text:
Tag Archives: transphobia
The State of Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia Survey Results, Part 6: Discrimination in Health, Community Services or Aged Care
Posted on June 4, 2017 by Alastair Lawrie
This post is the final in a series of six, reporting the results of The State of Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia survey I conducted at the start of 2017[i].
In this article, I will be focusing on their answers to four questions, asking whether they have experienced discrimination in health, community services or aged care, whether any of this discrimination occurred in the past 12 months, whether this discrimination related to religious organisations and to provide an example of the discrimination that they experienced.
The responses reveal a disturbing pattern of discrimination across these areas, with many LGBTIQ Australians denied equal access to services simply because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status.
The question about whether any of this discrimination occurred in relation to religious organisations is important because of the existence of 'special rights' to discriminate for these bodies in most states and territories[ii], leaving LGBTI people in these circumstances without any legal redress.
I also encourage you to read the examples provided in response to question four, which reveal some of the different types of discrimination that LGBTIQ people have encountered in health, community services or aged care.
Question 1: Have you ever experienced discrimination because of your sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status in relation to health, community services or aged care
Question 2: Has one or more instances of this discrimination (in health, community services or aged care) occurred in the past 12 months?
Question 3: Did any of this discrimination (in health, community services or aged care) occur in relation to a religious organisation?
Of the 1,611 people who answered the first question, 345 – or 21% – said they had experienced discrimination in one of these areas at some point in their lives.
Disturbingly, 189 survey respondents[iii] reported experiencing anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in health, community services or aged care in the past 12 months alone. In other words, more than half of those who had experienced discrimination in these areas reported at least one instance of this mistreatment just in 2016 – that is simply shocking.
The proportion reporting discrimination by religious organisations was 3.7%[iv]. This is thankfully lower than the rates reported for discrimination by religious organisations in education (Survey Results, Part 4) and employment (Survey Results, Part 5), although this nevertheless represents roughly 1 in 25 LGBTI people exposed without adequate protections from anti-discrimination schemes.
There were some significant differences in reported discrimination in health, community services and aged care between lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer survey respondents:
26.5%[v] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
14.5%[vi] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
3.5%[vii] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
19.8%[viii] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
9.9%[ix] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
2.7%[x] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
16.1%[xi] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
8.7%[xii] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
4.7%[xiii] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
35.3%[xiv] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
24.9%[xv] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
3.8%[xvi] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
40%[xvii] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
13.3%[xviii] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
6.7%[xix] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
29.6%[xx] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
19.2%[xxi] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
4.6%[xxii] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
LGBTIQ Category Experienced anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in health, community services or aged care (%)?
Ever Last 12 months By religious organisation
Lesbian 26.5 14.5 3.5
Gay 19.8 9.9 2.7
Bisexual 16.1 8.7 4.7
Transgender 35.3 24.9 3.8
Intersex 40 13.3 6.7
Queer 29.6 19.2 4.6
The highest rate for lifetime discrimination was from intersex respondents, although the small sample size for that group (n=15) means this figure should be treated with some caution. It is also interesting that intersex people reported average rates of recent discrimination in these areas.
Of the other groups, gay and particularly bisexual respondents reported lower rates of both lifetime, and recent, discrimination in health, community services and aged care than other groups.
In contrast to earlier survey results, lesbians reported higher rates of discrimination on both measures. One possible explanation is greater involvement, and therefore potential exposure to discrimination in, family-related health and community services.
Once again, higher rates of discrimination, and especially recent mistreatment, were reported by transgender and, to a slightly lesser extent, queer survey respondents.
It is particularly disturbing that one in five queer respondents, and fully one quarter of trans people, experienced discrimination in these areas in the past 12 months alone.
Taking a closer look at the trans cohort, and in particular respondents who identified as both trans and another LGBQ category, the figures were as follows:
Trans and lesbian: 37.2%[xxiii] ever, and 25.6% in the last 12 months
Trans and gay: 40.4%[xxiv] ever, and 28.1% in the last 12 months
Trans and bisexual: 26.7%[xxv] ever, and 16.7% in the last 12 months, and
Trans and queer: 40.1%[xxvi] ever, and 32.2% in the last 12 months.
These groups were largely consistent, although trans and bi respondents reported lower rates on both measures, while trans and queer respondents were more likely to experience recent discrimination (at almost 1 in 3 people overall).
Finally, there is little that stands out in the reported rates of discrimination by religious organisations in these areas, with the range from 2.7% (gay) to 6.7% (intersex).
The rates of discrimination for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ people were higher for both lifetime discrimination, and especially for recent discrimination, than for their non-Indigenous counterparts.
On the other hand, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ people reported lower rates of discrimination by religious organisations in health, community services or aged care. The full figures are as follows:
24.6%[xxvii] reported discrimination in these areas at some point (compared to 21.3% of non-Indigenous people)
17.5%[xxviii] experienced at least one instance in the past 12 months (compared to 11.5% of non-Indigenous people) and
1.8%[xxix] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation (compared to 3.7% of non-Indigenous people).
Experienced anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in health, community services or aged care (%)?
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander 24.6 17.5 1.8
Non-Indigenous 21.3 11.5 3.7
Aged 24 and under
15.7%[xxx] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
10.8%[xxxi] experienced at least one instance in the past 12 months
3.3%[xxxii] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
31.1%[xxxiii] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
15.8%[xxxiv] experienced at least one instance in the past 12 months
3.9%[xxxv] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
23.7%[xxxvi] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
9.1%[xxxvii] experienced at least one instance in the past 12 months
4%[xxxviii] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
25.8%[xxxix] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
9.7%[xl] experienced any instance in the past 12 months
9.7%[xli] reported discrimination by a religious organisation
Age cohort Experienced anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in health, community services or aged care (%)?
24 and under 15.7 10.8 3.3
25 to 44 31.1 15.8 3.9
45 to 64 23.7 9.1 4
65 and over 25.8 9.7 9.7
Given their lesser years of life experience, it is perhaps unsurprising that young people experienced lower levels of lifetime discrimination in these areas. Although the fact that more than 1 in 10 LGBTIQ people aged 24 or under reported homophobic, biphobic, transphobic or intersexphobic discrimination in health or community services over the past 12 months is alarming.
What is perhaps most surprising is that people aged 25 to 44 were most likely to report both lifetime discrimination in these areas (with almost a third of respondents affected), as well as anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in the past 12 months (at almost 1 in every 6 respondents).
Meanwhile, the highest rate of reported discrimination by religious organisations was from LGBTIQ people aged 65 and over – which is possibly explained by recent interactions with religious-operated aged care services.
State or Territory of Residence
The final demographic category according to which I have analysed the survey results is the state or territory of residence:
21.4%[xlii] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
10.9%[xliii] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
2.7%[xliv] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
22.8%[xlv] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
12.4%[xlvi] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
4%[xlvii] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
22%[xlviii] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
11.4%[xlix] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
6.1%[l] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
22.1%[li] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
12.8%[lii] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
2.7%[liii] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
19.5%[liv] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
14.3%[lv] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
3%[lvi] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
16%[lvii] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
10.4%[lviii] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
1.9%[lix] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
23.2%[lx] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
10.7%[lxi] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
7.1%[lxii] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
20%[lxiii] reported discrimination in these areas at some point
10%[lxiv] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
5%[lxv] experienced discrimination by a religious organisation
State or territory Experienced anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in health, community services or aged care (%)?
NSW 21.4 10.9 2.7
Victoria 22.8 12.4 4
Queensland 22 11.4 6.1
WA 22.1 12.8 2.7
SA 19.5 14.3 3
Tasmania 16 10.4 1.9
ACT 23.2 10.7 7.1
NT 20 10 5
These results were largely consistent across state and territory boundaries (thus lending weight to the overall figures, discussed earlier).
The lowest lifetime rates of discrimination in health, community services or aged care were in Tasmania, while the highest (but only just) were in the ACT. Meanwhile, South Australians were most likely to experience discrimination in the last 12 months, while LGBTIQ people in Queensland and the ACT reported the highest rates of discrimination in these areas by religious organisations.
Question 4: If you feel comfortable, please provide an example of the discrimination you experienced in relation to health, community services or aged care [Optional]:
This question allowed respondents to provide examples of the anti-LGBTIQ discrimination they had experienced and, just as with previous survey results, these comments are often confronting to read.
A lightly-edited[lxvi] version of the answers to this question – providing examples of homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and intersexphobic discrimination in relation to health, community services or aged care – can be found at the following link:
question-4-examples-of-health-community-services-and-aged-care-discrimination
These answers demonstrate a range of different ways in which LGBTIQ people were mistreated in comparison to cisgender heterosexual people, including:
One of the most common stories was denial of LGBTIQ relationships, including refusal to treat partners as next of kin:
"I was asked if I was in a relationship and what not and gender during a visit to a new and local doctor, I said yes and gender non-binary and I was put down as single and female. Single because my partner was a woman and the system didn't have an option for same sex couples and it was "easier"."
"Having my female partner not being able to be with me in emergency because it was family and partners only. (Had no family in the region at the time)"
"My wife was in emergency at [redacted] Hospital and the doctor did not want to discuss with me her condition or provide me with a carers certificate because of our sexuality"
"While an inmate in the mental health unit, the doctor assigned to me was very uncomfortable when my partner was in the room. And even though I gave permission, he would not treat my partner with respect or discuss my care with her."
"At a hospital where my partner of over ten years was not accepted as my next of kin. I had to put my son down"
"Was at a hospital after becoming very ill and my girlfriend was holding my hand. Once my nurse noticed, her attitude towards me changed and she told me that "friends" couldn't visit"
"While my girlfriend was in hospital and had come in via ambulance I was denied access to her / the ability to see her while she was in the emergency department because a receptionist didn't believe we were partners. Clearly thought I was 'just a friend'"
"I was critically ill and my partner was ignored by hospital staff as my next of kin"
Another common story related to an assumption that being gay (or bi, or trans) automatically equates to being at high risk of HIV, including being subjected to additional testing or 'safety precautions' – or, in one case, being denied testing:
"Feeling like the dentist did not want to treat me because I answered the at risk of HIV questions (in the 90s)"
"Disclosing that I had a same sex partner opened me up to extra medical testing before procedures, including unnecessary HIV testing unrelated to my procedure."
"I was informed that due to being bisexual, I was at a high risk of STDs, regardless of the fact that I am married and in a monogamous relationship."
"A doctor was dismissive of my health concerns and wrote me off as an HIV magnet for being transgender."
"Because I am open about being gay, I have been repeatedly advised by health practitioners to have an HIV test when consulting them about a range of health issues that have no relation to HIV. Of course, I have had HIV tests and would do so again if I thought I had been at risk."
"A GP refused to test me for HIV as he had "better things to do than take care of sexually promiscuous people like" me. I had not told him anything about my sex life apart from the fact that I was gay – this was purely a homophobic assumption on his behalf. He suggested I go to a free sexual health centre in the city instead."
It is unsurprising that these attitudes translated to adverse treatment of people who are HIV-positive:
"A doctor was bombastic when I presented at ED when he learned I was HIV +. He just carried on about my HIV Status and not the issue I presented for"
Several respondents cited the blanket ban on sexually-active gay men donating blood as being anti-LGBTIQ discrimination:
"Apparently just cause I'm gay I can't donate blood, even tho [sic] I get tested all the time probably more times than a straight person would in their life time"
"Gay men are not allowed to give blood if they've had sex within the past year. It is alienating and presumptuous"
This approach also applies to some transgender people:
"Refused to donate blood. Because blood donation is a purely altruistic act, this makes one feel apart from the community. The policy of the local blood collection organisations is to treat all transgender people like gay men, irrespective of the sex they were assigned at birth, the state of the individual's legal document, the individual's genitals, etc."
There was a range of stories about homophobia from GPs:
"I had a sore throat and my GP suggested that it may be because men weren't designed to suck cock."
"Doctor called me a homo, and multiple doctors being uncomfortable discussing sexual health issues once finding out my sexuality."
"Being told by a doctor that I am more prone to disease because I am homosexual"
"A GP at my local health centre treated me with caution and wrote a ridiculous warning on my medical file for anyone to see. "Warning: Homosexual relations"."
Lesbian respondents also described a variety of discrimination they had experienced:
"Talking about sex with GPs and health providers, there's an assumption that sex is only with the opposite sex and that nothing else is sexual. Even when in a monogamous same sex relationship doctors would assume and ask questions about male sex partners and dismiss my actual partner. Ie, could you be pregnant? When they know I'm a cis woman only having sex with a cis woman."
"Local doctor told me that I couldn't go on the pill to stop my painful periods due to endometriosis because I was not in a sexually active relationship with a man, that because I was lesbian and not at risk of falling pregnant there was no need to be put on the pill"
"I have had a doctor tell me that I shouldn't get a pap smear because I had never had sex with someone who had a penis, which is just wrong information and could be detrimental to my health. This denial was also mixed with her confusion and homophobia around the fact that I was queer and I felt very uncomfortable and shamed."
This included a particularly-horrific situation involving sexual assault:
"I have received many instances of refusal of care or denial of optimal care by health professionals because of my sexuality. But the one that still traumatises me is when I went for a Pap smear with a female gp and she inserted her fingers into my vagina (for what I now know is an optional test) without telling me. I screamed and told her to stop, but she continued saying people like me like this kind of thing…she raped me. While looking at me in the face. Because I am gay."
As with previous survey results, the most frequent stories of discrimination came from trans respondents. This included blatant transphobia, as well as deadnaming and misgendering:
"I was referred to by a receptionist to one of her co-workers as 'a dude who wants to cut his d*ck off.' The other replied with 'well, you don't want those types to breed.'"
"In 2005 I was involved in a car crash which necessitated a precautionary visit to the emergency dept at [redacted] in Perth. An orderly could not contain his mirth at me being a transgender person and kept commenting about it and laughing at me several times over a period of hours while I was required to stay motionless on my back awaiting a spinal scan."
"I was repeatedly misgendered by nurses in a public hospital despite my efforts to correct them"
"being continually misgendered and deadnamed at a hospital"
"No doctor has refused to treat me but I have had doctors refuse to refer to me as a male once they find out, or assume every ailment must be linked to being transgender."
It also included a refusal to provide essential trans-related medical services:
"Doctor telling me I should not get PBS for testosterone because it's a lifestyle choice not a medical condition"
"Had a doctor tell me to stop HRT because it was dangerous, he did not seem to think being trans was real."
"Was prevented from getting access to medical treatment and to start my transitioning for over 6 yrs by doctors."
"My first psychiatrist was a gatekeeper who denied me access to services essential to transition."
Several trans respondents complained about systemic discrimination in place simply to access transition:
"I think having to get diagnosed with gender dysphoria and have your life torn open by a psychologist is fucking pretty discriminatory. It's bullshit. My body, my rules."
