Tag Archives: Lesbians in Australia

Australia: Lesbian forced out of army will address Royal Commission

Decorated army veteran Yvonne Sillett will appear at the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide on Monday. Yvonne was driven out of the Australian Army over her sexuality three years before the government changed policy and allowed gays and lesbians to serve.

Yvonne says on the Discharged LGBTI Veterans’ Association website (DLVA) that she joined the Army at 18. After then qualifying as a cipher operator, she obtained the Top-Secret clearance necessary for the job.

But a decade later, the army’s then discriminatory policies caught up with her.

“In 1988, I was caught up in a ‘witch-hunt’ at Watsonia Barrack for being gay.”

The Army consequently notified Yvonne Sillett that it would reduce her security clearance to Confidential. She could no longer serve in the Signal Corps.

“The prospect of future promotion was next to zero and I would never be able to train female recruits again. I elected for honourable discharge after serving for 10 years!”

If Yvonne had served another decade, she would have received a pension for life. Because of her sexuality, that never happened.

Continue reading: https://qnews.com.au/lesbian-forced-out-of-army-will-address-royal-commission/ (source)

Australia: Lesbophobic Attack After Two Women Kiss

Image courtesy of Sarah Ward

Anueta Madison-Vanderbuilt’s partner joined her with coffees while shopping in Cragieburn Coles on Thursday. The pair then exchanged a quick kiss. Immediately afterwards, Anueta heard a man complaining in a loud voice, “Calm down, calm down.”

She initially thought he was talking to his kids but then realised he meant the comments for her and her partner. When she asked the man about his response, he complained about his children seeing the kiss.

“I choose what I want my kids to see, when they grow up they can choose what they want.

“When I come to a shopping centre, I would like to see a nice calm environment.”

As the conversation continued, the man threatened the women and lunged at their phone.

“If you record it, I’ll actually wipe your phone out of your face, because I’m not in the mood today.

“Get out of my face and don’t talk to me.”

Continue reading: https://qnews.com.au/melbourne-homophobe-attacks-two-women-over-public-kiss/ (source)

Australia: Lesbian Survivor Contestant Opens Up About Online Bullying

Rachel Downie Survivor

Australian Survivor contestant Rachael Downie has opened up about the online bullying she has experienced.

After featuring on the Channel 10 program she has faced a barrage of online abuse for her appearance and sexuality. 

Twenty Four contestants started out the journey for Australian Survivor 2021.

But former Queensland Australian of the Year Rachel Downie made a strong showing before her elimination this week.

Powering through challenges and surviving multiple eliminations demonstrated her tenacity, but her true tests lay outside the program.

Rachel has spent considerable time advocating for young people and mental health in her professional life.

Her appearance on the program was about representing women, particularly women in their 50’s and queer women.

After a recent episode Rachel shared an image of herself from Australian Survivor in her bikini to instagram.

The moment was supposed to be empowering and uplifting to other women.

“I’m 50, I am strong and I am fit but I feel embarrassed about how I look because my body doesn’t reflect that” she wrote.

“However, being on this amazing show has given me a new sense of pride in what my body can do. Womens’ bodies are frikken’ amazing and my body has been really good to me.”

Despite supportive comments that flowed in, it wasn’t long before internet trolls came out to attack.

Several days later Rachel revealed the abuse she had been receiving.

“I have been told to go and kill myself five times today and the ways in which people have tried to shame my body and my sexuality is beyond belief” she posted on Instagram.

But Rachel was not letting these people get her down.

In her fiery response she took the time to remind people of the tool this abuse can take on others.

Assuring people that she was ok Rachel urged others to think about the impact their words could have and vowed to continue on with her work.

