The City of Whittlesea council have opened their expression of interest applications for community members interested in being a part of an inclusive group aiming to creating a link between the LGBTQIA+ community and council.
Endorsed in February, the Rainbow Advisory Committee will be made up of nine community, two representatives of local organisations and services supporting the LGBTQIA+, and Councillor David Lenberg with Cr Blair Colwell acting alongside.
“The launch of the Rainbow Advisory Committee marks a meaningful step towards inclusivity, allowing us to listen to and work alongside our LGBTIQA+ community to address challenges and remove barriers to participation,” said Cr. David Lenberg in a statement.
“This committee is an important platform for LGBTIQA+ voices to be heard and represented in local decision-making. It will help us shape a city where everyone feels safe, supported and celebrated.”
However, recently, City of Whittlesea Council decided to cancel their IDAHOBIT celebration, hosted by Queertown CEO Archie Beetle, after fears protests from anti-LGBT+ groups would disrupt the event. Instead, the council turned the event into an in-house personal development day which had a “really positive sense in the room,” Archie Beetle said.
“The overall vibe seemed to be people just wanting to learn how engage in a way that is respectful and positive and how to be a better ally,”
According to the Victorian Population Health Survey 2017, approximately 1 in 20 adults in the state of Victoria are: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual/transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and more (plus).
Independent groups like the Victorian Local Governance Association support councils and councillors in “good governance” through inclusion and diversity represented in their local communities.
In 2020, the VLGA released the Rainbow Resource for Victorian Councils study which documented the current issues facing the LGBTQIA+ community and how councils in the state have aimed to rectify some of the problems.
“Every local government is different, every LGBTIQ community and individual is different. The most successful pieces of work are those that involve the local LGBTIQ community from the very beginning,” the then VLGA President Cr Lambros Tapinos said in the reports forward.
Daniel Bryen, Community Liaison Officer for Gippsland Pride says mutual interest between councils and LGBT+ advisory organizations are key for but more has to be done.
“This is a really important element because our community represented across in all of Victoria, in all councils and an advisory group it’s important to have representation,” Daniel Bryen said
Former City of Whittlesea Mayor, Aiden McLindon was the only council member to vote against the endorsement, claiming the council should be focussing on “roads, rates and rubbish.”
McLindon later stated the advisory committee would include kindergarten and primary schools which was debunked by Councillor Colwell, saying, “We definitely know that kindergartens are not a part of that.”
“In the most common scenario we see this is elected councillors who has very strong platforms of anti-woke agendas,” Daniel Bryen said.
The Expression of Interest for the Rainbow Advisory Committee will close on the 14th of June.
The City of Whittlesea last held an IDAHOBIT day in 2023.
WHAT
IS
IDAOBIT?
IDAHOBIT (International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia) is celebrated on the 17th of May 1990 when the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from the Classification of Diseases.
However, the fight for the de-registering of what the American Psychiatric Association called “sexual deviations” across the globe began earlier as 1950’s.
The reason of homosexuality as a “disorder” in medical journals like the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual claimed men who were gay came from bad experiences and over-protective mothers in their childhood rather than what we know as: their identity.
Gay aversion theory was conducted in the second half of the 20th century. The practice involved shock therapy and drugs used to make ‘patients’ vomit when shown a picture of a naked person of the same sex, and not when shown the opposite.
During this era, Gay liberation movements around the world was ignited by the 1969 Stonewall Riots in Greenwich village. Queer people protested the discrimination they received by their country and society, especially in Australia.
South Australia was the first state to remove homosexuality as a criminal offence in 1975. The ACT, NT, Victoria, NSW and WA followed next in the 80’s. Tasmania was the last state to do so in 1997 when gay activists pushed the matter to the High Court.
The first IDAHOBIT was held in 2005, first called IDAHO now acknowledged globally by people celebrating the progress the LGBT+ have had in raising awareness for discrimination of their own.
In 2011, it was changed to IDAHOT, then in 2018, the name became IDAHOBIT. Only recently, has the movement involved people who identify as queer and asexual.
The Marriage Equality plebiscite held in 2017, though marriage equality was passed, 38.4% of Australians voted no.