"the entire process for getting access to gender related assistance is transphobic"
This comment seemed to sum up the feelings of many:
"Most doctors are totally clueless about how to treat trans people."
A concerning theme to several stories was homophobic, biphobic and transphobic treatment of LGBTIQ people accessing mental health services:
"I was in a psychiatric ward for severe mental health issues and I mentioned that I was queer. The registrar fixated on it and tried to make it out that my sexuality was the root of all my problems. He tried to pathologise it."
"I also had a session with a counsellor who referred to me as having a split personality when they found out I was Transgender."
"Psychologists were the worst, though. I have serious mental illness and part of the problem was sexual assault trauma and problems with harassment and discrimination because of being bisexual. The psychologists told me that it didn't exist and that I had to choose and that "if you want women it means you need mothering in your relationships so work on that with men". Dangerous lies."
"My counsellor didn't "believe" in LGBT people or issues and told me I just needed to "get a job, join a gym and eat healthy""
"In a psychiatric ward I got told that my being gay was a part of my mental illness and a contributing factor to my depression"
Domestic and family violence was also cited as an area of anti-LGBTIQ discrimination:
"I've contacted domestic violence places for support groups and been told 'women only' even though I'm non-binary, assigned female at birth, and don't pass as male. When I've asked where I'm meant to go, they're suggested men's behavioural change programs (I was the victim, I ended up with PTSD!) and then said they had no idea."
"DV situation cops didn't take a woman abusing a woman seriously"
"Having no services for DV Support to get help after a 8 yr DV relationship. Mainstream services having no understanding of LGBTIQ relationships/ community"
Finally, there were several examples of anti-LGBTIQ discrimination on the basis of religious belief:
"I was hospitalised for a suicide attempt. While there, I was sent a chaplain instead of a nurse to watch me. He spent 6 hours telling me how I was going to hell and how much god hated me and my gender was all in my head."
"I was offered help by the salvation army after I was forced to leave home. I was told that I could just go home, once I mentioned that the cause of my situation was abuse related to my sexuality, the belief seemed to be that I should somehow change my mind and then my parents would accept me."
"I was refused for a counselling service because the organization was religion based and insisted they wouldn't work with someone that was beyond help like me."
"My job in regards to [employment-related organisation] was with a religious org and it ran aged care services. The org wouldn't recognise an aging couple's relationship and they were placed in 2 separate care homes"
The results of these four questions have confirmed that homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and intersexphobic discrimination in health, community services or aged care is relatively widespread, and has a significant impact on many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer Australians.
This includes more than 1 in every 5 respondents people reporting lifetime experience of such discrimination, with 11.7% reporting at least one instance of anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in health, community services or aged care in the last 12 months alone.
Some groups within the community reported even higher rates than these already high averages, with intersex and trans people, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ people and people aged 25 to 44 particularly affected.
While the rates of discrimination by religious organisations were comparatively low, it is important to note than in most cases, such discrimination is entirely lawful, due to the wide-ranging and completely unjustified religious exceptions to anti-discrimination laws in the majority of Australian jurisdictions.
The personal examples of discrimination in health, community services and aged care shared in response to question 4 demonstrate the different forms such prejudice can take, with many heart-breaking stories of homophobia, transphobia and even discrimination by mental health services.
As noted at the beginning of this post, this has been the last in my series of six articles reporting the results of my The State of Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia survey.
Thank you to all those people who participated in the survey, and of course to everyone who has read the results I have published. Hopefully, through this process we have demonstrated the ongoing problems caused by homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and intersexphobia in Australia – and the urgent need for our lawmakers and decision-makers to take action to address these issues.
Finally, if you would like to continue to receive articles on LGBTI rights, please sign up to this blog: on mobile, at the bottom of this page, or on desktop at the top right-hand corner of the screen.
QLife, Australia's national telephone and web counselling and referral service for LGBTI people.
Freecall: 1800 184 527, Webchat: qlife.org.au (3pm to midnight every day)
Part 3: Where Discriminatory Comments Occur and Their Impact
Part 4: Discrimination in Education
Part 5: Discrimination in Employment
[ii] Noting that discrimination against LGBTI people accessing aged care services from Commonwealth-funded aged care facilities operated by religious organisations is prohibited by the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (although those same protections do not cover LGBTI employees in those facilities).
[iii] 343 people responded to question 2: 189 yes/154 no.
[iv] 344 people responded to question 3: 59 yes/285 no.
[v] 317 people responded to question 1: 84 yes/233 no.
[vi] 46 respondents.
[vii] 11 respondents.
[viii] 626 people responded to question 1: 124 yes/502 no.
[ix] 62 respondents.
[x] 17 respondents.
[xi] 508 people responded to question 1: 82 yes/426 no.
[xii] 44 respondents.
[xiii] 24 respondents.
[xiv] 365 people responded to question 1: 129 yes/236 no.
[xv] 91 respondents.
[xvi] 14 respondents.
[xvii] 15 people responded to question 1: 6 yes/9 no. Note that, given the small sample size, these percentages should be treated with some caution.
[xviii] 2 respondents.
[xix] 1 respondent.
[xx] 480 people responded to question 1: 142 yes/338 no.
[xxi] 92 respondents.
[xxii] 22 respondents.
[xxiii] 43 respondents total, with 16 yes to question 1 and 11 yes to question 2.
[xxiv] 57 respondents total, with 23 yes to question 1 and 16 yes to question 2.
[xxv] 120 respondents total, with 32 yes to question1 and 20 yes to question 2.
[xxvi] 183 respondents total, with 75 yes to question 1 and 59 yes to question 2.
[xxvii] 57 people responded to question 1: 14 yes/43 no.
[xxviii] 10 respondents.
[xxix] 1 respondent.
[xxx] 860 people responded to question 1: 135 yes/725 no.
[xxxi] 93 respondents.
[xxxii] 28 respondents.
[xxxiii] 431 people responded to question 1: 134 yes/297 no.
[xxxiv] 68 respondents.
[xxxv] 17 respondents.
[xxxvi] 274 people responded to question 1: 65 yes/209 no.
[xxxvii] 25 respondents.
[xxxviii] 11 respondents.
[xxxix] 31 people responded to question 1: 8 yes/23 no. Note that, given the small sample size, these percentages should be treated with some caution.
[xl] 3 respondents.
[xli] 3 respondents.
[xlii] 524 people responded to question 1: 112 yes/412 no.
[xliii] 57 respondents.
[xliv] 14 respondents.
[xlv] 378 people responded to question 1: 86 yes/292 no.
[xlvi] 47 respondents.
[xlvii] 15 respondents.
[xlviii] 245 people responded to question 1: 54 yes/191 no.
[xlix] 28 respondents.
[l] 15 respondents.
[li] 149 people responded to question 1: 33 yes/116 no.
[lii] 19 respondents.
[liii] 4 respondents.
[liv] 133 people responded to question 1: 26 yes/107 no.
[lv] 19 respondents.
[lvi] 4 respondents.
[lvii] 106 people responded to question 1: 17 yes/89 no.
[lviii] 11 respondents.
[lix] 2 respondents.
[lx] 56 people responded to question 1: 13 yes/43 no.
[lxi] 6 respondents.
[lxii] 4 respondents.
[lxiii] 20 people responded to question 1: 4 yes/16 no. Note that, given the small sample size, these percentages should be treated with some caution.
[lxiv] 2 respondents.
[lxv] 1 respondent.
[lxvi] In this context, lightly-edited includes:
-Removing offensive remarks.
Posted in LGBTI anti-discrimination, Religious Exceptions	/ Tagged Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, biphobia, blood donation, discrimination in aged care, discrimination in community services, discrimination in health, gay, homophobia, intersex, LGBT, LGBTIQ, transgender, transphobia	/ 2 Comments
The State of Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia Survey Results, Part 5: Discrimination in Employment
Posted on May 28, 2017 by Alastair Lawrie
This post is the fifth in a series of six, reporting the results of The State of Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia survey I conducted at the start of 2017[i].
In this article, I will be focusing on their answers to four questions, asking whether they have ever experienced discrimination in employment, whether any of this discrimination occurred in the past 12 months, whether this discrimination related to employment by religious organisations and to provide an example of the discrimination that they experienced.
The responses to these questions confirm that too many LGBTIQ Australians have to worry about discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status in the workplace on top of the usual career and financial worries.
The question about whether any of this discrimination occurred in relation to employment by a religious organisation is important because of the existence of special rights to discriminate for these employers in most states and territories, leaving LGBTI employees in these circumstances without any legal redress.
I also encourage you to read the examples provided in response to question four, which reveal some of the many different types of employment-related discrimination that LGBTIQ people have encountered.
Question 1: Have you ever experienced discrimination because of your sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status in relation to employment (including as an employee, contract worker or job applicant)?
Question 2: Has one or more instances of this employment-related discrimination occurred in the past 12 months?
Question 3: Did any of this discrimination occur in relation to employment, or an application for employment, with a religious organisation?
Of the 1,622 people who answered the first question, 491 – or 30% – said they had experienced employment-related discrimination at some point in their lives.
Disturbingly, 235 survey respondents[ii] reported experiencing anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in employment in the past 12 months alone. That is 14.5% of the total, or 1 in every 7 people who completed the survey.
The proportion that reported employment-related discrimination by religious organisations was 6.1%[iii]. This is thankfully much lower than the proportion that had reported discrimination by religious schools (in Survey Results, Part 4) – although that is likely a reflection of the expansive reach of religious schools, and comparatively smaller employment footprint of religious bodies.
Nevertheless, most of those 6% probably had no recourse to anti-discrimination protections given the excessive, and unjustified, exceptions provided to religious organisations in most Australian jurisdictions.
There were some significant differences in reported employment-related discrimination between lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer survey respondents:
31.6%[iv] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
15.3%[v] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
7.8%[vi] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
34.3%[vii] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
13%[viii] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
5.9%[ix] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
20.3%[x] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
11.1%[xi] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
4.3%[xii] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
44.4%[xiii] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
29.2%[xiv] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
6.8%[xv] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
73.3%[xvi] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
40%[xvii] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
20%[xviii] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
30.3%[xix] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
16.9%[xx] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
6%[xxi] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
LGBTIQ Category Experienced anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in employment (%)?
Gay 34.3 13 5.9
Bisexual 20.3 11.1 4.3
Intersex 73.3 40 20
Queer 30.3 16.9 6
The highest rates for all three were from intersex respondents, although the small sample size for that group (n=15) means those figures should be treated with some caution.
Of the other groups, there was a large degree of consistency, with two main exceptions:
Bisexual respondents reported significantly lower rates of employment-related discrimination in all three areas (ever, last 12 months and by religious organisations), and
Transgender respondents reported significantly higher rates of lifetime employment-related discrimination, and particularly in the last 12 months (although, interestingly, not in terms of discrimination by religious organisations).
Taking a closer look at the trans cohort, and in particular respondents who identified as both trans and another LGBQ category, the figures[xxii] were as follows:
Trans and gay: 47.4%[xxiv] ever, and 28% in the last 12 months
While there was little variation in terms of discrimination over the past 12 months (at a disturbingly high 1-in-4 across all groups), trans and queer, and especially trans and gay respondents were more likely to report lifetime discrimination in employment than the other two groups.
Overall, then, while lesbian, gay and queer people reported close-to-(the LGBTIQ)-average levels of employment-related discrimination across the board, bisexual respondents reported lower rates.
On the other hand, intersex and transgender respondents were particularly affected by discrimination in employment, with people who were both trans and gay and (to a lesser extent) trans and queer more likely to report lifetime discrimination.
The rates of discrimination for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ people were higher for all three questions than for their non-Indigenous counterparts, although thankfully in relation to discrimination in the past 12 months and by religious organisations these rates were only slightly elevated:
37.9%[xxvii] reported employment-related discrimination at some point (compared to 30% of non-Indigenous people)
6.9%[xxix] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation (compared to 6.1% of non-Indigenous people).
Experienced anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in employment (%)?
Non-Indigenous 30 14.5 6.1
These results are potentially the most interesting of this post:
20.9%[xxx] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
3.8%[xxxii] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
36.9%[xxxiii] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
7%[xxxv] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
48.5%[xxxvi] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
16.1%[xxxvii] experienced at least one instance in the past 12 months
11.3%[xxxviii] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
41.9%[xxxix] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
None experienced any instance in the past 12 months
16.1%[xl] reported discrimination at a religious school or college
Age cohort Experienced anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in employment (%)?
25 to 44 36.9 16.2 7
45 to 64 48.5 16.1 11.3
65 and over 41.9 0 16.1
Young people obviously have less employment history, and therefore the lower rates of reported lifetime discrimination are perhaps unsurprising. However, the fact that almost 1-in-7 suffered employment-related discrimination during the past 12 months alone, when a significant share would not even be in the workforce at all, is shocking.
Lifetime rates of discrimination then increase for the next two age groups, peaking at almost 1-in-2 for LGBTIQ people aged 45 to 64. In effect, just as many people in this cohort have experienced discrimination in employment as those who have escaped its impact – another remarkable statistic.
Perhaps just as depressing is the fact that for both people aged 25 to 44, and 45 to 64, the rates of recent anti-LGBTIQ prejudice in employment were roughly the same – at a time when they should be more 'secure' in their careers, almost 1-in-6 experienced employment related discrimination in the last year alone.
28.7%[xli] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
13.4%[xlii] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
5.7%[xliii] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
33%[xliv] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
14.2%[xlv] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
6.6%[xlvi] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
36.6%[xlvii] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
17.5%[xlviii] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
6.9%[xlix] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
32.7%[l] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
17.3%[li] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
5.3%[lii] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
26.3%[liii] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
15.8%[liv] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
7.5%[lv] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
20.4%[lvi] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
9.3%[lvii] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
3.7%[lviii] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
19.6%[lix] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
14.3%[lx] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
3.6%[lxi] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
35%[lxii] reported employment-related discrimination at some point
10%[lxiii] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
15%[lxiv] experienced employment-related discrimination by a religious organisation
State or territory Experienced anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in employment (%)?
Victoria 33 14.2 6.6
Queensland 36.6 17.5 6.9
SA 26.3 15.8 7.5
Tasmania 20.4 9.3 3.7
NT 35 10 15
Tasmania and the ACT reported low lifetime rates of employment-related discrimination, with Queensland recording the highest rates (alongside the Northern Territory, although note the latter's small sample size, n=20).
Queensland and Western Australia reported higher levels of anti-LGBTIQ prejudice in the workplace during the last year – more than 1-in-6 employees reporting recent discrimination. Tasmania (and the Northern Territory) reported the lowest rates – but that nevertheless reflected the fact 1-in-10 LGBTIQ people were discriminated against in 2016 alone.
