Cultural Change
The Coming Out Proud Program advocates and supports cultural change to improve social outcomes for the GLBTI community. COPP asserts that the following pattern of events occurs in many of our social institutions:
- promotion of the heterosexual norm is subtle and pervasive, and can result, even unwittingly, in the emergence of homophobia and transphobia;
- the emergence of these phobias can lead to discrimination against, and harassment of, people who do not fit the heterosexual norm; and
- the resulting discrimination and harassment result in significantly higher rates of self-harm and suicide among sexually- and gender-diverse people.
The negative consequences for GLBTI Australians of harassment and discrimination have been well-researched and documented, and so the need for cultural change is clear. See the section below entitled "Statistics on Self-Harm" for references to recent research, and click here to read the compelling story of one woman's experience of coming to terms with her sexuality as a teenager in a Victorian country town.
Schools
COPP supports an inclusive learning culture in schools, in which students of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities feel respected and valued and are physically and psychologically safe. While the policies of the Tasmanian educational authorities support the achievement of this ideal, COPP recognises that it is not yet a reality in many schools.
Research in Britain has shown the long-term consequences that bullying at school has on sexually- and gender-diverse people:
- 53 per cent of gay men and lesbians had contemplated self-harm as a direct result of having been bullied at school;
- 40 per cent had attempted self-harm or suicide on at least one occasion; and
- 30 per cent had done so more than once.
Rivers, Ian, The Bullying of Sexual Minorities At School: Its Nature and Long Term Correlates, Educational and Child Psychology, 2001, Vol 18(1)
COPP advocates and supports programs which promote cultural change within schools by increasing awareness of the issues among staff and students. This page provides links to resources that we believe to be effective in facilitating that change.
Not Round Here
This package, developed by the Australian Human Rights Commission especially to support GLBTI people living in rural Australia, is the most comprehensive package of its kind. It will help teachers and service providers protect the rights of their gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex students and clients. You can download the manual (PDF, 6.75MB) by clicking here, and access the press release on the Commission's site by clicking here.
Elizabeth College GLBTI Network
The Elizabeth College GLBTI Network is a confidential, discreet and informal forum and support group for students. You can download a summary (PDF, 72KB) by clicking here. Students/Teachers can obtain information on the Network and how it operates - click here to email Arlette Mercae.
LGBTI School Tool Kit
Following are some links to print-ready material - brochures, leaflets & posters on special counselling and educational, policing, anti-discrimination, health services and social opportunities - as well as mainstream resources that are appropriate for young people.
- ReachOut.com has some terrific material available for
download on Coming Out and Sexuality - click
here to access the page.
- Gay and Lesbian Switchboard offers free and confidential
telephone counselling, information and referrals for the GLBTI
communities in Victoria and Tasmania - you can phone them on
1800 184 527 or access a list of Tasmanian resources by
clicking
here.
- The Coming Out Proud Program has some case studies that can
be used to promote classroom discussion (PDF, 72KB). Click
here to download them.
- The Office of the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner publishes
a series of brochures on discrimination issues, including ones
dealing with Gender and Sexual Orientation. Click
here to access their list of publications, or
here to access the page dealing with making a complaint of
discrimination.
- Tasmania Police have a number of LGBTI Liaison Officers,
whose mission is to contribute to the creation of mutual trust
between police and the LGBTI community. Click
here to download a copy of a poster,
here to access the list of officers, or phone 6230 2111 to
contact one of them.
- The Department of Health and Human Services operates a
Sexual Health Service, with professional staff including
doctors, nurses, counsellors and educators. It provides free and
confidential clinical, counselling and educational services in
Hobart, Launceston, Devonport and Burnie. Click
here to access the web page, which lists the addresses and
phone numbers for the clinics.
- The Coming Out Proud Program welcomes the participation of
young people in its Community Liaison Committees - click
here to download a brochure about COPP, click
here
to download a poster or click
here to
access the page listing the CLCs.
- The League of Gentlefellows organises informal social meetings of gay men and lesbians - individual events may be for men only, women only, or both men and women. Click here to access a list of current events.
GLBTI Cultural Awareness Training Consortium
COPP is forming a consortium of trainers who will develop and present GLBTI cultural awareness training package for staff in schools and other organisations. This resource, which will include a PowerPoint presentation (45 mins), will assist Teachers and other professionals to provide services in a supportive and accepting environment, regardless of their sexuality or other status.
Statistics on Self-Harm
Statistics on suicide
First, it is unlikely that all suicides are recognised in the mortality statistics. The process of recording and coding deaths is set out in a paper available from the Australian Bureau of Statistics - click here to access it. A death is investigated by the police and the Coroner only if it is identified as 'reportable', and counted by the ABS as suicide only if that is recorded in the National Coroners Information System as the deceased person's intent. It is quite possible that the intent in a case of a suicide may be wrongly identified as accidental or unspecified.
The ABS reported that there were 2,101 suicides in Australia in 2005, and identified that the total number of suicides had declined by 14% since 2001 (refer to the link provided above). The same trend is also identified in a report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare for 2003-04 - click here to access it. The AIHW report also identified that the incidence of suicide:
- for males was almost 4 times
that for females;
- in Tasmania was 1.6 times that for
Australia as a whole; and
- increased dramatically with the remoteness of the
deceased person's zone of residence -
in Very Remote areas was 2.3 times greater than for Major Cities.
Currently no attempt is made to record the reason for a deceased person's decision to suicide. There is clear anecdotal evidence, however, that harassment and discrimination by others and failure to come to terms with one's own sexuality and/or gender are significant factors in the suicides of many GLBTI people.
Statistics on the mental health of adult GLBTI people
The best information of which COPP is aware is contained in a 2006 report from the Australian Research Centre in Sex Health and Society, entitled Private Lives - a report on the health and wellbeing of GLBTI Australians (click here to access it). In all, 5476 people between 16 and 92 years of age (mean age 34) completed the on-line survey. The report revealed that among respondents:
- 50.1% had seen a counsellor psychiatrist in the past five
years; in 62.8% of instances for anxiety or depression;
- 41.2% reported feeling down, depressed or
hopeless in the two weeks prior to completing the survey;
- 24.4% of respondents were assessed as experiencing a
Major Depressive Episode at the time of completing the survey; and
- 15.7% reported suicidal ideation (thoughts) in the two
weeks prior to completing the survey.
Statistics on self-harm among same-sex attracted young people
The best information of which COPP is aware is contained in a 2005 report from the Australian Research Centre in Sex Health and Society, entitled Writing Themselves in Again - 6 years on (click here to access it). In all 1,749 young people aged between 14 and 21 successfully completed the survey online, or in hard copy which they received on request by mail. The report revealed that same-sex-attracted young people who had suffered abuse because of their sexuality:
- were significantly more likely than their heterosexual peers
to drink alcohol at least weekly, to smoke tobacco daily, to use
marijuana weekly and party drugs monthly, and to have ever used
heroin;
- were twice as likely to self-harm as a consequence of verbal
abuse than same-sex-attracted peers who had suffered no abuse; and
- were three times more likely to self-harm as a consequence of physical abuse than same-sex-attracted peers who had suffered no abuse.