Want to see more rainbow around Darwin?

rainbow guerilla knitting poles

A community member went to the wonderful Melbourne recently and was impressed the rainbow yarn bombing. Yarn bombing is not what happens when your bestie starts telling you a tale when drunk and keep repeating themselves, it’s pre-knitted or crocheted pieces that are put up on objects in public places. It’s happened before in Darwin, and it it would be great to see it happen again to bring more Rainbow to town.

If you’d like to get involved please email outnt@outnt.info and your details will be passed on. No knitting experience required!

We CAN do it in 2016

The call for CANS is on again in 2016. Want to see a rainbow flag flying over Mindil beach? Get can collecting and drop them off to NTAHC Darwin. If you want to help build the boat, get in touch :)

All the goss’ from last year: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jul/13/beer-can-regatta-darwin-swaggers-and-swelters-with-croc-repellant-on-standby

New listings on OUT NT community resource page

OUT NT is a website run by Rainbow Territory to provide community connection and information to LGBTQI people living in the NT. There is a community resource page where resources relevant to the LGBTQI community are listed. Two new resource listings are:
Touch base
TouchBase is a national website providing information on alcohol and drug use as well as mental health and sexual health for LGBTI communities. TouchBase is an initiative of the Victorian AIDS Council (VAC) and the Australian Drug Foundation (ADF), in partnership with the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO), developed to address high rates of alcohol and drug use in these communities through a targeted and destigmatising approach and is a comprehensive resource assisting LGBTI people to better manage their own health and wellbeing.

IndigiLez
Leadership and support group for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Lesbians and Same Sex Attracted Women.

Founders Rebecca Johnson and Tanya Quakawoot formed IndigiLez Leadership and Support Group in 2008.  Both women are passionate advocates for improving the lives of Indigenous lesbians and same sex attracted women. The women’s personal experiences of growing up in their respective small country communities in the Wide Bay-Burnett and Central Queensland areas have encouraged them to make a difference in the Indigenous community and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) community.  As young adults Rebecca and Tanya encountered extremely challenging obstacles because of their identity. Aboriginal, women and lesbian.

http://www.indigilez.org

How OUT NT works

OUT NT is a website that is run by Rainbow Territory to provide information and community connection to LGBTQI people living in or connected to the NT. It is run by Rainbow Territory members, but operates for the community to help bring people together. A strong and connected community is an active community that can work together to achieve change. This newsletter is part of how people are connected, as well as a Facebook page to communicate between newsletters. Please tell people you know in the NT about outnt to get them connected.

If you have an event that you want to promote, or some news you want to share, or something creative you’ve been working on, please email outnt@outnt.info

Newsletter 15: cake to share

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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. Thanks to all who sent in some cake to share. Email your cake to share to outnt@outnt.info

Email through any random articles that you see to outnt@outntinfo or share directly to the OUT NT Facebook page. Get the stories you find interesting out to your community.

 

A personal project on being a young Pasifika trans man underway
http://boxoceania.org/2016/03/31/a-personal-project-on-being-a-young-pasifika-trans-man/
Mexico’s cultural history of LGBT reform
http://archermagazine.com.au/2016/04/mexicos-cultural-history-of-lgbt-reform/ 

Fairytale love that crosses class boundries and gender!
An LGBTI-themed fairytale book, about a prince named Leo and a farm boy named Jack who meet and fall in love, will be officially published after surpassing its crowdfunding goal.
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-12/promised-land-long-overdue-lgbti-fairytale-comes-to-life/7320074

Idris Elba Calls For Better LGBT Representation In TV And Film. The talents of LGBT, black, female and disabled actors are being “unfairly ignored,” he said.
http://www.newnownext.com/idris-elba-calls-for-better-lgbt-representation-in-tv-and-film/01/2016/?xrs=synd_facebook_logo

Australia’s secret history of sexual fluidity

Gay, lesbian, bisexual, Trans, fluid: The spectrum of sexuality and the labels we use to describe it might seem very new, but if we look back, we can see that Australia’s past is chock-full of queerness, Graham Willett writes.

Daisy Meadows, a trans woman incarcerated in a men’s prison, isolation is used both as punishment and “protection.”
https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/the-shocking-painful-trauma-of-being-a-trans-prisoner-in-solitary-confinement

Cae Monae’s Debut Music Project, an Examination of Color and Trans Femininity
http://bullettmedia.com/article/cae-monaes-debut-music-project-an-examination-of-color-and-trans-femininity/

Solomon IsIands – New Report Finds Traditions which Emphasise Difference Must be Challenged to Address Inequality
http://sxpolitics.org/solomon-iands-new-report-finds-traditions-which-emphasise-difference-must-be-challenged-to-address-inequality/13951

20,000 lesbians in the desert (not a story about Alice Springs…)
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/07/dinah-lesbian-festival-women-palm-springs

India’s 1st LGBT cab service ready to roll in Mumbai
http://m.timesofindia.com/articleshow/50662703.cms

Weird or no?!
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/straight-celebrities-pose-as-gay-couples_us_569fd3d9e4b0a7026bf9eb9f

Two Spirits, One Heart, Five Genders
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/01/23/two-spirits-one-heart-five-genders

Coming out in aged care: Michael shares his story
https://youtu.be/hy1zkEhWZUI

Ellen Page’s Gay Imperialism is Not Activism
http://harlot.media/articles/1513/ellen-pages-gay-imperialism-is-not-activism

Is a gay strike on the cards?
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/mar/31/why-knot-a-spirited-panel-discussion-on-marriage-equality-live?page=with:block-56fce661e4b0c9ed7992f8aa#liveblog-navigation

Newsletter 14: Hello + new year, new terms

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This is the fourteenth newsletter from OUT NT.