Question 4: If you feel comfortable, please provide an example of the discrimination you experienced in relation to employment [Optional]:
A lightly-edited[lxv] version of the answers to this question – providing examples of homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and intersexphobic discrimination in relation to employment – can be found at the following link:
question 4 examples of discrimination in employment
These answers demonstrate a range of different ways in which LGBTIQ people were mistreated in comparison to cisgender heterosexual employees, including:
Being refused employment
"I was told "we don't hire faggy trans here, or anywhere in this town. If you come back in this shop, we'll shoot you.""
"I was hired as CEO for a charity. After three interviews, a psych test and a video presentation, I was told I was the leading candidate by a mile. We negotiated start date and salary. As part of the process, I disclosed I was married to a man. That disclosure happened at 305pm on a Monday. At 740am Tuesday, I received an email advising me that the offer was withdrawn. They, of course, did not say it was because I was gay. I, apparently, did not demonstrate sufficient interest in the job."
"Denied a job based on cultural reasons – sexuality not part of our culture therefore cannot teach about said culture. Offer of employment rescinded."
"Got a job interview but as soon as they saw that I was a dyke I didn't even get a chance to speak to them they acted awkward and uncomfortable and said I wouldn't suit the job."
Being fired from employment
"when they found i was homosexual i was sacked from my position as bar attendant in a league club"
"Refused employment because of my transgender status, the supervisor found a reason for dismissal on day one and asked what dose oestrogen I was on as my voice is deep and upsetting my patients"
Losing shifts, especially in casual or part-time employment
"My old maccas got a new restaurant manager who hated me because of it and stopped giving me shifts."
"At my last job my employer found out I was a lesbian and coincidentally I stopped receiving any shifts."
"I was in a casual position, the moment I began to transition however, I was shoved sideways and out the door. No more hours."
Contracts not being renewed
"My contract was not renewed because I am gay"
"I believe that when my homophobic boss found out I was gay, she discontinued my contract"
Being denied other employee entitlements
"I wasn't allowed to nominate my partner to receive my superannuation in the event of my death."
Some survey respondents indicated they were punished because of fears (real or perceived) that clients would react badly to their sexual orientation or gender identity:
"I have been turned down for some jobs where I would be dealing with the public in hospitality because I was a non passing trans woman."
"I had a job interview with an organisation specialising in disability support in the Midland area (Western Australia), to work as a disability support officer. I had already done exactly the same work for about a year with two other similar organisations which both wanted me to take on more hours. Because those organisations were both a long drive from where I lived I wanted to change to a closer employer. At the end of the interview one of the two interviewers said they could not employ a transgender person because their clients would not accept me. Funny that, their clients must have been very different from the other clients who accepted me without question."
"Clients have refused to hire me and have been open about it being related to my sexuality. My clients' clients have been very vocal and made complaints about hiring me because of my work with young people and their sexuality/gender identity/expression"
For some, workplace homophobia, biphobia, transphobia or intersexphobia was explained by a need to 'protect' children:
"I was sacked in 1987 because I was gay and working as a swimming teacher with children. Despite my full accreditation this was perceived to be inappropriate. I had no resources to take legal action as I was just 19, from a poor background and despite being the regional swimming champion the community had turned against me."
"One employer was so uncomfortable with my sexuality that he would not allow his 3 daughters to have contact with me despite bringing them into the office frequently."
"In 2012 my boss suggested that we have 2 Christmas dinners. One for people with kids, and a separate one with just me and the 2 bosses because "it's not appropriate to allow a gay man near the kids of other staff members". I worked at an adult store (sex shop), where I thought I'd be accepted by open minds. I was wrong."
"I was doing work with teenagers at my church's youth group, but when I refused to hide my sexuality I was told that I was being a bad influence on the kids and would let the devil into their lives and condemn them to damnation. I was no longer allowed to work with the teenagers."
This last example points to a much larger issue – employment-related discrimination by religious organisations, as evidenced by the following responses:
"I was a charge nurse of an operating suite that had successfully turned around the fortunes of a religious based hospital: a new manager was appointed that decided to "root out' all the homosexuals working in the organisation."
"I have been asked to sign a document that guarantees my not wilfully "sinning" (listing homosexual acts as one of those sins) in order to be considered for employment at a religious school."
"After completing my course with results and references from teachers and clinical placements which were far superior to other students, I received no interviews or call backs from employers from religious organisations. I did find work at a private company in my field and am doing well in my job. I feel like my talents and abilities were denied to the clients of these religious employers because of my gender identity and my employment options were severely limited."
"I work as a nurse at a religious based hospital and I experience bullying/ homophobic remarks frequently at work"
"company bought out by exclusive brethren, all gays got sacked, was obvious, but they got away with it. "company restructure"…"
"I was employed by the Salvation Army. They told me not to have a photo of me and my partner on my desk even though all the Het people had their photos on their desks. I was then told they accept me being a Lesbian provided I'm not a practicing Lesbian. They put a private detective on me and harassed me out of my job."
"I was required to resign my job in 2006 when I came out as gay because my employer was religious. The job had only tangential connection to his religion. I chose not to fight the discrimination – I had lost the heart to work there any more any way. I was then unemployed for 8 months."
"Before I moved into my own practice, I was working in a Baptist school on a maternity leave position. The position then became a permanent role. My manager wanted me to apply and she put my name forward. They pretty much told her that they did not want me in the role because of my "sexuality"…"
"Many years ago I won a job in a religious school, was offered the job and then the offer was withdrawn with the explanation that I would not fit the culture."
The public service was not exempt from examples of anti-LGBTIQ discrimination (although some were more historical than others):
"Being told my sexuality would count against me in an interview for a public sector position."
"In 2012 I was appointed as [senior position] in the [redacted] government. It was a high level and high profile appointment. The Deputy Secretary of the Department who appointed me, wrongly informed the Secretary (i.e. CEO) of the Department that I was gay, in the period when I was coming on board in the role. His response? He told the Dep Sec "I hope he's not going to flaunt it". This from one of the highest paid public servants in the entire public service in [redacted] – and the very person who was supposed to safeguard the rights of me and all his other employees. Unbelievable!"
"In the early 1990s, I was working in the Commonwealth Public Service in Sydney. I applied for a job at a higher level and was accepted for interview. I was told that although I had come first in the selection process, the job was going to be given to the second-rated candidate because as he was a "family man" he deserved the promotion (and increase in income) more than I did."
"Face significant formal (policy) and informal (cultural attitudes) discrimination in the workplace as an ADF member. Whilst this is improving, it is wrong to say that I am not discriminated against – e.g. placed in the wrong accommodation area, having to adhere to binary uniform codes, etc."
As suggested by the statistics earlier, transgender respondents provided a range of examples of workplace discrimination:
"Very difficult to apply for job when all experience and jobs were held under previous identity"
"I was told that because I wasn't using my legal name in my application, I couldn't be input into their system, and hence did not receive an interview."
"After losing my job, at every interview I've been told I 'got the job', and once they receive my legal documents and tax file number they never get back to me. At one interview, they told me that my gender identity was a 'mental illness' and they needed a doctor's note before I could work."
"HR seemed to take me seriously at first but whenever I would make a small mistake she would blame it on my transition saying that I was a different and less capable person (primarily she blamed hormone therapy). Most of the time she would talk about me to other people and I needed to quit that job for my own mental health."
"Employers felt uncomfortable with my gender identity and asked me not to wear a binder at work. I've started presenting as only female at work now. It's killing me"
"Despite the fact I had a name tag that said Adam and had introduced myself as trans, I was constantly called she. I complained to a manager and it happened again, in a group chat to all employees and managers I yet again said in the kindest way that I do wish to be respected and not misgendered and later that night and from then on was still misgendered."
"Refusal to change name in email system. Misgendering during heated discussions (seemingly deliberate). Office doesn't have gender-neutral toilets, asked to use toilets of assigned gender. Could go on…"
"When I finally told my work I was Transitioning I was made to feel an outcast and I finally left the position"
"My work requires i wear a male uniform regardless of my gender identity. I didn't get a choice of what gender uniform. Only got to choose the size"
Disturbingly, some survey respondents reported complaining about the anti-LGBTIQ conduct they experienced, but then no (or insufficient) action being taken:
"I have also been the subject of religious based hate speech in a non religious school in the lunch room and that was let slide despite my protestations."
"Gay and AIDS jokes being made, and then on one occasion when i complained to the manager, the manager made me stay home whilst she investigated the complaint, which made me feel as if I was being punished and not the offender."
A few respondents noted the difficulty of proving homophobic discrimination:
"It's really hard to explain, you know when people are making decisions about you without actually saying out loud it's homophobia. It can be very obscure & hard to prove, but its there alright."
"I can't prove it but have a strong suspicion my position was made redundant because my boss found out I was gay"
This final comment explicitly describes discrimination by religious organisations, the fact that it remains completely lawful in most circumstances, and the impact that this has:
"This is an area that I get upset about, especially working for a religious organisation. The invisibility and intolerance by some people is hard to bear, especially knowing that religious organisations are exempt from the Anti-Discrimination Act. Living with the fear that if management realise you are gay and sack you for being gay – this is TOTALLY LEGAL. This is totally unjust and disgraceful that anti-discrimination law actually endorses and permits discrimination. I recently had a new manager who, though looking cool, held some very conservative views. I didn't dare sound him out on gay issues, because I would have been lectured that I was an abomination for being gay (as other people have told me). This leads me to not reveal my true identity at work and to live in some fear of discrimination (knowing the law does not protect me)"
The results of these four questions have confirmed that homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and intersexphobic discrimination in employment is relatively widespread, and has a significant impact on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer Australians.
This includes 3 in every 10 respondents people reporting lifetime experience of such discrimination, with 1 in 7 reporting at least one instance of anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in employment in the last 12 months alone.
Some groups within the community reported even higher lifetime rates than this already high average, with intersex and trans people, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ people and people aged 45 to 64 particularly affected.
While the rates of discrimination by religious organisations were comparatively low, this is likely explained by the lower numbers of people employed in this sector (especially compared to the far higher proportion of students in religious schools).
The personal examples of employment-related discrimination shared in response to question 4 demonstrate the many different forms such prejudice can take, with a particular focus on transphobia, and discrimination by religious organisations (noting that such mistreatment is entirely lawful in most jurisdictions due to religious exceptions to anti-discrimination laws).
As noted at the beginning of this post, this has been the fifth in my series of six articles reporting the results of my The State of Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia survey. The remaining article, which will focus on discrimination in health and other areas, will be published within the next week.
[ii] 490 people responded to question 2: 235 yes/255 no.
[iii] 490 people responded to question 3: 99 yes/391 no.
[iv] 320 people responded to question 1: 101 yes/219 no.
[v] 49 respondents.
[vii] 629 people responded to question 1: 216 yes/413 no.
[viii] 82 respondents.
[x] 513 people responded to question 1: 104 yes/409 no.
[xi] 57 respondents.
[xiii] 367 people responded to question 1: 163 yes/204 no.
[xiv] 107 respondents.
[xvi] 15 people responded to question 1: 11 yes/4 no. Note that, given the small sample size, these percentages should be treated with some caution.
[xvii] 6 respondents.
[xix] 485 people responded to question 1: 147 yes/338 no.
[xx] 82 respondents.
[xxii] I have excluded the figures for discrimination by religious employers, which ranged from 1.8% for trans and gay, to 8.1% for trans and queer, with trans and lesbian, and trans and bisexual, sitting in the middle.
[xxviii] 9 respondents.
[xxix] 4 respondents.
[xxxi] 120 respondents.
[xxxvi] 274 people responded to question 1: 133 yes/141 no.
[xxxix] 31 people responded to question 1: 13 yes/18 no. Note that, given the small sample size, these percentages should be treated with some caution.
[xli] 530 people responded to question 1: 152 yes/378 no.
[xlii] 71 respondents.
[xliv] 379 people responded to question 1: 125 yes/254 no.
[xlv] 54 respondents.
[xlvii] 246 people responded to question 1: 90 yes/156 no.
[xlviii] 43 respondents.
[l] 150 people responded to question 1: 49 yes/101 no.
[li] 26 respondents.
[lii] 8 respondents.
[liii] 133 people responded to question 1: 35 yes/98 no.
[liv] 21 respondents.
[lvi] 108 people responded to question 1: 22 yes/86 no.
[lvii] 10 respondents.
[lviii] 4 respondents.
[lix] 56 people responded to question 1: 11 yes/45 no.
[lx] 8 respondents.
[lxii] 20 people responded to question 1: 7 yes/13 no. Note that, given the small sample size, these percentages should be treated with some caution.
[lxiii] 2 respondents.
[lxv] In this context, lightly-edited includes:
Posted in LGBTI anti-discrimination, Religious Exceptions	/ Tagged Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, discrimination Australia, discrimination in employment, gay, gender identity, homophobia, intersex status, LGBT, LGBTI, LGBTIQ, religious organisations, sexual orientation, transphobia	/ 1 Comment
The State of Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia Survey Results, Part 4: Discrimination in Education
This post is the fourth in a series of six, reporting the results of The State of Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia survey I conducted at the start of 2017[i].
In this article, I will be focusing on their answers to four questions, asking whether they have experienced discrimination in education, whether this discrimination occurred in the past 12 months, whether this discrimination related to religious schools or colleges and to provide an example of the discrimination that they experienced.
The responses to these questions confirm that discrimination in education remains far-too-common for far-too-many LGBTIQ Australians – instead of learning about maths and science and English, and above all about the world around them, young LGBTIQ people are learning what it feels like to encounter discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status.
The question about whether any of this discrimination occurred in relation to a religious school or college is important because, as we have seen previously[ii], exceptions to anti-discrimination laws mean these bodies can lawfully discriminate against LGBTIQ students and teachers in the vast majority of states and territories[iii].
I also encourage you to read the full range of examples provided in response to question four, which demonstrate just how widespread anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in education is, and just how much work is needed to make sure places of learning are not places of prejudice.
Question 1: Have you ever experienced discrimination because of your sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status in relation to education (including as a student, teacher or parent)?
Question 2: Has one of more instances of education-related discrimination occurred in the past 12 months?
Question 3: Did any of this education-related discrimination occur at a religious school or college?
The overall results to these three questions make for sobering reading.
Of the 1,636 people who answered the first question, 663 – or 41% – said they had experienced education-related discrimination at some point in their lives.
Disturbingly, 236 survey respondents[iv] reported experiencing anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in education in the past 12 months alone. That is 14.4% of the total, or 1 in every 7 people who completed the survey.
Perhaps most concerning of all, 242 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people, or 14.8% of the entire survey cohort, reported being discriminated against at a religious school or college[v] – for most of these people, that discrimination would have been permissible under Australian law.
It is clear that, in 2017, there is still too much anti-LGBTIQ prejudice in Australian educational institutions. As we shall see below, this discrimination also affects some demographic groups within the LGBTIQ community more than others.
