New campaign to address LGBTI sexual assault at university

New resources to raise awareness of support services for LGBTI people have been launched today by #NeverOK, the anti-sexual assault and harassment at universities campaign.

The launch of the new targeted materials comes after the release of the Australian Human Rights Commission report ‘Change the Course’, which helped provide an accurate picture of the nature and extent of sexual assault and harassment at universities, and how universities respond to these incidents.

The report found that 75 per cent of the LGBTI community faced some form of sexual harassment in 2016.

Trans people were 45 per cent more likely to have been sexually harassed in a university setting than cis people.

“As a community, LGBTI people face higher rates of poverty, stigma, and marginalisation, putting the community at a greater risk for sexual assault and harassment at our universities,” said Clark Cooley, convenor of the #NeverOK campaign.

“The community also faces higher rates of hate-motivated violence, which can often take the form of sexual assault.

“For LGBTI survivors of sexual harassment and assault, their identities—and the discrimination they face surrounding those identities—often make them hesitant to seek help from police, hospitals, shelters or rape crisis centres, the very resources that are supposed to help them.

“We encourage anyone who has survived these types of attacks to report them and seek support using support services listed on our website.”

To find out more visit NeverOK’s website at: https://www.neverok.org/lgbtiq/.