A landmark suite of resources from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) is to drive inclusion and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ+) Victorians in regional and rural areas.
Welcoming DFFH’s Rainbow Ready Roadmap, Minister for Equality, Martin Foley said the Roadmap responded to calls from rural and regional Victorians for further support to drive LGBTIQ+ inclusion in their communities.
“It gives regional communities access to a set of resources and guidance on how community groups, service-providers, organisations, sporting clubs, health services, schools and businesses can take steps to ensure all members of the community including LGBTIQ+ Victorians are respected,” Mr Foley said.
“From educating staff at council facilities about LGBTIQ+ communities, suggesting local businesses display pride materials or advising a school to host a pride day – the Roadmap provides practical and easy support for how every sector of the community can make LGBTIQ+ community members feel welcomed,” he said.
“These resources will support ongoing efforts to tackle stigma and discrimination, with research showing the challenges LGBTIQ+ Victorians face can be heightened in some regional and rural areas, where there may also be more limited access to support services than in the city.”
Mr Foley said the Roadmap built on the rural and regional LGBTIQ+ Roadshow and was developed following extensive consultation with LGBTIQ+ groups and people living in rural and regional communities, who had called for practical tools for improving the lives of rainbow communities.
Commissioner for LGBTIQ+ Communities Todd Fernando said the Roadmap provided a step-by-step toolkit to help communities determine the best actions to build safe, strong inclusive regions across the State.
DFFH’s Rainbow Ready Roadmap can be accessed at this PS News link.