There were some significant differences in reported education-related discrimination between lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer survey respondents:
41.9%[vi] reported education-related discrimination at some point
14.9%[vii] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
10.9%[viii] experienced discrimination at a religious school or college
37.6%[ix] reported education-related discrimination at some point
9.4%[x] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
13.8%[xi] experienced discrimination at a religious school or college
39.8%[xii] reported education-related discrimination at some point
16.6%[xiii] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
16.6% experienced discrimination at a religious school or college
52%[xiv] reported education-related discrimination at some point
16.8%[xvi] experienced discrimination at a religious school or college
73.3%[xvii] reported education-relation discrimination at some point
26.7%[xix] experienced discrimination at a religious school or college
46.6%[xx] reported education-related discrimination at some point
17%[xxii] experienced discrimination at a religious school or college
In terms of sexual orientation, the results were fairly similar – approximately 2 in every 5 lesbian, gay and bisexual respondents reported discrimination in education at some point in their lives.
Gay people were the least likely – out of all groups – to report education-related discrimination in the past year (less than 1 in 10), with lesbians reporting rates about the overall average (14.9%) and bisexuals slightly higher again. In contrast, gay people were more likely than lesbians to report discrimination at religious schools or colleges (although once again, both were lower than bisexuals at 16.6%).
As with previous survey results, however, the biggest consequences of education-related discrimination were felt by trans, intersex and queer survey respondents. The intersex responses are particularly high, with almost three-quarters experiencing education-related discrimination at some point in their lives (while noting the small sample size, n=15).
Queer respondents were also more likely than average to report education-related discrimination at some point in their lives, and also during the past 12 months (in respect to the latter, more than 50% more likely than non-queer respondents), although their reported rates of discrimination at religious schools was only slightly above average.
The trans responses warrant particular attention, especially given the large sample size (n=369) featured in this study. More than half had experienced education-related discrimination at some point in their lives, while more than a quarter had experienced such discrimination in the past 12 months alone – these rates are simply extraordinary (and, of course, appalling)[xxiii].
There was also some divergence within the trans community, depending on whether the respondent was also lesbian, gay, bisexual or queer:
Trans and lesbian: 41.9% reporting discrimination ever, 16.3% in the last year[xxiv]
Trans and gay: 59.6% reporting discrimination ever, 24.6% in the last year[xxv]
Trans and bisexual: 53.7% reporting discrimination ever, 28.5% in the last year[xxvi]
Trans and queer: 52.7% reporting discrimination ever, 27.4% in the last year[xxvii].
Survey respondents who were both trans and gay therefore reported much higher rates of discrimination during their lives, although trans and bisexual and trans and queer respondents were more likely to have been discriminated against in the last 12 months. Interestingly, trans and lesbian respondents reported lower rates for both answers.
Depressingly, the rates of discrimination for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ people were higher for all three questions than for their non-Indigenous counterparts:
50%[xxviii] experienced education-related discrimination at some point (compared to 40.2% of non-Indigenous people)
19%[xxix] experienced at least one instance in the past 12 months (compared to 14.3% of non-Indigenous people) and
22.4%[xxx] experienced discrimination at a religious school or college (compared to 14.5% of non-Indigenous people).
The high rates of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people reporting discrimination in 2016, and also at religious institutions (which, for the most part, are free to discriminate against them), are particularly worrying.
Given younger people are more likely to have been engaged in education in the past 12 months, and therefore more likely to have experienced recent education-related discrimination, this analysis will exclude answers to the second question.
What is most noticeable about the answers to questions 1 and 3 is that discrimination in this context appears to be getting worse for younger LGBTIQ people, rather than getting better:
43.3%[xxxi] experienced education-related discrimination at some point
17.4%[xxxii] reported discrimination at a religious school or college
39.4%[xxxiii] experienced education-related discrimination at some point
14.2%[xxxiv] reported discrimination at a religious school or college
37.1%[xxxv] experienced education-related discrimination at some point
9.1%[xxxvi] reported discrimination at a religious school or college
17.1%[xxxvii] experienced education-related discrimination at some point
5.7%[xxxviii] reported discrimination at a religious school or college
In short, people aged 24 and under are more likely to have already experienced discrimination in relation to education than their older LGBTIQ counterparts[xxxix] – even including many who are currently engaged in school, university or TAFE and may still confront homophobia, biphobia, transphobia or intersexphobia prior to completing their studies.
This statistic is frankly unacceptable (and alone demonstrates the need for nation-wide anti-bullying programs like Safe Schools).
Young people were also far more likely to report anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in religious schools or colleges than LGBTIQ people aged 25 to 44, or 45 to 64. There are a few possible explanations for this, including the growing trend towards parent(s) sending their children to private (and predominantly religious) schools.
Irrespective of the causes, however, we must not forget that for many of these students they are left without any recourse to legal protections, because the Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act 1984, as well as the anti-discrimination laws in most states and territories, explicitly allows religious schools to actively mistreat LGBTIQ students. Such legislation is also unacceptable.
37.4%[xl] reported education-related discrimination at some point
12.8%[xli] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
13.4%[xlii] experienced discrimination at a religious school or college
42.2%[xliii] reported education-related discrimination at some point
12.5%[xliv] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
14.3%[xlv] experienced discrimination at a religious school or college
43.1%[xlvi] reported education-related discrimination at some point
13.7%[xlvii] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
16.9%[xlviii] experienced discrimination at a religious school or college
41.7%[xlix] reported education-related discrimination at some point
16.6%[l] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
11.3%[li] experienced discrimination at a religious school or college
35.8%[lii] reported education-related discrimination at some point
16.4%[liii] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
14.9%[liv] experienced discrimination at a religious school or college
47.2%[lv] reported education-related discrimination at some point
24.1%[lvi] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
18.5%[lvii] experienced discrimination at a religious school or college
35.7%[lviii] reported education-related discrimination at some point
14.3%[lix] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
21.4%[lx] experienced discrimination at a religious school or college
38.1%[lxi] reported education-related discrimination at some point
14.3%[lxii] experienced at least one instance in the last 12 months
Interestingly, Tasmania reported the highest rates for both lifetime education-related discrimination, and discrimination in education in the last 12 months (the latter figure by a considerable margin). Despite the great strides made by the Apple Isle in the past 20 years, further progress is still needed.
On the other hand, and despite recording the lowest rate of life-time education-related discrimination (slightly less than South Australia), ACT respondents reported the highest rate of discrimination at a religious school or college. This is likely due to high rates of religious school enrolments in the ACT (noting that these schools are legally 'entitled' to discriminate against LGBTI students).
Question 4: If you feel comfortable, please provide an example of the discrimination you experienced in relation to education [Optional]:
This question allowed respondents to provide examples of the anti-LGBTIQ discrimination they had experienced and, once again, these comments are often confronting to read.
They are also depressing, considering the influential role that education plays in everyone's lives – for far-too-many LGBTIQ people, that impact has been overwhelmingly negative rather than positive.
A lightly-edited[lxiii] version of the answers to this question – providing examples of homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and intersexphobic discrimination in relation to education, including school, TAFE and university – can be found at the following link:
question 4 examples of anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in education
From my perspective, a number of key themes emerge in these examples. One of the most common stories described a lack of relevant sexual health education, including:
"I asked my sexual education teacher in year 9 or 10 (can't remember which), if we were going to be covering more than just heterosexual sex and relationships. And her response was something along the lines of "Well I don't think those people deserve to exist."
"Not being provided with education on same-sex safety in PDHPE, even upon request. And being told to just 'not try it' because there's no 'safe way' to have sex with a person of the same gender."
"improper sex education (teaching as if there is only hetero-intercourse) being told intercourse must have 'penetration' to be counted."
"My high school HPE teacher was teaching sex education and wouldn't answer any of my questions about lesbian sex and told me things like to stop being rude and threatening to send me to the deputy principal's office."
"I was pretty closet[ed] at school, but I frequently got in trouble in sex ed for challenging hetero and cis normative assumptions being made by the teacher. That included being yelled at, sent out of class and threatened with physical violence. They didn't want it talked about that's for sure."
The absence of information left some to rely on (potentially unreliable) sources, like the internet:
"The sex-ed at high school was minimal. But for anyone who was not straight or cis-gendered, myself included, it didn't exist. The internet became my best (but not always reliable) friend."
"Another thing though, I noticed as a young bisexual, I never learnt in health class how to have safe sex with people my gender. I had to google it."
Several respondents also described differential treatment of same-sex relationships at school:
"I go to a Catholic school and the teachers were happy with relationship between straight people, but my ex girlfriend and I were not allowed to even hug."
"being reported to teachers for holding hands with my partner, being called into the student support teacher's office and having her tell me that I would be happier in life if I was 'having sex with a man' instead of my girlfriend."
"I wasn't allowed to see my friends or girlfriend at recess of lunch. The school also rang my mum and my ex's dad up and told them they were getting complaints about us hugging in the park. They told us we weren't allowed to see each other at school. They made my ex go to the school psychologist because of it."
This heartbreaking example shows just how poorly some same-sex relationships were treated:
"I went to [redacted] Anglican School, someone found out about my girlfriend who was at another Anglican school, rumours were spread and eventually the PE Teacher asked me to start changing in the disabled bathroom instead of the girls change room because it made the other girls uncomfortable and they didn't want to have an incident. So I just kept forgetting to bring my PE gear and sat out most of the lessons getting misbehaviour notes and Friday detentions for not having my PE gear rather than have people talk about why I couldn't use the girls' change room."
A number of people complained that they were unable to take their partners to their school formals:
"Had the option of 2 months of detention for skipping my formal because my partner was same sex or conform and take an opposite sex partner (my friends out of protest all skipped which I was so happy for)."
"Was forced into taking a female partner to the school end of year celebration, where people took their relationship partners, me and my boyfriend were made to take other female partners because it was 'against the school policy and religion."
For trans and non-binary students, the enforcement of binary school uniforms presented particular problems:
"Teachers forcing binary clothing options (girls only allowed to wear skirts, not slacks, and boys opposite), once again, detention for months until they realised I wasn't going to budge on the subject."
"Had to push hard to be allowed to wear my chosen uniform despite unisex uniform policies being DET required in NSW."
"I wasn't allowed to go to the bathroom in which I identified as. And… I was told to not come into school wearing the clothes I would like to present in and was demoted in my school musical because 'I did not dance and sound like the gender I identify as."
The 'policing' of bathrooms affected students and teachers alike:
"I was banned from using either bathrooms at school because I was transgender. Whenever I needed to go to the bathroom, I'd have to go ask for a key for the staff toilets at the office."
"No gender-neutral toilets and general lack of supporting facilities. Teachers felt as though it was appropriate to send an email to the whole staff about my gender identity (and got it wrong), and then all of them felt as though they could openly discuss my gender with me, which honestly made me feel incredibly uncomfortable and my privacy invaded…"
"While being interviewed for a school, I was told that for my 'safety and comfort, as well as the other students and staff', I should use the single-stall disabled toilet, rather than the male (my chosen gender) toilets."
The discrimination experienced by trans students and staff extended well beyond uniforms and bathrooms, including misgendering:
"I had a teacher constantly misgender me and feminise my name, then when I complained about it, she refused to teach me…"
"It was prior to coming out as transgender but I was referred to as a 'stain on society' and that queers like me deserve to 'burn in hell.'"
"Bullying, misgendering and being told I would have to go in the girls group for a gender split day at school."
"A few boys were making fun of my gender in maths class and the teacher did nothing about it, also in PE they say you have to go to one side if you're a female and the other if you're a male, being transgender I sat out until everyone started yelling at me."
"Forming assessment in a gender-split way which forces me (non-binary person) to participate as part of the gender group assigned to me at birth. My data being void in statistics class because I answered 'other' on the preliminary gender question. Transphobic comments in lectures."
"Filling out forms and listing my preferred name, including being outed on my first day by the wrong name being called."
Bisexual students also faced ostracism:
"As a student, religious high school, sex ed. The topic of my sexuality (known at that time, and not much cared about by the student body beyond 'hey, that exists') was brought up by another student in relation to something. The teacher expressed that bisexuality is not real. On homework, tests, assignments, class discussion etc from that point on he would reaffirm this belief anytime he thought someone was acknowledging bisexuality, and would take marks off if he suspected someone thought it was real."
Some parents shared stories of discrimination they, or their children, experienced because of their sexual orientation:
"As a young mum, I and my kids suffered other parents' homophobia, eye balls rolling and turned backs. My kids had parents keep friends away from them, for parties, sleep overs etc. My name was mud."
"Actually happened from being a lesbian mother. My daughter has two mothers and we are excluded from all the other parental social gatherings and most people move away from us when picking my daughter from school."
"My son was bullied in year 7 when it got around that I'm gay. I complained to the school but no visible action was taken. We ended up changing schools. Both schools are Qld public schools."
"Was not recognised as my son's parent at public school in 2009."
Homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and intersexphobia in schools can affect teachers, too:
"I was asked to leave the school because they discovered I was gay and were uncomfortable with me being around children."
"As a teacher I was transferred by my employer from a small mining town as a solution to ongoing harassment for being gay."
"I was asked to keep my status as a lesbian secret because the parents at the school may become abusive towards not only myself and my family, but the school community as a whole."
"I'm working through applications to teach and update my gender and names through the DET portals, it's impossible to do without calling the department and requesting personally, which they were still unable to do until is was escalated over the course of several months so that I could even BEGIN my application…"
"When I was teaching, at my last school, I was constantly bullied and harassed for being an openly gay teacher. The abuse got so bad that I had a mental breakdown and had to resign from teaching. It has taken years of therapy, that is still ongoing, to begin to recover from it."
Some teachers specifically cited discrimination from religious schools:
"I had a long phone conversation with a music teacher at a Christian college all about offering me a job teaching singing there (one-to-one). The teacher was very enthusiastic and said it would simply need to approval of the school principal (I was very well qualified and very experienced). However, his reply came back that they would definitely not employ a transgender person."
"As a gay man who teaches in a Catholic school I have to be very discreet about my true self. I am out to my friends but have to be careful with parents and the students. It breaks my heart each and every time I have to be vague about my partner of 8 years."
"I was bullied in a job I held in a christian organisation. I wasn't protected under the anti discrimination law because my lifestyle didn't fit in with their christian values. I took the bullying and harassment to as far as I could. I ended up leaving the job because I couldn't win."
The most common type of story shared by survey respondents overall was discrimination against LGBTIQ students at religious schools:
"Catholic school in the 90s. Told teachers and headmasters about homophobia me and my friend received. We were told to act less girly (by the female deputy headmaster) so we'd fit in better. My friend was so horrified, he quit school that day, never to complete his education. I pressed on to finish year 12, but without my only friend."
"I was given detention and threatened with suspension for revealing I was attracted to girls at a Christian high school. I was forced to endure hands-on prayer to try to rid me of the homosexual demons."