Continue reading: https://qnews.com.au/australian-survivor-contestant-opens-up-about-online-bullying/ (source)

UN submission on discrimination and violence against lesbians

On 1 August 2021 Listening2Lesbians provided submissions in response to the following from the Commission on the Status of Women:

“Any individual, non-governmental organization, group or network may submit communications (complaints/appeals/petitions) to the Commission on the Status of Women containing information relating to alleged violations of human rights that affect the status of women in any country in the world. The Commission on the Status of Women considers such communications as part of its annual programme of work in order to identify emerging trends and patterns of injustice and discriminatory practices against women for purposes of policy formulation and development of strategies for the promotion of gender equality.”

Commission on the Status of Women: Communication Procedure

Information was provided to the UN on incidents dating back approximately 2.5 years across the 57 countries we have reported on in that time.

Legal, social and familial punishment of lesbians for failing to conform with the expectations imposed on women illuminates the status of women around the world. Homosexuality is understood to be a breach of sex-based expectations. Strictly enforced sex roles are accompanied by increased consequences for those who break them, individually or collectively. Lesbians, or women read as lesbians, are doubly punishable for their non-conformity, both overt and inferred.

Listening2Lesbians is not an expert on these countries and provided this information to augment and support the information provided by women from individual communities. We can only provide information on cases we have been able to locate and based our submissions solely around the available facts. Please note that we welcome corrections and updates.

We are painfully aware of the many communities not represented.

Anyone with information on missing communities is invited to contact us with information on reporting violence and discrimination against lesbians in their community.

Liz, Ari and Devorah @ Listening2Lesbians

Submissions:

Australia: Teacher Fired for Being a Lesbian

steph lentz teacher nsw religious freedom christian school

A teacher at a Christian school who came out as gay [sic] and was sacked has spoken out as the government prepares a new draft of the controversial Religious Discrimination Bill.

Steph Lentz said she began teaching at Covenant Christian School in the Sydney suburb of Belrose in 2017. She said it was her first job out of university.Advertisements

“I was employed there until January this year when I was sacked after I came out to the school,” Lentz told ABC Radio National.

“I was in a heterosexual marriage [when I started there]. Growing up in a very conservative Protestant environment, I believed for a long time heterosexual marriage was the only option for lifelong companionship.

“It was after the breakdown of my marriage and some real reflection and soul searching that I first came out to myself. I also shared this with my family.”

Lentz said she wanted to be honest with the school about her “affirming view of homosexual people and relationships.”

“I felt that in the spirit of integrity and to honour the agreement I was under, I informed the school,” she said.

“[My view] that it’s okay to be gay, God doesn’t have a problem with it [and] Christian schools need queer people of faith to be models for students and families.

“But that didn’t gel with the school I was teaching at.”

In a letter, the school told Steph Lentz she’d failed to affirm the school’s Statement of Belief. That statement includes the “immorality” of “homosexual practices”.

Continue reading: https://qnews.com.au/lesbian-teacher-speaks-out-after-firing-from-religious-school/ (source)

Australia: Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Denies Single Sex Lesbian Event

Image courtesy of Sarah Ward

by Claire Heuchan

AfterEllen.com

A new ruling in Tasmania decrees that lesbians will be breaking the law if they host single-sex spaces. Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Sarah Bolt banned LGB Alliance Australia from hosting lesbian events that exclude transwomen, on the grounds that such gatherings carry a “significant risk” of breaching existing equalities legislation.

This ruling has far-reaching implications that extend beyond Tasmania, as it sets a legal precedent with the power to shape the outcomes of future cases. As Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, Bolt advises the Minister of Justice on matters relating to discrimination and prohibited conduct. She also promotes the recognition and approval of acceptable attitudes, acts and practices. As her ruling indicates, Bolt does not believe that lesbians creating spaces by and for ourselves is an acceptable act or practice.

What Bolt fails to recognize is that lesbians are oppressed at least twice over, on the basis of our sex and sexuality. We are females who love desire and build our lives around other females – which has been treated as suspicious for the duration of patriarchy. Around the world, lesbians continue to be at risk of discrimination and violence – from losing custody of our children to suffering ‘corrective’ rape.