Hello.

At the start of last year this occasional newsletter used “New Year New Territory” as a kick off for 2015. Do you think the Territory changed between then and now? What will it look like in 2017 after an NT election and a federal election?

Some wonderful things happened during 2015, made possible by hardworking groups and individuals.

  • Darwin had its first ever float in the Sydney Mardi Gras thanks to Departure Lounge, NTAHC, fundraising, and bloody hard work
  • Alice Springs Pride Carnivale did it again with its wonderful pride program
  • Sisters and Brothers NT have been inspiring people and speaking out stronglyfor brotherboys and sister girls, included imprisoned trans people in the NT
  • NTAHC supported our community in big and small ways, including older LGBTQI people
  • Que Kenny became a central Australian radio star on Nurnakah show with some help from Star lady who is now a TEDx star
  • Darwin Pride Festival celebrated 30 years of Pride with an outstanding history exhibition, art of pride, and lots of other events including a pride ride
  • Rainbow Territory has continued its work and is madly recruiting in an election year (more on this below), also going in the iconic beer can regatta
  • Dino Hodge helped to colour the rainbow launching a collection of blak queer trans stories
  • A Darwin lesbian won NT mother of the year
  • NT people are connecting with each other socially, through activism, and collaboration – making the most of this big, small and beautiful place.

All of these actions (and many others not mentioned) change and shape the Territory to make it a place where our community wants to live. 2016 is your opportunity to get involved and get active. If you are going to provide a politician with a new term this year, make sure it is on your terms.

NT in an election year & Rainbow Territory

Rainbow Territory is very conscious that this is an election year. While some great ground work has been done in 2015, this year is a time where there is a lot of momentum for change, but we need help to make it happen. Rainbow Territory needs you to join and get active. Our community continues to be discriminated against. The national focus is on marriage equality, but even if that is changed our community will continue to be discriminated against under NT law, in employment, adoption, access to IVF. Services for trans people, young people and others in our community will continue to be unfunded or ignored. This can change if we get organised:

Image credit: https://pnhpnymetro.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/organizefish.jpg

Some of Rainbow Territory’s work in 2015

  • Made a submission to the review of the NT Domestic and Family Violence Act which highlighted LGBTIQ people’s experience of domestic and family violence, including young LGBTIQ people who are subject to family violence while still living at home
  • Did some not very sexy, but important internal work on processes, strategy, governance and working together
  • Built a boat and sailed it in the Beer Can Regatta with support from Throb, Darwin Pride NTAHC, and lots of lady muscles from the community. The team also won the women’s tug of war and raised the flag for equality in the national news
  • Made a submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission on LGBTQI experiences in the NT
  • Consulted with the community through a 100+ survey and an equality forum at the Darwin Pride Festival, and did fundraising and public stalls raising awareness about discrimination in the NT
  • Worked with service providers in Darwin to improve support for young LGBTQI people in Darwin
  • Continued to promote www.outnt.info to provide community connection and information to LGBTQI people in the NT. This has resulted in new arrivals getting more quickly connected to the community and helped existing NTers be connected and informed

What is next for 2016? Come to the next Rainbow Territory meeting or get-together to find out how to get involved and organised

Nurnakah Show – Our Show

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Que Kenny, Star Lady and Warren H Williams deliver another awesome show from Alice through CAAMA radio. They interview two Alice locals who give a great perspective on being slightly new in town, and around for a bit longer- Seb who recently moved to Alice and singer songwriter Eddie Donald.

Listen to the final show from 2015
http://caama.com.au/nurnakah-show

Image credit CAAMA

Young people get the chance tell it like is to the Chief Minister

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OUT NT heard about this survey and think its important to share it. However, we note that sexuality is not specifically asked about. We encourage any young person who responds to this survey to complete the survey in a way that doesn’t silence any struggles that young LGBTQI people face in relation to their sexuality. Tell your story so people in power know what is happening for you.

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Each year members of the Chief Minister’s Round Table of Young Territorians canvass the opinions of young Territorians to find out what issues are most important to them. The results are then shared with the NT Government at their first meeting, which will be held in February 2016.

If you are aged 12-25 years and would like to have your say, please complete our quick Youth Issues Survey by following this link  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/P9W6LNB

For more information on the Chief Minister’s Round Table please visit www.youth.nt.gov.au or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/youthnt. If you have any questions regarding the survey please call 8999 2987.