"I was at a Christian private school in north Sydney, we had lessons in religion that focused on why being gay is wrong and how you can change."
"The religious boarding school that I attended had explicit rules against homosexual students, which carried the threat of expulsion (a sanction that was imposed on a fellow student)."
"I attended a religious high school (2003-2007). Discrimination was daily, from schoolchildren and staff, and ranged from forcing me to pretend that I was a girl, to physical abuse, threats of rape & murder, theft, exclusion & a lot of reinforcement that I wasn't normal. I got a boyfriend and pretended that I was a cis-gendered female to make it stop. I also self-harmed hundreds of times and tried to kill myself twice."
"My friend goes to a Catholic school and is bisexual. Her music teacher gives her shit about being bisexual and says that she is sinning and she will be going to hell."
"I'm a trans boy who use[d] to go to an all girls catholic high school. I was told not to come out by the school counsellor and that there was nothing to be done that could help me. I wasn't aloud [sic] to wear the sports uniform which was shorts and was forced to wear the dress. I had many teachers comment on my short hair in a negative way."
"Christian [redacted] Brisbane, as it was known as at the time of my attendance, is a homophobia ridden school. If you were believed to be gay you had no chance of a good education. Students were allowed to bully you because you could not go to the teachers as the school had a tradition of informing parents and outing unprepared kids. Even when you had the support of good teachers, which was rare in that place, they could do only so much because they could only protect you so far. I was lucky where a few good teachers convinced me to leave and demand a change of schools. They are the ones who helped save my life. I would not have survived another two years in the homophobic discriminatory hell hole and my parents would not have been able to handle the school outing their daughter (even years later coming out to them had a major impact)."
"Took part in a public speaking competition, wrote a speech on equal rights for LGBTQIA individuals. Was told "that isn't a very [school name] topic". (The school was an Anglican school in Sydney's eastern suburbs). When I came out at school, not only students but also some teachers made very inappropriate comments to me. One staff member interrogated me about what kinds of sexual feelings I was having; I was 13 and felt very pressured and uncomfortable, I started crying. The staff member didn't seem to see anything wrong with the questions they were asking."
"My 11yr old niece had a mufty day at her catholic school. I painted a pair of white shoes in rainbow pride colours. With PRIDE in black marker on them. She loved them, showed them off to her teachers who told her they were not appropriate school wear. And from more comments from her adult teachers she was so upset she had taken them off some time during the day and kept them off until we left the school. She told me her teachers would look angry at her and when I came to collect her I was told to pick her up from outside school grounds from now on (all other parents picked their children up from outside the classroom doors)."
Anti-LGBTIQ prejudice was reported via religious instruction:
"I was kicked out of a compulsory scripture class because a "friend" told the teacher I was gay."
"Kicked out of religion class for being transgender."
"My religious education teacher stopped speaking to me directly and began speaking to me via the person next to me when I came out as gay in year 10."
"Comments made during the Christian Perspectives program at my school; that gays are the product of a dysfunctional family, that when the Lord comes all of the sinners and the gays will be swallowed into a black hole."
"[redacted] High School was not exactly a safe space for an open homosexual-male student. Student culture was very homophobic. There were no educational support programs for LGBTIQ students at the School. Many teachers were homophobic, especially the scripture teachers from Hillsong…"
School chaplains were also a source of homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and intersexphobia:
"I went to a public school and the school chaplain, who was obviously religious, was friendly towards me until she learned I was bisexual and pagan, then she avoided me and told people I was going around trying to "convert" people."
"This is complicated because I was not out in high school, but I found addressing gender issues in counselling with a chaplain at a non-religious college to be soul-crushing and the chaplain was dismissive and ignorant."
"At school we were taught that LGBT+ folk were diseased by our school chaplain. It was very isolating."
Anti-LGBTIQ prejudice didn't stop at school, with many respondents citing discrimination at university. This particularly affected trans people:
"I work as a lecturer/tutor, was asked not to reveal trans status to students for fear of a social media storm."
"One of my university lecturers misgendered me in an assessment and accidentally outed me as trans to my supervisor. When I pulled her up on it she brushed it off as though it was nothing."
"Uni won't use my preferred name which I changed legally but since my deadname is still my legal first name they ignored my requests."
"my more recent discrimination is not direct discrimination, it's related to my uni using my legal name instead of my real name, and the thought of either getting called by my deadname or coming out freshly to every new person I met caused me tonnes of stress and meant I never went to an entire subjects tutorial sessions, and I failed that subject, probably as a result of that."
"Asked my supervising tutor for a reference for an LGBT scholarship. She refused because she didn't think it was appropriate."
"At a more immediate, interpersonal level, discrimination against LGBTIQ students at [redacted] can be still more overt. In one instance, I and some friends were gathered in a common courtyard of the university celebrating 'Wear It Purple' day. A member of non-academic staff approached us and challenged our right to be there without University approval. For context, this was a large area in which some fifty students were gathered in small groups having lunch. When we refused to move on, the staff member sought out a priest on campus, who harangued us about the fact that the University is built on church land and we cannot be there. This instance is not uncommon to the University – at times, LGBTIQ students are at risk of being confronted and publicly policed for the slightest representation of their LGBTIQ identity in a common space."
The following examples of homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and intersexphobia seemed to sum up the experience of many:
"when i was in grade 7 my teacher would tell the class about how he thought that gays were perverted and wrong. He did this on multiple occasions during lessons, including a time when he told us all that he wrote countless letters to the government to discourage them from legalising same-sex marriage. At the time I identified as a lesbian and he was one of the main reasons I developed a strong fear of being outed."
"Rather than in-your-face discrimination, it is continually giving you messages that gay = bad or sinner. Plus all other people are included in daily conversation/engagement, but the queers are made invisible as though we do not even exist – e.g. no mention is made that we even exist, nor of our loving relationships, which are made out to not even exist. Promotion of invisibility and non-representation effectively invalidates and demoralises us. To be respected fully, you must be acknowledged as first existing, and secondly, to be of equal worth and standing to everyone else – this cannot happen if you are made to feel invisible."
"…Not being allowed to mention sexuality or gender other than straight in assemblies or other mass school events. Sex education only catering for straight people. The assumption that everyone in the school is straight. Lack of support for queer people and the feeling that queer people should stay quiet about who they are and not mention love, whereas straight people are able to mention their love life and talk about it openly."
"There was an incident that occurred and my best friend at the time told my deputy principal that I was gay, so when I came in to be asked about what happened he asked if I was gay, I said yes and he replied with we can send you to the councillor [sic] to get that fixed."
What really needs to be fixed is an education system that seems to foster anti-LGBTIQ discrimination rather than inclusion, and a love of learning – for everyone.
The results of these four questions have confirmed that homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and intersexphobic discrimination in education is widespread, and has a significant impact on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer Australians.
This includes 2 in every 5 LGBTIQ people reporting lifetime experience of such discrimination, with a shocking 1 in 7 reporting at least one instance in the last 12 months.
It also includes almost 15% of respondents experiencing adverse treatment at a religious school or college, which is particularly concerning given most states and territories permit these institutions to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, leaving LGBTIQ students and staff without any legal protections.
As with previous results, this survey has also found that the impact of education-related discrimination is particularly felt by trans, intersex and queer people, younger people, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Programs that are implemented to address anti-LGBTIQ discrimination in education should pay particular attention to the needs of these groups.
As noted at the beginning of this post, this has been the fourth in my series of six articles reporting the results of my The State of Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia survey.
The remaining two articles, which will focus on discrimination in employment, and health and other areas, will be published later this month.
[ii] See: Back to School. Back to Discrimination for LGBT Students and Teachers
[iii] Students cannot be discriminated against in Tasmania or Queensland. Teachers cannot be discriminated against in Tasmania, and operate under a 'don't ask' don't tell' scheme in Queensland.
[v] 661 people responded to question 3: 242 yes/419 no.
[vi] 322 people responded to question 1: 135 yes/187 no.
[ix] 636 people responded to question 1: 239 yes/397 no.
[xii] 517 people responded to question 1: 206 yes/311 no.
[xiii] 86 respondents (for both questions 2 and 3).
[xvii] 12 people responded to question 1: 11 yes/4 no. Note that, given the small sample size, these percentages should be treated with some caution.
[xix] 4 respondents.
[xxi] 108 respondents.
[xxiii] The rates of trans people experiencing discrimination at religious schools or colleges was actually comparable to the overall cohort (16.8% versus 14.8%).
[xxiv] 43 respondents total, with 18 yes to question 1 and 7 yes to question 2.
[xxv] 57 respondents total, with 34 yes to question 1 and 14 yes to question 2.
[xxvii] 186 respondents total, with 98 yes to question 1 and 51 yes to question 2.
[xxviii] 58 people responded to question 1: 29 yes/29 no.
[xxix] 11 respondents.
[xxx] 13 respondents.
[xxxi] 879 people responded to question 1: 381 yes/498 no.
[xxxii] 153 respondents.
[xxxv] 275 people responded to question 1: 102 yes/173 no.
[xxxvi] 25 respondents.
[xxxvii] 35 people responded to question 1: 6 yes/29 no. Note that, given the small sample size, these percentages should be treated with some caution.
[xxxviii] 2 respondents.
[xxxix] There may be a 'recency effect' in some of these answers, with people who left school decades previously potentially forgetting or downplaying anti-LGBTIQ they may have experienced. It is also possible that the increased openness of LGBTIQ in the school environment – which is obviously a positive overall – is also being met by an increased 'backlash' from people with homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and intersexphobic views.
[xl] 537 people responded to question 1: 201 yes/336 no.
[xli] 69 respondents.
[xliii] 391 people responded to question 1: 165 yes/226 no.
[xlvi] 248 people responded to question 1: 107 yes/141 no.
[xlix] 151 people responded to question 1: 63 yes/88 no.
[lii] 134 people responded to question 1: 48 yes/86 no.
[liii] 22 respondents.
[lv] 108 people responded to question 1: 51 yes/57 no.
[lvi] 26 respondents.
[lviii] 56 people responded to question 1: 20 yes/36 no.
[lx] 12 respondents.
[lxi] 21 people responded to question 1: 8 yes/13 no. Note that, given the small sample size, these percentages should be treated with some caution.
[lxii] 3 respondents for both question 2 and question 3.
[lxiii] In this context, lightly-edited includes:
-Removing offensive (for example, racist and even transphobic) remarks.
Posted in LGBTI education, Religious Exceptions	/ Tagged Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, biphobia, discrimination in education, gay, homophobia, LGBT, LGBTIQ, religious instruction, religious schools, school chaplains, school uniforms, sexual health education, transphobia	/ 1 Comment
Malcolm Turnbull, If you want to 'strengthen' anti-vilification laws, here's something you can do
Posted on April 3, 2017 by Alastair Lawrie
Update 29 April 2017:
In early April, I wrote to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Attorney-General George Brandis suggesting that, it they genuinely wanted to 'strengthen' Australia's anti-vilification protections, they should introduce laws prohibiting vilification against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people.
In that letter, I included statistics from The State of Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia Survey Results, Part 1: Verbal Harassment and Abuse which found that 74% of LGBTIQ Australians experienced homophobic, biphobic, transphobic or intersexphobic verbal abuse at some point in their lives, with 48% reporting anti-LGBTIQ harassment in the past 12 months alone.
Unfortunately, it appears that the Australian Government isn't particularly interested in doing anything to address this epidemic of anti-LGBTI abuse – there is no LGBTI equivalent to section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, and, based on the response I received this week from the Attorney-General's Department (see below), the Turnbull Government will not introduce one.
Perhaps the most bizarre part of the Government's letter is the reference to 'sexual harassment' provisions within the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, as offering protections against anti-LGBTI vilification. The definition of sexual harassment under that legislation is as follows:
"Section 28A
Meaning of sexual harassment
(1) For the purposes of this Division, a person sexually harasses another person (the person harassed) if:
(a) the person makes an unwelcome sexual advance, or an unwelcome request for sexual favours, to the person harassed; or
(b) engages in other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature in relation to the person harassed…
(2) In this section:
'conduct of a sexual nature' includes making a statement of a sexual nature to a person, or in the presence of a person, whether the statement is made orally or in writing."
This definition, and its focus on 'of a sexual nature', means that while LGBTI people are protected against 'sexual harassment' under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, only a small fraction of the anti-LGBTI verbal abuse that is experienced by LGBTI Australians would be covered by this provision – the vast majority of harassment and abuse, including nearly all of the comments reported in The State of Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia, would remain entirely legal.
Of course, given their ongoing refusal to pass marriage equality without a completely unnecessary, wasteful and divisive plebiscite, and the attacks on and dismantling of the Safe Schools program, it was always unlikely that the Turnbull Government would do anything substantive to tackle anti-LGBTIQ verbal harassment and abuse.
Still, now that they have been presented with the evidence, they can no longer claim that there is no problem with homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and intersexphobia in Australia. They know it exists – they are simply choosing to ignore it.
Here is the full response from the Attorney-General's Department:
Dear Mr Lawrie
Thank you for your correspondent of 3 April 2017 to the Prime Minister, the Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP, regarding Commonwealth anti-vilification laws. Your letter was referred to the Attorney-General, Senator the Hon George Brandis QC, as the matter falls within his portfolio. The Attorney-General has asked me to respond on his behalf.
The Australian Government believes that people are entitled to respect, dignity and the opportunity to participate in society and receive the protection of the law regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status. The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) prohibits discrimination on these grounds in a range of areas of public life.
The Sex Discrimination Act also prohibits sexual harassment in a number of areas of public life. Under the definition of sexual harassment, the circumstances to be taken into account include, but are not limited to, the sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status of the person harassed.
Criminal laws in Australia generally prohibit conduct which threatens or results in harm to a person, regardless of the individual attributes of the victim.
The Australian Government considers these protections, in conjunction with other protections under Australian law, are appropriate in addressing the behaviour outlined in your letter.
Thank you for bringing your concerns to the attention of the Australian Government.
[Name withheld]
Director, Human Rights
Civil Law Unit
The Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP
Dear Prime Minister
Commonwealth Anti-Vilification Laws
I am writing to you about a subject that has preoccupied your Government in recent weeks: Commonwealth anti-vilification laws.
However, I do not wish to re-litigate the debate over your proposed amendments to section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, especially now that those changes have been comprehensively rejected by the Senate (happily from my perspective, presumably less so from yours).
Instead, I wish to discuss an area where it appears that, at least based on your public statements, you and I agree.
Specifically, during the course of the debate around 18C, two key principles emerged from media releases and speeches made both by yourself, and by the Attorney-General, Senator the Hon George Brandis.
First, your Government believes that there is a place for legal protections against vilification.
This is apparent not just from the fact that you chose to try to amend section 18C, rather than repeal it (therefore acknowledging the overall legitimacy of anti-vilification laws), but also through your comments at the joint Press Conference on 21 March, announcing the changes:
"We are defending the law by making it clearer. We are defending Australians against racial vilification."
