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Sexual and gender identity discrimination

Many LGBTIQA+ people face discrimination and prejudice that can affect their health, wellbeing, rights and opportunities. Learn more below.

Discrimination and its impact on mental wellbeing

With growing acceptance and recognition in society, most LGBTIQA+ people have good mental health. However, many others experience discrimination that can have a big impact on their health and wellbeing.

Discrimination is the unfair treatment of people because of personal qualities like their age, ethnicity, gender and sexuality.

Compared to heterosexual people nearly twice as many non-heterosexual people face discrimination and abuse from others (eg. emotional, verbal, physical, sexual) because of their sexuality.

Rates of discrimination and abuse are even higher among gender-questioning and transgender people.

Fear of discrimination and abuse leads to many people hiding their sexual or gender identity, with teens and young adults being the most likely to do so.

Discrimination, exclusion, prejudice and abuse are some of the main reasons that LGBTIQA+ people struggle with depression, anxiety, substance abuse and self-harm. They are three times more likely to experience depression compared to the rest of the population.

For 80% of young people in the LGBTIQA+ community, discrimination and bullying happens within their school and has a huge effect on their wellbeing and education.

Hetero-cisnormativity and Hetero-cissexism

Learn more about why the LGBTIQA+ community experiences discrimination.

Heterosexism is a form of discrimination that views heterosexuality as the norm and superior to other sexual/romantic identities. Cissexism is a form of discrimination based on cisnormativity where trans, gender diverse and non-binary identifying are treated as lesser than cisgender people.

In society, hetero- and cisnormativity pressures people to fit binary gender and heterosexual roles, while stigmatising any other behaviours, identities, relationships, communities and/or experiences. Because of this, hetero- and cisnormativity is related to heterosexism, cissexism, homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.

Cisnormativity is the expectation that sex assigned at birth matches gender where the only options are binary (male or female).

People with hetero-cissexist attitudes and beliefs view the LGBTIQA+ community as second-class minorities, which leads to discrimination of their legal rights, civil rights and socio-economic opportunities.

Examples of heterosexism and cissexism in Australia and its recent history have included: restricting who can marry, forcing already married couples to divorce (eg. ‘forced divorce laws’), not recognising gender variations for legal documents, laws that discriminate against non-heterosexual and gender diverse people (eg. ‘gay panic defence’) and stereotyping the LGBTIQA+ community in media.

Heteronormativity is the expectation that heterosexuality is favoured and assumed to be the norm in society. Heteronormative attitudes and beliefs include believing that relationships are only morally acceptable when they are between people of the opposite sex.

What is Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia?

There are several common terms to describe the fear, hatred, discomfort or mistrust people experience toward the LGBTIQA+ community:

Homophobia: Discrimination and prejudice towards people who identify as Gay, Lesbian or Homoromantic Asexual.

Biphobia: Discrimination and prejudice towards people who identify as Bisexual or Pansexual.

Transphobia: Discrimination and prejudice towards people who are transgender, genderqueer or don’t follow traditional gender norms.

Homo/bi/transphobia can be carried out by anybody – even within the LGBTIQA+ community.

These attitudes and beliefs are usually due to the irrational fears and misunderstandings learnt in families, communities, cultures or religions.

People who don’t identify as being straight or cisgender can experience internalisedhomo/bi/transphobia, turning these negative attitudes and beliefs toward themselves. They may feel uncomfortable or disapproving of their own feelings, thoughts and behaviours and never identify with the LGBTIQA+ community or even discriminate against them.

Although homo/bi/transphobia continues today, the LGBTIQA+ community and their allies have made major progress in fighting for equality in areas like marriage, employment, housing, health and protection from hate crimes.

For example, LGBTIQA+ youth attending schools that have anti-discrimination policies are more likely to feel safer. They have almost half the rate of abuse and negative mental health impact compared to schools without these in place.

Discrimination towards LGBTIQA+ people can be overt or subtle. Here are some examples:

Overt discrimination involves direct and intentional action taken by an offender towards a person's sexual or gender identity, like:

Discriminative practices like refusing to employ or failing to protect LGBTIQA+ people from workplace bullying.

Passing laws that discriminate against the rights of LGBTIQA+ people.

Subtle discrimination (microaggression) involves indirect, sometimes unintentional, actions that make people feel just as hurt, unwanted or inferior about their sexual or gender identity, like:

Using derogatory terms like ‘fag’, ‘dyke’ and ‘tranny’ or phrases like ‘no homo’, ‘sexual preference’ and ‘gay lifestyle’.

Stereotyping and making assumptions about people being heterosexual and cisgender.

‘Outing’ someone by sharing their sexual or gender identity to others without permission, putting them at risk of distress or discrimination.

How can I help stop homo/bi/transphobia?

Everyone has the right to feel safe and be free from discrimination. Here are some things you can do to take action against homo/bi/transphobia.

If you feel safe doing so, practice ways to speak up against homo/bi/transphobia. It can help to have a standard response to an offensive comment/joke you hear a lot.

Use the name a person has asked you to use even if you know they used to go by a different name that matched their assigned gender at birth. It's not funny or cool to tell other people their old name.

Avoid making assumptions or believing stereotypes about LGBTIQA+ people. People are about more than their sexual or gender identity and you cannot tell what they are like without getting to know them.

Learn about issues happening in the LGBTIQA+ community; consider taking part in some activism. This could involve attending a march for LGBTIQA+ rights, becoming an ally or liking/sharing a social media page to help people understand homo/bi/transphobia.

Practice using words and sayings that don’t make assumptions about someone’s sexuality and gender identity. Ask “Do you have a partner?” rather than “Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?". Use “they”, “them” and “their” instead of “him” and “her”.

Don’t use offensive language to describe LGBTIQA+ people and be aware of how language – like saying “that’s so gay” – can be hurtful.

If you're experiencing homo/bi/transphobia, you don't have to deal with it alone.

It's important to get support from people you trust in the LGBTIQA+ community or their allies.

If you don't know anyone, you can search the Internet for LGBTIQA+ organisations, support communities and counselling services like Kids Helpline that can help.

We're always here for you. Give us a call, start a WebChat or send us an email to talk to one of our counsellors today!

Important Information for Teachers

It can be helpful to have a discussion with your class prior to the session to get them thinking about the topic (not essential).

Encourage your class to make comments and ask questions - the session is not about right and wrong, it's a discussion where everyone's thoughts are valid. It's equally okay not to speak up during the session, as long as students are listening (we emphasise this point because some sensitive issues can come up and students may need to process these silently).

If you show enthusiasm and interest in the session, from our experience, your class will too.

Although the sessions are pre-written, we make them as interactive as possible and have the capacity to be quite responsive to students' interest/needs. There is room for students to ask questions or raise issues that are off the chosen topic (the counsellor will make sure all the necessary information is covered during the session).

Students are usually quite excited to participate in these sessions and engage very well.

However, if you notice that your class is not engaging well in the session, please feel free to signal this to the counsellor and intervene to settle the class, mediate or "translate" some of the ideas into language or examples that you know your class will respond to.

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