Continue Reading: https://afterellen.com/tasmania-rules-against-women-only-spaces/ (source)

Editor’s note: Jessica Hoyle is not a member or representative of LGB Alliance Australia, and the application was not made on behalf of LGB Alliance.

Australia: Lesbian farmers breaking down barriers

Image courtesy of Sarah Ward

Karyn Cassar and Carissa Wolfe operate one of just seven certified organic dairy farms in New South Wales, on a 190-hectare property at Hannam Vale on the Mid North Coast. That’s not the only thing that makes this female-farming duo unique, they are also openly gay and have been so for 21 years. “We don’t know any other female couples that run a commercial dairy operation in the world,” Carissa said. …

Being different can be difficult
The biggest challenge the couple face as female farmers is people’s confusion surrounding gender roles on the farm, not their same-sex relationship.

“Just as female farmers we are always questioned,” Karyn said.

“[People have said] ‘well how are you going to lift fence posts?'”

The pair say they were once asked if they owned a quad bike, which they didn’t at the time, and felt it implied they were not capable of running the farm without one.

But that certainly isn’t the case at Benmar Farm, where the pair manage 130 heifers and produce 7,000 litres of milk each week for their local community.

“We get it done, as women we just have to work smarter, not harder,” Karyn said. …

Being female benefits the business
Carissa and Karyn believe as women they approach farming differently and that they incorporate a range of different skills and experiences they’ve gained from previous jobs.

“I think being a female-only managed farm, we definitely bring a different perspective to the way that we farm and different techniques,” Carissa said.

“In terms of the animal engagement, there’s a different interaction with the cows.

“With my background as a mum, but also a lactation consultant and as a doula, those are all things that come into the way that I interact with the cows knowing that they’re also a lactating mammal that’s gestating and having babies and all part of that cycle.”

Their philosophy is to care for and nurture their animals like individuals, treating their milk like a reciprocal gift.

Continue reading at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-29/lesbian-dairy-farmers-breaking-barriers-in-regional-nsw/100248972?fbclid=IwAR2_NdTRE6icJgJnXd2UQw0c2MwcDBLs-jWr_QQspBeen6CZPq39Pk8YL-s (Source)

Australia: Lesbian couple told to leave cafe and ‘never come back’

Image courtesy of Sarah Ward

Last Sunday, at the end of Pride month, during the worst health crisis in a century and as the world grapples with racial discrimination through the Black Lives Matter movement, the owner of Poets Cafe in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, chose the moment to demand an inter-racial pair of lesbian health workers leave his cafe and “never come back.”

C is a doctor who currently works in an Emergency Department. J is a student midwife on call to deliver babies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. QNews chooses not to divulge the names of the couple because they remain working in the health system at a time of global crisis.

Like most health workers, the two women work long shifts during the pandemic.

Last Sunday, enjoying rare time off together, they took a drive through the Sunshine Coast hinterland. They made the most of a rare opportunity to enjoy some downtime together and reconnoitre potential wedding venues for their planned nuptials. They arrived at scenic Montville — as the name suggests — a mountain village, just 20 minutes drive from Australia Zoo. With sweeping views across the Sunshine Coast from high atop the green hills of the Blackall Range, Montville enjoys a thriving tourist trade.

Swept away by the beauty of the small township and reassured of a friendly welcome by the rainbow flags dotted about the town, the couple looked around for a wedding venue.

C and J found the Poets Cafe. The cafe’s website boasts of “uninterrupted views of the beautiful Sunshine Coast.

While waiting for someone to take their order, the couple held hands as loving couples commonly do. They noticed that an older man they assumed owned the venue became visibly angry as he watched them.

C said, “We ordered coffee, took a menu, sat at a table and caught up on paperwork.” (With their work hours monopolised by caring for patients, they take paperwork home to do in their own time.)

J told QNews, ” We told four different waitstaff we wished to order food after our coffee.”

However, the moment the women took the first sip from their coffees, the older man instructed a staff member to present them with a bill.