And from the Attorney-General's Second Reading Speech:
"I have always believed that there is no inconsistency whatever between effective, appropriately-worded racial vilification laws, and the robust defence of freedom of speech."
Second, your Government believes that such legal protections against vilification should be 'strong'.
Indeed, both you and your Attorney-General repeatedly claimed that the Human Rights Legislation Amendment Bill 2017 would strengthen existing vilification protections.
At your joint Press Conference you stated that "[W]e are announcing changes to the Racial Discrimination Act and the Human Rights Commission legislation, which will strengthen the protection of Australians from racial vilification" and that it was time to "defend Australians with effective laws, clear laws, against racial vilification."
The Attorney-General similarly claimed in his Second Reading Speech that the changes were being proposed "to strengthen its anti-vilification provisions."
Taking you at your word(s) then, you both believe there is a place for anti-vilification laws, and that such laws should be strong and effective.
I agree with these two principles (even if we disagree on how they should be reflected in the Racial Discrimination Act).
Which is why, now that your changes to section 18C have been defeated, I write to suggest an additional way in which you can protect Australians against vilification: by introducing anti-vilification protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people.
As you would be aware, there is currently no Commonwealth protection against vilification on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status.
Nor are there LGBTI anti-vilification protections under the laws of Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia or the Northern Territory (meanwhile, the protections that exist under NSW law are overly-narrow, and fail to protect some parts of the community).
This leaves a significant proportion of Australia's LGBTI communities without any legal protections against homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and intersexphobic vilification.
Unfortunately, such vilification remains all-too-common in Australia.
In a survey that I conducted at the start of 2017, 74% of LGBTIQ respondents reported being subject to anti-LGBTIQ verbal abuse or harassment at some point during their lives[i].
Disturbingly, 48% of respondents reported that at least one instance of such abuse or harassment occurred during the last 12 months.
These figures were even higher for some sections of the LGBTIQ community:
68.2% of trans respondents
65% of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ respondents, and
74.5% of LGBTIQ respondents aged 24 or under
reported verbal abuse or harassment in the past 12 months alone.
I hope that you agree these rates of homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and intersexphobic verbal abuse are simply unacceptable.
And if you are unconvinced by the raw numbers, then I suggest that you read the even rawer, and in some cases quite horrific, examples of anti-LGBTIQ harassment shared by the 1,672 people who took part in my survey (attached).
The challenge for you is that this abuse is happening on your watch.
If you genuinely believe there is a place for anti-vilification laws, and that such laws should be strong and effective, then I believe you should respond to this epidemic of anti-LGBTI verbal abuse and harassment with Commonwealth anti-vilification laws covering sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status, on an equivalent basis to existing racial vilification protections.
After all, if racist vilification is considered so serious as to require legislative intervention, then there is no logical reason why homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and intersexphobic vilification should not be similarly prohibited.
If you do not take action to address this issue, then by implication you are suggesting that you and your Government find anti-LGBTIQ vilification to be less offensive, and arguably more 'acceptable', than racial vilification.
In conclusion, I will return to another comment made by you at the joint Press Conference on 21 March:
"Ensuring Australians are protected from racial vilification, likewise, is part of that mutual respect of which I often speak, which is the foundation of our success as the greatest and most successful multicultural society in the world."
My question to you is: do you believe that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex Australians also deserve 'mutual respect'?
If you do, then please take action to protect LGBTI Australians from the homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and intersexphobic vilification that far-too-frequently mars our own participation in the country you currently lead.
Cc Senator the Hon George Brandis
Whether LGBTI Australians receive anti-vilification protections under Commonwealth law is now in Malcolm Turnbull's hands.
[i] For full results, see The State of Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia, Survey Results Part 1: Verbal Harassment and Abuse
Posted in LGBTI anti-vilification	/ Tagged biphobia, gay, gender identity, George Brandis, homophobia, intersex status, intersexphobia, LGBTI, Malcolm Turnbull, Racial Discrimination Act 1975, section 18C, sexual orientation, transphobia, vilification	/ Leave a comment
The State of Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia Survey Results, Part 2: Physical Abuse or Violence
Posted on March 17, 2017 by Alastair Lawrie
This post is the second in a series of six, reporting the results of The State of Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia survey I conducted at the start of 2017[i].
In this article, I will be focusing on their answers to three questions about experiences of anti-LGBTIQ physical abuse or violence, including publishing their personal stories of homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and intersexphobic violence.
It makes for particularly tough reading – not only are the reported rates of physical abuse, both over their lifetimes and specifically during the last 12 months, far too high, many of the examples of violence that were provided are, frankly, brutal reminders of the unacceptable state of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in Australia today.
If the topics covered in this post raise any issues for you, contact details of relevant support services are provided at the end of the article.
Question 1: Have you ever experienced physical abuse or violence because of your sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status?
Question 2: Has one or more instances of this physical abuse or violence occurred in the past 12 months?
Overall, 26% of survey respondents – 431 people out of the 1,647 who answered question 1 – indicated they had experienced physical abuse or violence because of their LGBTIQ status at some point in their life.
128 people – or 30% of respondents who answered yes to question 1[ii] – then answered question 2 by stating that at least one instance of this anti-LGBTIQ physical abuse or violence had occurred during the last 12 months.
Including those who answered no to question 1, that means approximately 7.8% of all respondents reported experiencing physical abuse or violence in the past year alone.
It should be noted that these rates are significantly lower than the numbers who had previously reported receiving anti-LGBTIQ verbal harassment or abuse. Nevertheless, these findings confirm that homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and intersexphobic physical abuse or violence in Australia is unacceptably high:
1 in 4 LGBTIQ people have been physically assaulted simply because of who they are, and
1 in every 13 LGBTIQ respondents has experienced such abuse or violence in the last 12 months alone.
The following sections show the results to these two questions according to different demographic groupings, including LGBTIQ status, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, age, and residence by state and territory.
There were some potentially surprising results in reported rates of lifetime anti-LGBTIQ physical abuse or violence. However, the respective answers of different groups to question 2 were more predictable – and more depressing for that reason. The results for both questions were as follows:
Lesbian: 24.1% of respondents have ever experienced anti-LGBTIQ physical abuse, and of those 27.3% indicated at least one instance during the past 12 months[iii]
Gay: 34.4% ever, and of those 23.6% during the past 12 months[iv]
Bisexual: 14.6% ever, of those 44.2% in last 12 months[v]
Transgender: 33.6% ever, of those 47.2% in last 12 months[vi]
Intersex: 46.7% ever, of those 71.4% in last 12 months[vii], and
Queer: 27.1% ever, of those 44% in last 12 months[viii].
The rates for intersex respondents were clearly the highest – on both measures – although the small sample size (n=15) should be remembered at this point. Of the remaining LGBTQ groups, the category reporting the highest lifetime rates of physical abuse or violence were people identifying as gay, followed closely by transgender people.
There are a range of possible explanations for this, including physical bullying of gay students during school, and 'historical' incidents of anti-gay violence that may have happened many years ago (and there is some evidence for both factors in the personal stories of violence detailed below)
Sadly, the relatively high rates reported by transgender respondents were largely predictable. Disturbingly, they were higher again where a person indicated they were both transgender and gay – with 45.6% reporting lifetime physical abuse or violence. These numbers are obviously horrific [ix].
It is equally worrying to look at the proportion of each group overall who reported an instance of anti-LGBTIQ physical abuse or violence in the past 12 months:
Lesbian: 6.5%
Gay: 8.1%
Bisexual: 6.5%
Transgender: 15.6%
Intersex: 33.3%
Queer: 12%
On this measure, the proportion of gay respondents reporting physical abuse or violence is much lower, and is in fact similar to both lesbian and bisexual survey respondents.
However, this finding demonstrates the disproportionate impact of recent anti-LGBTIQ physical abuse and violence on transgender (including people who identified as both transgender and gay, where the figure was 24.6%, on 1 in 4 people reporting abuse in the last year alone), intersex and queer members of the community.
Therefore, while there have historically been high rates of homophobic (and specifically anti-gay), transphobic and intersexphobic violence in Australia, there appears to be comparatively far higher rates of transphobic, intersexphobic and anti-queer physical abuse during the last 12 months.
As with verbal harassment and abuse, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ people reported higher rates of physical abuse or violence than their non-Indigenous LGBTIQ counterparts.
36.7% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondents reported anti-LGBTIQ physical abuse at some point during their lifetime[x], which is higher than both gay and transgender people, discussed above. Of those, 40.9% indicated at least one instance of such violence had occurred in the past 12 months[xi].
Taken together, this means that 15% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ people reported homophobic, biphobic or transphobic physical abuse or violence during the past year – double the rate of non-Indigenous LGBTIQ Australians (7.5%).
There were some significant differences in terms of experiences of homophobic, biphobic, transphobic or intersexphobic physical abuse or violence depending on the age cohort of the respondent:
24 and under: 18.7% of respondents have ever experienced anti-LGBTIQ physical abuse, and of those 47.6% indicated at least one instance during the past 12 months[xii]
25 to 44: 33.1% ever, and of those 27.2% in the last 12 months[xiii]
45 to 64: 39.9% ever, and of those 16.4% in the last 12 months[xiv], and
65 and over: 30.1% ever, and of those 9.1% in the last 12 months[xv].
Thankfully, the proportion of LGBTIQ people aged 24 or under reporting lifetime physical abuse or violence was lower than their counterparts in other age cohorts. Of course, this result should be expected given their lesser 'life experience' (ie fewer years in which abuse may have occurred), but that was not the case for verbal harassment or abuse which was reported at similar rates to older groups.
Rates of lifetime homophobic, biphobic and transphobic physical abuse or violence then increased for people aged 25 to 44, and again for people aged 45 to 64, before declining for people aged 65 and over.
One possible explanation for this is the age at which these groups 'came of age': people aged 65+ turned 18 before 1970, and lower visibility of LGBTIQ people (and especially some communities within this umbrella term) may have lessened their experiences of direct physical violence (while exacerbating other problems, including social exclusion and mental health issues).
On the other hand, people aged 45 to 64 generally turned 18 in the 1970s and 1980s, and likely bore the brunt of societal backlash to increased visibility of non-cisgender and/or non-heterosexual Australians, including via physical assaults.
It is however worrying that for those people who turned 18 in the supposedly more accepting 1990s and 2000s (who are now aged 25 to 44), the rates of physical abuse or violence remained relatively high – with 1 in 3 survey respondents in this demographic affected.
Turning to anti-LGBTIQ physical abuse in the past 12 months, the results were very different:
8.8% of all respondents aged 24 or under reported abuse in the last year, compared to
7.1% of people aged 25 to 44
6.5% of people aged 45 to 64, and
2.8% of people aged 65 and over.
Once again, we see that current homophobic, biphobic and transphobic physical abuse and violence is disproportionately affecting younger LGBTIQ Australians – who are 35.4% more likely to report such abuse than people aged 45 to 64.
Despite all of the progress that we have made, on so many fronts, the fact that 1 in 12 LGBTIQ people aged under 25 reported physical abuse or violence in the last year alone is a confronting, and in many ways, devastating, statistic.
The rates of homophobic, biphobic, transphobic or intersexphobic violence did not differ greatly between most states and territories:
NSW: 26% of respondents have ever experienced anti-LGBTIQ physical abuse, and of those 27.3% indicated at least one instance during the past 12 months[xvi]
Victoria: 29.5% ever, and of those 29% in the last 12 months[xvii]
Queensland: 26.4% ever, and of those 21.2% in the last 12 months[xviii]
Western Australia: 28.1% ever, and 45.2% in the last 12 months[xix]
South Australia: 25.2% ever, and of those 29.4% in the last 12 months[xx]
Tasmania: 19.8% ever, and of those 45.4% in the last 12 months[xxi]
ACT: 14.3% ever, and of those 37.5% in the last 12 months[xxii], and
Northern Territory: 23.8% ever, and of those 20% in the last 12 months[xxiii].
Despite the similarity between jurisdictions, there are three things here worth noting:
Western Australia had by far the highest overall proportion of LGBTIQ people reporting physical abuse or violence in the last year, at 12.4%[xxiv]
The ACT has reported significantly lower levels of physical abuse than the national average (5.4% in the past 12 months), and was also significantly lower in terms of verbal harassment or abuse, and
Despite having the second lowest lifetime rates of anti-LGBTIQ physical abuse, Tasmania actually reported the second highest rates in the past 12 months (9%), repeating a similar pattern for verbal abuse.
Question 3: If you feel comfortable, please provide an example of this homophobic, biphobic, transphobic or intersexphobic physical abuse or violence [Optional]:
This question allowed respondents to provide an example of the physical abuse or violence they had experienced, irrespective of when it had occurred.
As anticipated, many of the stories that have been shared are both incredibly powerful, and profoundly upsetting.
At this point, I would recommend that you only read further if you are emotionally and mentally prepared to do so. To help you decide whether to continue, please be aware that some stories involve details of physical violence and injury, as well as sexual and child sexual assault.
A lightly-edited[xxv] version of the stories of homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and intersexphobic physical abuse or violence that were shared can be found at the following link:
question 3 physical abuse or violence comments
From my perspective, several consistent themes emerge from these stories, including:
The most common type of story shared involved anti-LGBTIQ abuse in the school environment (at least 38 respondents mentioned school). For example:
"Other kids would throw food at me at school and threaten to kill me. One time a group of bigger boys held me down and drew penises on my face at school. Teachers did nothing. People just laughed. I wanted to die."
"During the HSC, the day of my last exam. A group of guys waited for me around the corner of the hall. They grabbed me by the neck and dragged me around the corner whilst beating me."
"I was violently assaulted during high school. A boy at my school also stalked me and threatened to rape me to 'make me straight.'"
A number of respondents explicitly indicated that the homophobic, biphobic or transphobic abuse occurred some time ago:
"Many years ago at high school. Managed to steer clear of physically violent homophobic behaviour since then."[xxvi]
"I was bullied relentlessly when I was at school. It was a long time ago (in the 70s) and it included physical abuse. I'm one of the lucky ones, I survived. Many other young LGBTI Australian youth didn't… and this is still continuing today, validated by politicians and religious 'leaders' who have no concern about the harm they are doing by imposing their hetero-normative agendas."
"I have been punched in the street a few times in the 1990s and once had a bottle broken over my head and was stabbed in the face with the broken bottle (year 2000)."
Several stories involved anti-lesbian violence, including attempts of 'corrective rape' and sexual assault:
"I have been bashed in the street for holding my partner's hand, I have been threatened with rape for dancing with another woman, I have had the police stand in my lounge room making threatening gestures when my partner and I reported a crime, refusing to do anything because 'some people just don't like dykes' and we'd 'just have to get used to that.'"
