Have your say on LGBTIQA+ Action Plan
Published on 14 February 2022
Monash Council is committed to working together to celebrate diversity, promote social inclusion and raise the LGBTIQA+ community profile to help address equity, safety and access across Monash.
We are inviting LGBTIQA+ people as well as their friends, families and allies to share their experiences, concerns and priorities, to help us to inform our very first LGBTIQA+ Action Plan.
The Action Plan will set clear priorities and actions for Council’s work in this space for the next four years, to ensure that our LGBTIQA+ community are fully connected, supported and feel safe in the community.
Community consultation is now open until Friday 29 April and includes an online survey, workshops and focus groups with members of the LGBTIQA+ community and their supporters.
Mayor Stuart James said the Plan highlights Council’s commitment to safe, inclusive practice and service delivery for LGBTIQA+ people.
“We're proud to have supported the LGBTIQA+ community for many years, but we know there’s more work to be done in this space to ensure our services, programs and networks include and represent everyone in our community,” Cr James said.
“In the past few years, we’ve established an LGBTIQA+ Advisory Committee, held our very first Pride Night at the Monash Aquatic and Recreation Centre, displayed the rainbow flag at the Civic Centre and at several locations across Monash on awareness days, and we are currently working towards becoming a Rainbow Tick Accredited organisation.”
Council is also working with the Monash Gallery of Art (MGA) and JOY Media, Australia’s first and only LGBTIQA+ community radio station, on an exciting photography exhibition called Being A Voice.
Young LGBTIQA+ people are being provided with the opportunity to share through photography and audio what being a young LGBTIQA+ person in Monash means to them.
The campaign will result in an exhibition of photographs across MGA’s Atrium Gallery walls that will be accompanied by audio recordings exploring the lived experiences of LGBTIQA+ people in our community.
Submissions are sought by Monday 21 March, with the exhibition to open on Friday 13 May in celebration of IDAHOBIT (International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia) on 17 May.
Note: LGBTIQA+ represents lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex, queer and asexual communities.