interviews Jenne Roberts in this edition, a lesbian mother and winner of NT mother of the year. Check it out below.

OUT NT is now on facebook which makes sharing a bit easier. Currently on a whopping 19 likes, so please get clicking.

http://us9.campaign-archive2.com/?u=05cb4d6e0c1c6538eb2a6ec9f&id=185a8bd714

OUT NT Newsletter #6: Hello + mardi great

Hello + mardi great

It has been a busy time. Do Darwin did Mardi Gras, and for those who did not participant or watch, Darwin certainly represented. Congratulations to all of the people who worked so hard to get Do Darwin to Mardi Gras. It has been an amazing achievement that the community can be very proud of.

Back at the ranch Darwin Community Legal Service has released their updated publications that include LGBTQI rights in the NT and commonwealth law. Understand current discrimination, know your rights and speak out when they are not respected.

Alice Springs hosted the first train the trainer training session as part of Silver Rainbow, a project to increase LGBTI aged care awareness to support LGTBI people as they move into aged care.

OUT NT Newsletter #6: Do Darwin @ Mardi Gras

The Departure Lounge and NTAHC took Darwin to Mardi Gras, and did the NT proud. Following on from the trail blazing Desert Devils from Alice in 1988, both are now part of Territory history. Adding to that history is the proud First Nations Float, which had participants from the NT including sistergirl Rosalina Curtis.

If you weren’t at Mardi Gras (or went and it is all a little hazy) check out the Departure Lounge Facebook page for photos, or watch the Mardi Gras special on SBS on demand which includes a Darwin float interview, a shot of a very phallic tank ridden by Kim Jong Un, and in-depth interviews of Mardi Gras participants.

For articles from the first Mardi Gras which was a protest by the now famous 78ers check out this link and read amongst other things “How a Carnival Turned into a Vicious Brawl” The Australian, 26 June 1978.

Photo credit: Departure Lounge

Rainbow colours of law reform

Cake to share is a random section of the newsletter where people can share something with others. Not all cake suits all tastes, so please sample or skip as you wish. Email your cake to share to outnt@outnt.info

Health survey for LGBTQI women in Australia

May Day marches in Russia challenging anti-gay laws

Article on intimate partner violence in queer communities

High court decision on gay panic defence