Thursday, 20 June 2024

Ministers statements: Pride Month

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:07): Every year around the world June is Pride Month. It is a month-long opportunity for reflection, action and celebration of the resilience and determination of our LGBTIQA+ communities, how far we have come and the work that lies ahead. Alongside advancements and celebration, pushback against hard-earned progress is all too common. We see this play out in a range of ways throughout our communities – whether it is transphobic narratives or direct threats to safety, violence, discrimination, isolation, harassment and lesser life outcomes. This occurred, for example, at the Minus18 Queer Formal and a range of events that were forced to be cancelled or otherwise rescheduled because of apprehended threats to safety.

We know that the ongoing effect of stigma, discrimination and exclusion over the course of a lifetime causes real harm, real pain, real trauma. We see this evidenced through lesser health, wellbeing and life outcomes for our LGBTIQA+ community members. Three in four trans and gender-diverse people have been treated unfairly due to their gender identity. But despite these challenges, rainbow communities continue to thrive.

This month I was really, really delighted to be able to announce the successful recipients of the 2024 LGBTIQA+ organisational development grants. Feifei Liao is the president of Our Point 3, a not-for-profit organisation supporting LGBTIQA+ international students. She and her work, including through podcasting and radio connections, are creating a real difference for people who often feel all too marginalised.

I am so proud of the work that we are doing to support LGBTIQA+ people through Pride in Our Future, and I am looking forward to ongoing cross-portfolio collaboration and to announcing a new commissioner for LGBTIQA+ communities in the coming weeks and months. We can make a real difference. It takes our communities and our parliaments to work together to make sure that this happens. Every single action makes a difference, and we need allies to make sure that you are part of our work to achieve true equality now more than ever.