C asked the man if he needed the table back. Although the cafe was not following COVID-19 restrictions, there were plenty of empty tables.

“Finish up and leave!”
The man responded angrily.

“I want you to just finish up and leave!”

Not comprehending what inspired the anger and adverse to causing a scene, the pair went outside. They thought the owner might follow and explain. Instead, one of the waitstaff came out and asked for payment for the coffees. The couple stated they would not pay after such poor treatment. They asked to speak to the owner but the staff member said he would not come out and somewhat defensively stated: “That’s just what he’s like.”

Seeing him standing at the counter unoccupied, C returned and asked for a word with him. He answered curtly.

“I want you to never come back here.”

Continue reading at: https://qnews.com.au/lesbian-couple-told-to-leave-cafe-and-never-come-back/ (Source)

Australia: Pregnant lesbian told “I hope your baby dies”

L2LAustralia

A pregnant woman has been brought to tears after a stranger verbally abused her at a supermarket.

Ebony was shopping with her girlfriend Lisa at a Coles at Brookside in northern Brisbane, when a man approached her and told her he hoped her baby would die.

Lisa said she’s hesitant about Ebony returning to the supermarket on her own after the experience, the Courier-Mail reported.

‘She was just going about her day when a man she describes as being in his mid- 50s – completely unprovoked – told her ”I hope your baby dies, it’s better off without you”,’ Lisa said.

She said her girlfriend was left shocked to the point of tears, and the couple chose to leave immediately rather than responding to the man’s comments.

But the effects of the comments didn’t disappear for the couple, who say they have endured discrimination in the past for raising a child as two same-sex parents.

‘It affected us for a few days. It shook Ebony up a lot and caused unnecessary concern for the baby. I guess as an expectant mum, she was already filled with concern, so someone saying something like that plays on your worst fears,’ Lisa said.

Continue reading: https://www.dailymail.co.uk
/news/article-8076955/Pregnant-lesbian-bursts-tears-cruel-strangers-comment-Coles-supermarket.html
(source)

Australia: Moana Hope reveals toll of AFL fans’ homophobic abuse

afl

Former AFLW star Moana Hope has opened up about the disgusting homophobic abuse she’s seen as both a footy player and an AFL fan.

Hope, who played in the AFLW for Collingwood and North Melbourne, said the abusive taunts even drove her away from attending AFL matches.

She told the Herald Sun during one 2017 match she played for Collingwood against Fremantle, a spectator called her a “stupid d*ke” from behind the fence.

“I don’t normally hear the crowd because I’m so drawn into the game. But when I heard that I was blown away,” she said.

“And I was hurt and a little bit scared because I thought, ‘Why are you calling me that? I’m a person.’

“Why are you using such a negative term? [After the game] I was a little bit scared, hesitant, to walk off the field because I was worried he’d be there to abuse me.”

“Who we fall in love with has nothing to do with these names. This is why kids in school are scared to be who they are whether they are gay or not, because you get picked on if you’re different.”

Hope said she and wife Isabella Carlstrom had “lost count” of the lewd comments they’d copped when in public together.

“I’ve had things said to us like, ‘One night with me will make you realise you need a man in your life,’” she said.

“I’ve been there when guys have grabbed Bella’s arse and said ‘You need an actual man’. Those things happen all the time.

Continue reading: https://qnews.com.au/moana-hope-reveals-toll-of-afl-fans-homophobic-abuse/ (source)

Australia: Lesbians condemn Honey Birdette rainbow-washing ‘Pride’ campaign

HB lesbian

Honey Birdette has consistently delivered sexist and pornified representations of women to flog their overpriced lingerie and sex toys, ignoring 42 Ad Standards rulings against it for violating the code of ethics. But far from promoting equality, the company’s long history of porn-inspired depictions of lesbian sexuality further entrenches sexist and harmful stereotypes of lesbians as male entertainment, and these latest images will likely be enjoyed by men.