"Men grope me, stick their hands down my pants in public places and try to force me to kiss them. When I say I'm a lesbian it's always either 'that's okay I don't mind', 'I can change that', 'you've just never had a good fuck'."
"When I lived in Queensland (not where I currently reside) I had strangers at parties come up to my girlfriend and I and forcibly try to dance with us and grope us and insist that we should have sex with them/have a threesome because we need 'some real fucking'."
Another common theme was anti-trans violence, such as the 'policing' of gender appearance or behaviour, and again including sexual assault:
"Was physically abused by a middle-aged woman who was confused by my gender presentation and took it upon herself to check + feel my chest for the presence of breast tissue (which was underneath my binder)."
"I've been sexually assaulted by partners because of my gender non-conforming behaviour, to try and 'correct' me into being femme."
"When I wasn't out about being a trans man, this bi girl that also knew I was bi thought it was ok and appropriate to sexually assault me and grab my vagina."
"I was sexually assaulted when a group of young men found out I was transgender."
A disturbing proportion of stories involved physical abuse and violence from parents, family members and partners in intimate relationships:
"My dad tried to beat the gay out of me a lot growing up."
"As a child I was beaten at different times by both parents, one publicly, and being told to man up."
"My mum hit/tried to strangle me when I came out to her as trans."
"A boyfriend at the time – I told him I'm queer (pan, if you like) and he started grabbing me without my consent sexually in public."
At least a dozen stories referred to homophobic, biphobic and transphobic violence in spaces and places that the LGBTIQ community call 'home':
"I got king-hit/coward-punched whilst walking down Oxford Street in Sydney during Mardi Gras."
"I have been poofter bashed – just off Oxford St – and was once assaulted by police officers (which I took action about)."
"When I lived in Sydney in the mid-1990s I was bashed by a group of 'skin-heads' on Darlinghurst Rd as I walked home after work."
"Physically assaulted and knocked unconscious by men loitering at a McDonalds on a popular gay night strip in Melbourne."
"Several years ago I was assaulted in Malvern Rd Prahran by 5 guys yelling death to fags – luckily for me as the group kicked me as I lay helpless a driver stopped and they got scared off."
And then there were some stories that defied easy 'categorisation', but which were so powerful that I felt compelled to reproduce here:
"I've been verbally abused, threatened by men, chased by youths with knives and survived an attempted rape and murder by a straight man who saw me come out of a gay pub."
"Attacked during lgbt rally, egged until I got welts, physically attacked, had people bang on the windows of my room + house and yell they'd kill me etc."
"Glass bottles thrown at my head and at my lesbian friends because we needed to "get back to the Valley with the freaks" and "needed them to show us dick" so we would stop being into women; guy holding up my girlfriend by her throat because we kissed in a pub; sexual assaults to me (several) partly because they knew I was bisexual so I was "automatically up for sex". I wasn't. There was no consent. I even said no and they said I was lying because I am bi."
"I, my partner and her elderly father were all bashed by a bunch of teenage boys who chased us from the train station to our home kicking us, hitting us, spitting at us, throwing things at us and verbally abusing us. They then attacked my father-in-law when he attempted to come to our aid. He was in his mid-60s at the time of the attack."
Some shorter comments were nevertheless shocking:
"Being beaten by 3 older men who had followed me home after I left my boyfriend on public transport. I was 16."
"My partner and I were assaulted whilst kissing to say good bye."
"My partner and I had glass beer bottles thrown at us walking down the street while holding hands."
"I was last assaulted for my sexuality in early 2013, and dozens of times before that."
Finally, and disturbingly, there were at least three stories in which the person who experienced anti-LGBTIQ physical abuse tried to downplay the extent of the violence:
"Bashed (not badly) numerous times by strangers, usually with onlookers. Extreme harassment and threats from police on several occasions."
"Mild beatings by groups of boys in late high school."
"Just being punched in the face."
Describing homophobic, biphobic and transphobic violence in this way is likely part of a psychological coping strategy for these respondents – but, from this author's perspective, there is no circumstance in which the word 'just' ought to appear in front of the phrase being punched in the face.
The results of this survey suggest that 1 out of every 4 LGBTIQ Australians have experienced homophobic, biphobic, transphobic or intersexphobic physical abuse or violence at some point in their lives.
30% of that group – or 1 in 13 out of all survey respondents – reported anti-LGBTIQ physical violence in the past 12 months alone, confirming once again that 2016 was an awful year for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer Australians.
These proportions were even higher for some sections within the community. While the overall rate was 7.8% reporting abuse in the last year, the equivalent figure was:
15.6% of transgender people
33% of intersex people
12% of queer people
15% of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ people.
LGBTIQ respondents age 24 and under were also 35.4% more likely to report recent homophobic, biphobic, transphobic or intersexphobic physical abuse than people aged 45 to 64.
Some of our political leaders like to espouse the idea that Australia is an inclusive and tolerant country, welcoming of differences in sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status. That may be the case for some people – but these figures reveal a different, harsher, reality for many LGBTIQ Australians.
And, if anyone doubts the impact of homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and intersexphobic physical abuse and violence in this nation, I encourage them to read the personal stories from survey respondents, detailed above. If they do, they will come away with a better understanding of what life is like for far too many people.
As noted at the beginning of this post, this has been the second in a series of six articles reporting the results of my 'The State of Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia' Survey.
The next four will be published over the remainder of March and April, with part 3 – which focuses on the places where prejudice occurs – to be published in a couple of weeks.
[i] The first was published two weeks ago: The State of Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia Survey Results, Part 1: Verbal Harassment and Abuse
[ii] Only people who answered yes to question 1 were provided with an opportunity to answer question 2, with 430 people completing the second question and 302 (70%) indicating they had not experienced physical abuse or violence because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status in the past 12 months.
[iii] Question 1: 78 yes/246 no. Question 2: 21 yes/56 no.
[iv] Question 1: 220 yes/419 no. Question 2: 52 yes/168 no.
[v] Question 1: 76 yes/445 no. Question 2: 34 yes/43 no.
[vi] Question 1: 125 yes/247 no. Question 2: 58 yes/65 no.
[vii] Question 1: 7 yes/8 no. Question 2: 5 yes/2 no. Note that, given the low number of respondents, the proportions re intersex status must be treated with caution. For this reason, intersex status is also omitted from some of the discussion/analysis throughout the article.
[viii] Question 1: 133 yes/358 no. Question 2: 59 yes/75 no.
[ix] Other figures for people who identified as both transgender and another category:
-Transgender and lesbian: 30.2% lifetime abuse, including 14% of all trans and lesbian respondents experiencing such abuse in the last 12 months alone
-Transgender and bisexual: 26.6% lifetime abuse, 15.3% in the last 12 months, and
-Transgender and queer: 33.5% lifetime abuse, 18.1% in the last 12 months.
[x] Question 1: 22 yes/38 no.
[xi] Question 2: 9 yes/13 no.
[xii] Question 1: 165 yes/719 no. Question 2: 78 yes/86 no.
[xiii] Question 1: 144 yes/291 no. Question 2: 31 yes/114 no.
[xiv] Question 1: 110 yes/166 no. Question 2: 18 yes/91 no.
[xv] Question 1: 11 yes/25 no. Question 2: 1 yes/10 no. Note that, given the low number of respondents, the proportions re people aged 65 and over must be treated with caution. For this reason, this group is also omitted from some of the discussion/analysis throughout the article.
[xvi] Question 1: 140 yes/399 no. Question 2: 38 yes/101 no.
[xvii] Question 1: 113 yes/270 no. Question 2: 33 yes/81 no.
[xviii] Question 1: 66 yes/184 no. Question 2: 14 yes/52 no.
[xix] Question 1: 43 yes/90 no. Question 2: 19 yes/23 no.
[xx] Question 1: 34 yes/101 no. Question 2: 10 yes/24 no.
[xxi] Question 1: 22 yes/89 no. Question 2: 10 yes/12 no.
[xxii] Question 1: 8 yes/48 no. Question 2: 3 yes/5 no.
[xxiii] Question 1: 5 yes/16 no. Question 2: 1 yes/4 no. Note that, given the low number of respondents, the proportions re the Northern Territory must be treated with caution. For this reason, the NT is also omitted from some of the discussion/analysis throughout the article.
[xxiv] Full results: NSW 7.1%, Victoria 8.6%, Queensland 5.6%, WA 12.4%, SA 7.4%, Tasmania 9%, ACT 5.4%, NT 4.8%.
[xxv] In this context, lightly-edited includes:
-Removing identifying information, and
-Removing offensive (for example, racist) remarks.
I have also chosen to exclude a couple of stories where the connection between the physical abuse or violence experienced and anti-LGBTIQ motivation was not clear, and one longer story which could not be edited to retain key points without also potentially disclosing the identity of the person concerned.
[xxvi] It seems one of the lessons many learned at school was to hide or minimise visible displays of same-sex behaviour, to avoid future abuse or violence.
Posted in LGBTI	/ Tagged biphobia, gay, gender identity, homophobia, homophobic violence, intersex status, intersexphobia, lesbian, LGBT, LGBTIQ, sexual orientation, transgender, transphobia, transphobic violence	/ Leave a comment
The State of Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia Survey Results, Part 1: Verbal Harassment and Abuse
Posted on March 4, 2017 by Alastair Lawrie
With unrelenting attacks on the safe schools program, divisive debate about the proposed marriage equality plebiscite, the horrific mass murder at Pulse nightclub in Orlando and the tragic suicide of Indigenous gay youth Tyrone Unsworth, the past 12 months have undeniably been tough on members of Australia's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) communities.
Now we have empirical evidence to prove that last year was indeed an annus homophobicus.[i]
At the start of this year I conducted a survey of LGBTIQ Australians asking about their experiences of homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and intersexphobia in 2016, covering a range of topics including verbal harassment, physical violence, the places where prejudice occurs, and discrimination in education, employment and other areas.
Excluding responses from non-LGBTIQ people, and from LGBTIQ people outside Australia, a total of 1,672 people completed the survey in the four weeks between 26 December 2016 and 21 January 2017.
This post is the first in a series of six reporting the results of this survey, with a particular focus on three questions about the verbal harassment and abuse experienced by LGBTIQ Australians.
For many people, a number of the results will be unsurprising and yet still shocking – although, even for hardened campaigners such as myself, there are a few findings that are both depressing and disturbing, especially the varying impact of verbal harassment on different sections of the LGBTIQ community.
Question 1: Have you ever experienced verbal harassment or abuse because of your sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status?
Question 2: Has one or more instances of this verbal harassment or abuse occurred in the past 12 months?
Overall, 74% of survey respondents – 1,226 people out of the 1,655 people who answered question 1 – indicated they had experienced verbal harassment or abuse because of their LGBTIQ status at some point in their life.
799 people – or 65% of respondents who answered yes to question 1[ii] – then answered question 2 by stating that at least one instance of this anti-LGBTIQ verbal harassment or abuse had occurred during the last 12 months.
Even including those who answered no to question 1, that still means 48% of all respondents reported experiencing verbal harassment or abuse in the past year alone.
These numbers might not be surprising to members of our community, but it is nevertheless shocking to confirm that 3 out of every 4 LGBTIQ Australians have been verbally harassed because of who they are, with almost half of all respondents reporting homophobic, biphobic, transphobic or intersexphobic verbal abuse in the last 12 months.
There were similarities, as well as some stark differences, in how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people experienced verbal harassment and abuse. Their respective answers to questions 1 and 2 are as follows:
Lesbian: 77.6% have ever experienced anti-LGBTIQ verbal harassment, and of those 68.7% indicated at least one instance during the past 12 months[iii]
Gay: 78% ever, and of those 56.5% during the past 12 months[iv]
Transgender: 81% ever, of those 84.4% in last 12 months[vi]
Queer: 79.8% ever, of those 79.9% in last 12 months[viii].
Among lesbian, gay, transgender and queer respondents, the proportion that had experienced verbal harassment or abuse at some point in their lives was remarkably consistent – all falling somewhere between 77.6% and 81%. The proportion of bisexual people reporting lifetime abuse was somewhat lower, at 63.9%[ix].
However, there were much larger differences between groups in terms of experiences of anti-LGBTIQ verbal harassment and abuse over the past year.
While 43.4% of all gay respondents, and 44% of all bisexual respondents, reported verbal harassment or abuse during the last 12 months[x], this figure rose to 53.1% of all lesbian respondents (slightly above the overall average).
In terms of queer respondents the figure was higher still, at 63.9%, while for transgender people it rose again to 68.2%.
Think about that for a second: more than two-thirds of transgender people reported being verbally harassed or abused simply because of who they are in the past 12 months alone.
Further, while there is little difference between gay and transgender people in reporting lifetime verbal harassment (78% and 81% respectively), transgender people were 57% more likely to report verbal abuse over the past year.
Of course, all of these figures are far too high; no level of homophobia, biphobia or transphobia is acceptable. Nevertheless, we must not ignore the fact that, when it comes to verbal harassment and abuse over the last year, the burden has fallen much more heavily on transgender and queer Australians.
A total of 62 survey respondents indicated that they were Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (or 3.7% of the sample).
83.3% reported that they had ever reported verbal harassment or abuse because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status[xi]. Of those, 78% reported verbal harassment or abuse during the past 12 months[xii].
That means 65% of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ respondents reported homophobic, biphobic, transphobic or intersexphobic abuse during the last 12 months, significantly above the national average and placing them at similar risk to transgender and queer Australians.
The survey asked respondents to nominate their respective cohort: 24 and under; 25 to 44; 45 to 64; or 65 and over. The answers provided by these different groups were relatively similar for question 1, although varied greatly for question 2.
Have you ever experienced verbal harassment or abuse because of your sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status?
24 and under: 70.6% yes[xiii]
25 to 44: 78.2% yes[xiv]
45 to 64: 79.5% yes[xv], and
65 and over: 69.4% yes.[xvi]
Prima facie, the fact the figures for people aged under 25 are slightly lower than the two generations that preceded them might seem encouraging.
However, looked at in a different way, they are a cause for serious alarm: in 2017, a young LGBTIQ person is almost as likely to have experienced homophobic, biphobic, transphobic or intersexphobic verbal abuse at some point in their comparatively shorter life as someone with 20 or even 40 more years life experience.
This concern is borne out by the answers to the second question:
Has one of more instances of this verbal harassment or abuse occurred in the past 12 months?
24 and under: 74.5% yes[xvii]
25 to 44: 58.9% yes[xviii]
45 to 64: 46.1% yes[xix], and
65 and over: 33.3% yes[xx].
The net effect of these two questions reveals that 54.6% of all respondents aged 24 or under have been verbally harassed or abused because of who they are in the last year, compared to 46.1% of respondents aged 25 to 44 and 36.3% of respondents aged 45 to 64.
