GLBT 2020 goes community-wide
The GLBT 2020 is back and this time it is as a survey of the priorities and aspirations of every person in the community, not just the major organisations.
This comes as talks are underway about a future role for the Sydney Pride organisation as a peak body in the gay and lesbian community.
The first GLBT NSW 2020 roundtable last September was hailed as historic and optimistic by the 17 community organisations from NSW that attended, but was also criticised by Community Action Against Homophobia and Sex and Gender Education Australia for not allowing more groups to take part.
An online survey launched today by the GLBT 2020 Working Group will allow individuals and other community groups to rate the key priorities from that earlier roundtable, or suggest their own.
Equality and anti-discrimination laws, anti-homophobia resources in schools, better dialogue and a more caring community were among the priorities identified by the community groups.
The survey will also ask what services GLBT people want to see in their local area, such as a GLBT community centre or more health, aged care, news, religious, or youth services.
The results of the survey will inform the agenda of the next GLBT 2020 Summit later this year.
GLBT 2020 Working Group chair Sebastian Rice said he hoped the survey information would provide a strong base for community organisations to work from.
We’re hoping we’ll get a much stronger sense of priorities. There are a lot of issues that came up at the roundtable, he said.
At the end of the survey processes, the material will be turned into brief reports, which will be made available to all of the participating community groups.
No criteria have yet been developed for which community groups would be invited to the next roundtable.
CAAH spokeswoman Emilia Lawonski said they would definitely want to be involved.
We feel it’s important for a lot of different community views to be heard, she said.
We would like to see more unity across all the different organisations and more organising together as a whole. At the moment a lot of the organisations are working separately, so if we had more things we worked together on I think it could be more effective.
The GLBT 2020 Working Group has been in talks with Sydney Pride about fostering intra-community planning through an independently-run community directory.
The Pride Festival itself has been adopted by Stonewall’s Glenn Hansen this year. No decisions have been made about who will take future responsibility for either function.
Disclosure: Harley Dennett is a member of the GLBT 2020 Working Group.
info: The GLBT NSW 2020 survey is online at starobserver.com.au/glbt2020
David,
The anti-discrimination laws affect ALL workplaces. I’ve looked it up and seen no reference to what you are saying.
Where are your sources if I may ask?
Until we get a PM who understands the separation of church & state, we are just dancing around the issues, and continuing with the treatment of gays as a disease.
Some people possibly get infected as they suffer from low self esteem at being relegated as second class citizens in Christian-Kevin’s Australia. They get the message that they don’t have all the opportunities & equal rights open to them that straight people have- for example not being allowed to be fired just for being gay in workplaces with less than 20 employees.
Imagine if you could legally just fire someone for being black in workplaces with less than 20 people- or maybe half casts, where they look white, but then one day it gets “out” that they have ingigenous blood & are legally fired just for that reason! Now translate that into our current exemptions on being able to fire gays freely & legally just for being gay & you’ll see why it all starts will full equal rights for equal taxes paid- that’s what we need to DEMAND & nothing less.
Lets start up a 2030 forum, where we can ignore the 2020 crap & skip ahead to a world without Christian Kevin, where things will be so simple with equality like many other countries are already enjoying since 2004.
As for anti-homophobia training in schools- the one entity that holds all the power on that one is News Ltd- as seen when they single handedly forced Carmel Tebbut to REMOVE anti homophobia training from schools, never to return again. While ever we are legally identified as 2nd class citizens, church groups that pull the strings of newspapers, government, hospital boards, etc, can feel justified when they refer to us as sub human. Christian Kevin needs to go- we need a new PM who is not so religious.
It would be interesting to know why intersex people and organisations have been left out of all of this. Answers, anyone?
Although I am a member of GLBT i see no mention of Intersex , consideration of Intersex inclusion, or consultation with OII Australia.
I had thought it had been decided to include us.
does that mean that regional groups may get a look in. ACON is not a regional group, it is a Sydney organisation with Branches elsewhere. There are groups like Coastal Lynx and Coastal Castaways. Rainbow Visions (Hunter) for example that represent parts of regional NSW. Sydney is not the only place we live in, in this state.