A number of lesbians have responded to Honey Birdette’s ad campaign, calling the company out for tokenising and fetishising lesbians to promote their brand.

“If there’s no difference between a female nipple and a male nipple why are all but one of the visible nipples female? Using lesbians as titillation is not unusual, the pornographers have been doing it for decades. But in the real world real lesbians are tortured for our activism; real lesbians are subjected to corrective rape; and in the real world when a lesbian is raped or tortured she doesn’t get to say stop. Not only are you continuing the sexualising of women, you are giving mixed messages with images of a mixed orgy.”

-Susan Hawthorne, lesbian activist and writer

“Lesbians have fought for centuries for society to understand that lesbian sexuality is not for or about men, resisting the harassment, fetishisation, corrective rape and physical attacks that lesbians here and around the world have experienced. Honey Birdette has developed a campaign that is heavily reliant on the sexualisation of lesbian bodies and the presentation of lesbian sexuality. The argument that there is no difference between male and female nipples is meaningless in a world that sexualises women so consistently.

“Calling the campaign ‘Fluid’ combined with the presentation of objectified, sexually available lesbians clearly communicates to the men watching that lesbian sexuality is fluid enough for lesbians to be sexually available to them. In a world where lesbians are harassed and attacked for our sexuality, for not being available to men, this is a dangerous game to play with lesbian lives.

“Framing opposition as conservative is to miss the point of our concerns. It is neither puritanical nor conservative to want to carve out space for lesbians to exist free of tokenism or sexual objectification in a deeply sexualised society. This campaign sells out lesbian sexuality for profit, which is not excused by the fact that Honey Birdette’s founder and her partner are the women in the shoot.

“We all want to live in a world where lesbians are safe, where lesbian lives are celebrated and where lesbian representation gives hope and strength to young lesbians working out their sexuality. Honey Birdette’s Fluid campaign takes us further away from that world.”

-Liz Waterhouse, Listening2Lesbians https://listening2lesbians.com/

Comments on Honey Birdette’s Instagram account indicate the campaign has not been well received. Commenters have questioned the company’s motives, labelling the marketing ploy as “insincere” and “disingenuous”, and accusing the company of ‘rainbow washing’, a term which refers to corporates using rainbow colours or imagery to indicate support for the LGBT community but with a minimum of effort or pragmatic result.

Continue reading at: https://www.collectiveshout.org/lesbians_condemn_hb (Source)

Australia: only lesbian Mardi Gras event removed

Scarcella Lestalk

The controversy arose after [Arielle] Scarcella was invited to take part in a panel at the Les-Talk event sponsored by the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG).

As the organizer Les-Talk has since explained, Scarcella was to speak about lesbian, not trans issues – but her detractors started pressuring SGLMG on Twitter and YouTube to drop the event, launching at the same time an online petition with this goal in mind.

The SGLMG obliged.

Responding to Pauline Pantsdown, a parody Twitter account, the organization said, “We have been in touch with the event organizer and have now removed it from our Festival event listings.”

Scarcella’s reply revealed that the festival had only one women/lesbian focused event, which was now being taken down “because a bunch of cry babies complained that they don’t like a woman’s (my) opinion?”

Continue reading at: https://reclaimthenet.org/sydney-mardis-gras-cancel-culture-arielle-scarcella/ (Source)

Update:

Les-Talk was not officially cancelled, but was disassociated from Mardi Gras, according to a Facebook post made on the event’s official page. According to the post, the event is going forward being “privately held” by the “POC Queer women” organizing it.

Continue reading at: https://www.thepostmillennial.com/lesbians-removed-from-australian-pride-for-transphobia/ (Source)

Australian show Home and Away criticised for cutting lesbian scenes

Home and Away

Fans of Home and Away are questioning whether the show censored a gay storyline, after it ran romantic scenes involving a lesbian couple on New Zealand television, but cut the same moments from episodes aired in Australia.

While fans of the show in Australia have written on social media about their disappointment and confusion over the missing moments, Channel 7 said it accidentally aired the wrong versions of two episodes in Australia.