To put it another way: young LGBTIQ Australians were 50% more likely to be subject to homophobic, biphobic, transphobic or intersexphobic verbal harassment and abuse in 2016 than LGBTIQ people aged 45 to 64.
This result simultaneously proves and undermines the 'It Gets Better' message – yes, it gets better for individuals as they grow older, but, on the basis of these findings, it does not seem it has gotten significantly better for young LGBTIQ people today.
Personally, I believe this result at least partially reflects the fallout of attacks on the safe schools program by religious fundamentalists and right-wing extremists, with a potentially devastating impact on young LGBTIQ people, many of whom are only beginning their journey toward self-understanding and self-acceptance, and consequently may be lacking the same resilience as their older counterparts.
In contrast to the significant differences in results based on age, the levels of anti-LGBTIQ verbal harassment and abuse reported in different jurisdictions around Australia were remarkably consistent. The respective answers to question 1 and 2 are as follows:
New South Wales: 74% have ever experienced anti-LGBTIQ verbal harassment, and of those 64.8% indicated at least one instance during the past 12 months[xxi]
Victoria: 74.1% ever, and of those 67.3% during the past 12 months[xxii]
Queensland: 76.2% ever, of those 63% in last 12 months[xxiii]
Western Australia: 76.3% ever, of those 65.5% in last 12 months[xxiv]
South Australia: 71.1% ever, of those 66% in last 12 months[xxv]
Tasmania: 70.3% ever, of those 77.9% in last 12 months[xxvi]
Australian Capital Territory: 73.2% ever, of those 51.2% in last 12 months[xxvii], and
Northern Territory: 76.2% ever, of those 56.3% in last 12 months[xxviii].
Including those who answered no to question 1, this means for most states and territories the proportion of LGBTIQ people reporting verbal harassment or abuse in the last 12 months was between 42.9% (NT) and 50% (WA)[xxix].
The jurisdiction with the lowest incidence of homophobic, biphobic, transphobic or intersexphobic verbal abuse in the last year was the ACT at 37.5%; the highest was Tasmania at 54.1% of all respondents.
Of course, while the rates of anti-LGBTIQ verbal harassment may be similar across Australia, the options available to victims of such abuse vary considerably.
Only four jurisdictions offer any legal protections against vilification to the LGBTI community (NSW, Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT[xxx]). With no equivalent to section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 contained in the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, LGBTI people in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory are not protected against vilification at any level[xxxi].
Question 3: If you feel comfortable, please provide an example of this homophobic, biphobic, transphobic or intersexphobic verbal harassment or abuse [Optional]
This question allowed respondents to provide an example of the verbal harassment or abuse they had received, irrespective of when it had occurred.
A large number of LGBTIQ respondents took up this opportunity, and the results are sobering, and frequently heart-breaking, to read. A lightly-edited[xxxii] version of these comments can be found at the following link:
question-3-verbal-harassment-and-abuse-comments [PDF]
I encourage you to take the time to read the survey respondent's very personal stories of homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and intersexphobic abuse, of them experiencing verbal harassment simply because of who they are.
Ideally, conservative and/or right-wing politicians, many of whom claim that anti-LGBTIQ prejudice either doesn't exist, or is no longer a serious problem, would read them too. If they did, they would have their 'relaxed and comfortable' ideas shattered by the irrefutable evidence provided via these real-life stories.
From my perspective, some of the derogatory comments related to sexual orientation that stood out include:
"I was just coming out of a convenience store and walked past this man who was staring at me. Then suddenly he started screaming "Faggot, faggot!!" at me. No one around me said or did anything. I just tried to not react and get away as soon as I could."
"I normally get something once a year. Walking down the street in Brisbane, my (now) husband and I were shouted at by a couple of blokes who started by saying: 'you have got to be fucking kidding' in reference to the fact we were holding hands."
"I recently saw two young gay men, a couple, who were walking up Chapel Street holding hands. A group of 3 older men were harassing them, following them. I joined the 2 gay men and told them to cross the road and ignore the others. I was then also subjected to the same vitriol with comments such as 'there's another one' and 'look at the 3 poofters'. We walked into a crowded shop and they didn't follow us. I was extremely upset by this as were the 2 other younger fellows."
"I was in my Drs surgery last year & I was abused, & my children were abused, by another patient. My Dr had to drag him away. Some of the names I was called were pervert, deviant, faggot. My kids were called queer, sexually perverted and confused."
"A co-worker was informed that I identify as bisexual. She berated me openly, saying that I was merely attention seeking and that my children would be very confused adults with such poor guidance in life. She then contacted my husband through social media and told him to take my children and leave because raising them with a mentally ill person was dangerous."
Transphobic harassment, and verbal abuse on the basis of gender identity, was also disturbingly widespread:
"Public name calling outside a local pub, shouting to others that I don't have a penis… Being deadnamed in public despite being asked not to, in dismissal of transition or gender status… All in the last 3 months."
"I was harassed outside a disabled toilet, which I went to because I was uncomfortable in gendered toilets. I overheard someone talking about a 'faggot' and learned they were talking about me. I was called transsexual repeatedly against my will by someone. Constant misgendering, deadnaming and disrespect on a daily basis just for being me…"
"Without going into detail, I have been referred to as a tranny, and had both my sexuality and gender identity mocked and invalidated repeatedly. I have been told to kill myself an innumerable amount of times, including being told to 'get my teeth and gender straight or kill myself', and that my gender is 'cancer'. This is just a short list of the abuse I've suffered."
"Demeaning laughter. Hostile stares. Derogatory language (eg 'faggot', 'it'), usually just spoken audibly to others in front of me occasionally yelled from cars. Deliberate misgendering. I've noticed increased hostility from authority figures (eg ticket inspectors) in response to me looking more identifiably trans also. When I was closeted, I used to find people making transphobic jokes in front of me a common and painful experience."
"Because of my choice of clothing/hairstyle I get called shemale. Heshe. Thing. It. Freak. Pervert. Dyke. Faggot. And that's just the shortlist, and the most common insults I deal with, especially when I go clothes shopping or use a public restroom."
This story was worrying, both because of the source of the discriminatory comments, but also because of the lack of action by authorities:
"I'm a pre-service teacher (still in university completing a bachelor). While on one of my teaching placements I received verbal harassment intermittently from the year 6 classes. When I reported this I was underwhelmed by the response from the faculty, both at my teaching school and the university faculty. The underlying cause of transphobic slurs directed towards me was undermined by only addressing 'disrespect' and they refused to address anything extending from that. When I expressed my concern in not addressing homophobia and transphobia directly I was met with hostility from the faculty, which made my teaching the remaining 3 weeks very uncomfortable."
The most common story shared in response to this question concerned homophobic, biphobic or transphobic abuse from people in passing cars: at least 78 different comments cited this type of harassment.
This is both an extraordinary total, and an extraordinary indictment of the kind of person who would engage in the behaviour of shouting anti-LGBTIQ abuse at strangers from the safety, comfort and anonymity of their vehicles.
A typical story related to this type of harassment: "Minding my own business at a train station waiting to be picked up and a car full of guys and girls were yelling out 'faggot' to me just because they didn't like the look of me."
Although perhaps my favourite comment (for reasons that will soon become obvious) was this: "I was on a date walking with the guy and a guy started yelling at us from his car while he was driving, he lost control of the car and crashed into a sign." #karma
Another common story was homophobic, biphobic or transphobic harassment on public transport, including trains, buses, trams and even taxis: at least 34 comments reported this kind of abuse. This included:
"Frequent dirty looks in public. Once on a bus (my partner and I were holding hands and talking) a woman stood up from her seat [and] said loudly that 'we didn't need to rub our sexuality in everyone's face' and moved to a seat further away from us."
"On a packed train going home and one man took offense to another man's skin was touching him (we were crammed in together… everyone was touching everyone). He started screaming about how the next person doing 'any more gay shit' to him was going to cop it. And screamed at the poor man who tried to defend himself. Anyone who tried to get him to calm down was met with homophobic language and threats. It was very scary."
"(I'm a trans man, my husband is a cis man – we married and had a daughter before I transitioned). Just last week my husband and I were boarding a bus to the local shopping centre with our 4 year old daughter in tow. The myki machine was taking a bit of time to read each card. A man behind us shouted 'move it, faggots!' at us several times. Our daughter became visibly upset. No one stepped in to help or say anything. The man spent the entire bus ride glaring at us and making snide comments to the person in front of him."
Perhaps most disappointing about the comments in response to question 3 was the fact approximately 20 people described homophobia, biphobia or transphobia from other members of the LGBTIQ community. This was particularly aimed at bisexual people, and to a slightly lesser degree transgender people[xxxiii]. For example:
"Told I'm greedy for being bi, that bisexuality is an excuse to hide that I'm 'actually gay', told that I'm a disgrace to the LGBT+ community for 'not being able to decide'/'pick a side'…"
"Mostly it's been lesbians telling me that bisexuals are just straight people trying to be trendy and undermining my identity…"
"There have been quite a few instances over the years where people have learned my sexuality and gone on a rant on how disgusting it is, and in some instances behaved threateningly while doing so. This comes from both non-LGBT+ and LGBT+ people."
"Spat on in a gay bar for being transgender. Called a freak and told to kill myself. Been told I'm not a real man."
If we are going to campaign for the elimination of homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and intersexphobia from society, then it is incumbent upon us to do better on these issues within our own communities, too.
One small positive from the responses to question 3: the old stereotype of gay man (or trans person) as 'paedophile' appears to be fading away, with only eight comments including this description as an element of the verbal harassment or abuse received. That particular form of abuse cannot die soon enough.
The results of this survey suggest that 3 out of every 4 LGBTIQ Australians have experienced homophobic, biphobic, transphobic or intersexphobic verbal harassment or abuse at some point in their lives.
The survey also confirms that 2016 was a bad year for the LGBTIQ community, with 48% of people reporting that at least one instance of this anti-LGBTIQ verbal abuse occurred in the past 12 months.
These figures are unacceptably high to begin with, but we must also not overlook the fact these proportions are higher still for several groups within the LGBTIQ community who are particularly vulnerable:
Transgender individuals were 57% more likely to report verbal harassment and abuse in the past 12 months than gay people
Queer individuals were 47% more likely than gay people to experience recent verbal abuse
Almost two-thirds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondents were subject to homophobic, biphobic or transphobic verbal harassment throughout the course of the past year, and
LGBTIQ people aged 24 or under were 50% more likely to have experienced recent verbal abuse than their counterparts aged 45 to 64.
These statistics show that the state of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in Australia, in 2017, features far more anti-LGBTIQ verbal harassment than any of us would like. The stories shared in response to question 3, detailing personal accounts of this abuse, powerfully reinforces this fact.
As noted at the beginning of this post, this has been the first in a series of six articles reporting the results of my 'The State of Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia' survey.
The next five, which focus on physical abuse or violence, the places where prejudice occurs, and discrimination in education, employment and other areas, will be published during March and April.
[i] See 2016: Annus Homophobicus.
[ii] Only people who answered yes to question 1 were provided with the opportunity to answer question 2, with 1,220 people completing the second question and 421 people (or 35%) indicting they had not experienced verbal harassment or abuse because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status in the past 12 months.
[iii] Question 1: 253 yes/73 no. Question 2: 173 yes/79 no.
[iv] Question 1: 501 yes/141 no. Question 2: 280 yes/216 no.
[v] Question 1: 333 yes/188 no. Question 2: 229 yes/104 no.
[vi] Question 1: 303 yes/71 no. Question 2: 255 yes/47 no. For those respondents who identified as both trans and bisexual, this figure was even higher – 86.3% reporting lifetime abuse. Queer trans respondents also reported higher rates (86.2% lifetime abuse).
[vii] Question 1: 15 yes/2 no. Question 2: 14 yes/1 no. Note that, given the low number of respondents, the proportions re intersex status must be treated with caution. For this reason, intersex status is also omitted from some of the discussion/analysis throughout the article.
[viii] Question 1: 394 yes/100 no. Question 2: 314 yes/79 no.
[ix] Without additional information, it is difficult to reach any firm conclusions about why this is the case, although one factor may be historically lesser visibility of bisexuality (which may reduce verbal harassment and abuse, but also exacerbates exclusion and isolation).
[x] Noting that this calculation includes the numbers of respondents who answered no to question 1.
[xi] Question 1: 50 yes/10 no.
[xii] Question 2: 39 yes/11 no.
[xiii] 627 yes/261 no.
[xiv] 341 yes/95 no.
[xv] 221 yes/57 no.
[xvi] 25 yes/11 no. Note that, given the low number of respondents, the proportions re people aged 65 and over must be treated with caution. For this reason, this group is also omitted from some of the discussion/analysis throughout the article.
[xvii] 485 yes/141 no.
[xviii] 201 yes/140 no.
[xix] 101 yes/118 no.
[xx] 8 yes/16 no.
[xxi] Question 1: 401 yes/141 no. Question 2: 259 yes/141 no.
[xxii] Question 1: 286 yes/100 no. Question 2: 191 yes/93 no.
[xxiii] Question 1: 192 yes/60 no. Question 2: 121 yes/71 no.
[xxiv] Question 1: 116 yes/36 no. Question 2: 76 yes/40 no.
[xxv] Question 1: 96 yes/39 no. Question 2: 62 yes/32 no.
[xxvi] Question 1: 78 yes, 33 no. Question 2: 60 yes/17 no.
[xxvii] Question 1: 41 yes/15 no. Question 2: 21 yes/20 no.
[xxviii] Question 1: 16 yes/5 no. Question 2: 9 yes/7 no. Note that, given the low number of respondents, the proportions re people in the Northern Territory must be treated with caution.
[xxix] Full results (reporting verbal harassment of abuse in the past 12 months, all respondents):
NSW 47.8%
Victoria 49.5%
Queensland 48%
WA 50%
SA 45.9%
Tasmania 54.1%
ACT 37.5%
NT 42.9%
[xxx] Although NSW does not include vilification protections for bisexual or intersex people, and Queensland does not protect intersex people.
[xxxi] Obviously, depending on the circumstances of the verbal harassment or abuse, only some of the responses given to the survey would fit the legal definition of vilification, irrespective of the ground on which it was based.
[xxxii] Comments were edited to, amongst other things:
-Remove identifying information
-Remove defamatory comments, and
-Remove offensive remarks (for example, deleting explicitly racist comments and/or unnecessary descriptions of a person's race).
[xxxiii] Although I was particularly disturbed by a small number of respondents who included transphobic comments in their answers to question 3 itself, which were subsequently edited to remove the most offensive elements.
Posted in LGBTI anti-discrimination	/ Tagged biphobia, gay, gender identity, harassment, homophobia, intersex status, intersexphobia, LGBT, LGBTI, LGBTIQ, sexual orientation, transphobia, verbal abuse, vilification	/ Leave a comment