Alex Shillington covers queer pop culture on social media, and has written about the Home and Away characters, Alex Neilson and Willow Harris, who have become a new lesbian couple on the Channel 7 drama.

She said fans did not understand why the Australian audience did not see the full scenes between Alex and Willow.

“I would genuinely love for there to be a decent reason that is not them just censoring it,” she said.

But she said Channel 7’s explanation that it aired the wrong version of episodes “seems weird.”

Continue reading at: https://www.msn.com/en-au/entertainment/tv/home-and-away-cuts-gay-kisses-from-australian-television-network-blames-human-error/ (Source)

A Queensland Herstory project – telling the stories of 8 older lesbians

A Matter of Time Heather Faulkner

A spotlight is being shined on LGBT rights — or, more accurately, the historic lack thereof —  in the Australian state of Queensland. The beam is in the form of an upcoming book, North of the Border, by cross-media storyteller and documentary photographer Heather Faulkner. The book builds on Faulkner’s doctoral thesis research project, A Matter Of Time, and through six years of interviews and photography, tells the stories of eight lesbians who grew up in Queensland. The women range in age from their mid-50s to 70s.

“I want older lesbian and gay readers to know that their stories are important,” she told The Huffington Post. “That what they lived through matters.”

Faulkner realized that no one had investigated the Queensland lesbian experience before, especially not in a documentary. “So I decided to do it,” she said.

She describes a Queensland under the rule of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen (the longest serving premier of Queensland) from 1968 to 1987 as an ultra-conservative state where women’s rights were minimal. Domestic violence was rife and women needed male signatories to purchase things like refrigerators or to get a bank loan; indigenous rights, homosexual rights, education, disability rights, environmental rights, etc. all needed redressing.

“Those who didn’t fit the government-prescribed norm — straight, white, married with children, Christian and conservative politically — didn’t fit in at all. This included feminists, homosexuals, aboriginals, academics, environmentalists, unmarried women or single moms,” Faulkner said. “The government made demonstrations illegal, a policy that resulted in several mass arrests … known demonstrators were ostracized from work places, spied on, bullied or beaten by police,” she describes.

Continue reading at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/telling-the-story-of-the-lives-and-loves-of-older-lesbians_n_55fb19e1e4b08820d917e311(Source)

Spinifex Press: Celebrating Radical Lesbian Publishing

Sue_and_Renate Spinifex Press

by Claire Heuchan

AfterEllen.com

Spinifex was founded in March of 1991 by Susan Hawthorne and Renate Klein. The press began as a pushback to the cuts that threatened feminist and literary publishing during Australia’s recession. Susan and Renate started out with four titles. Since then, Spinifex has gone from strength to strength. They publish everything from fiction to poetry to political tracts.

Almost 30 years on, Spinifex Press has now published over 200 books. They’ve shared writing by some of the most relevant and necessary voices in the modern feminist movement. Among their authors are Robin Morgan, editor of the iconic Sisterhood is Powerful anthology, and Rachel Moran, an abolitionist campaigner. Other notable writers include Julie Bindel, Unity Dow, and Sheila Jeffreys.

Continue reading: https://www.afterellen.com/general-news/574816-spinifex-press (Source)

Australia: Allegations of “lesbian mafia” unfounded

Sam_Kerr_playing_against_USWNT_2012.jpg

An independent panel has found there was no bias or agenda behind the controversial sacking of Alen Stajcic as Matildas coach and dispelled the notion that a “lesbian mafia” wanted him out of the job.

“The panel was unable to uncover any evidence supporting the existence of any formal ‘lesbian mafia’ or that the decision to terminate the Matildas head coach contract was driven by personal bias against Mr Stajcic or in pursuit of other agendas,” the report said.

Continue reading: https://www.msn.com/en-au/sport/more-sports/no-evidence-of-lesbian-mafia-plot-against-stajcic-report-finds/ar-BBY8vFC?li=AAgfYrC&ocid=iehp (source)

Australia: Discrimination devastates elderly lesbian

malloy-lesbian-care-1024x614.jpg

The volunteer visitor, who is referred to only as Malloy, could not understand why any of the residents would complain about her, as the facility claimed in October 2017.

She was horrified. An uncomfortable meeting with the nurse manager only added to her hurt.

“She said that I was not allowed to talk about my sexuality with the residents,” Malloy told the aged care royal commission.

The nurse manager said Malloy could continue to visit one male resident because he liked her and another two or three people.

“I was devastated to be told that I was no longer allowed to visit all my usual residents and to hear that they had been complaining about me,” Malloy said on Thursday.

The 84-year-old said she did not hide the fact that she was a lesbian while at the facility, but it was not something she actively spoke to residents about.

Continue reading: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story
/6430732/discrimination-devastated-elderly-lesbian/?cs=14264
(source)

International Lesbian Day: Australian Lesbian Medical Association Celebrates 20 Years

ALMA_1ALMA-members-doctors-and-students-enjoying-a-workshop-on-creative-thinking-and-problem-solving-at-the-Carrington-Hotel-1140x641.jpg

Katoomba’s iconic Carrington Hotel hosted the 20th birthday celebrations of the Australian Lesbian Medical Association (ALMA) in August.

75 doctors and medical students from around Australia and NZ were welcomed to Gundungurra and Darug country by well-known locals, Aunty Carol Cooper and Jo Clancy from Wagana Dancers.

ALMA is a support network for Australian and New Zealand lesbian doctors, medical students and their partners and is involved in advocacy and research to improve the health of lesbian and same-sex attracted women nationally and internationally.

ALMA also runs http://www.doclist.com.au, a list of health care professionals who have been recognised and recommended by women within the LGBTQI community.

Continue reading: http://www.starobserver.com.au/news
/national-news/australian-lesbian-medical-association-celebrates-20-years/187614 (source)

Australia: 21-year-old lesbian kills herself after being constantly bullied at school


                            21-year-old kills herself after being constantly bullied at school for being homosexual: 'No one will help me'

At the age of 21, Caitlin Kirkaldy, from Toowoomba in Queensland, Australia, was found dead in her bedroom last Thursday, August 8.

Bron Kirkaldy, her mother, spoke to Daily Mail Australia about the tragic death.

“I remember her sitting on my lap and crying when she was in Year 9, saying ‘I don’t think I like boys’,” the devastated mother said.

“We said that was absolutely fine, but I think she really struggled with her sexuality. She was bullied at school for being gay, and she was desperate to be loved. Of course, we loved her, but I think she really wanted a relationship.”

Continue reading: https://meaww.com/21-year-old-kills-herself-being-constantly-bullied-gay-school-for-being-homosexual-no-one-will-help (source)

Crowdfunding for Caitlin’s funeral costs: https://www.gofundme.com/caitlin-kirkaldy

Update: Lesbian Police Couple Lose Discrimination Claim against Australian Federal Police

Emma-Kate McPherson , left, and her partner Kathryn Lee Richens at the Federal Court on Monday.

An Australian Federal Police officer has lost her discrimination claim after the force repeatedly denied her transfer requests to the same city as her same-sex partner.

Detective Sergeant Kathryn Richens and Senior Constable Emma-Kate McPherson began a relationship in 2013 while based in Canberra and Brisbane.

The couple claimed that despite the repeated transfer requests they were told their case is not the same as that of a heterosexual couple, the AAP reported.

In a 2013 letter, they said they were informed that their “circumstances are not comparative to the co-location of heterosexuals who meet genuine compassionate reasons” and that their living apart was “not the AFP’s problem”.

Continue reading: http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/national-news/australian-federal-police-officer-same-sex-discrimination-case-loses-partner-transfer/185235 (source)

Original Story: Australia: Federal police officer in lesbian relationship claims discrimination