A newly formed staff network will create the security and space needed for transgender and gender diverse colleagues to safely share their stories and progress advocacy for safer workplaces.
The announcement of the new Trans and Gender Diverse Network (TGD Network) was one of the many highlights of our event this week to mark International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT).
Almost 150 staff joined us either in-person or online – an incredible turnout given it was our first open-to-all-staff hybrid event in many, many months.
We were honoured to welcome guest speaker Michelle Sheppard, who shared her lived experience as a former IT technician, parent and now full-time transgender advocate.
She encouraged organisations, leaders and individual to work together to create change in her lifetime.
‘Not many people actually understand the idea of equity … you want to create equitable spaces to achieve equality within the workplace, but what we never talk about is belonging – and what are we doing to make people feel like they belong within an organisation.’
‘To find a space, to find other people like themselves, somewhere to gravitate to … to make themselves feel safe,’ said Michelle.
She applauded the creation of a separate trans, gender diverse and non-binary staff collective, which will stand alongside the Pride Network.
‘Talking about LGBTIQ+ … this isn’t a wider gay community, this is a community of communities.’
‘So allowing that separate space to be created, allowing that space to grow and to become a real voice for that community and to be seen is absolutely amazing.’
She said the TGD Network would not only be a support for members but would support VLA in its diversity and inclusion journey.
‘I think what we’ve seen today is that there is an understanding an acknowledgement for a need for change,’ said Michelle.
‘I’m asking all of you to support (the Network) as well.’
A safe space for trans, gender diverse and non-binary staff
Founding TGD Network members Charis Ballantyne, Sophie Jest, Zara van Twest Smith and Kieran Bonser each shared their reflections and stories, revealing a heavy burden of discrimination and stigma.
‘The importance of peer support, the importance of being able to visibly see and connect with people that have the same experiences – that’s critical in a place like the law where it’s not always a safe environment to be out or identify openly,’ said Kieran.
Charis spoke of the need for the TGD Network to be a separate group.
‘Queerness and gender identity, while very often overlapping, they are very separate parts of your identity and your experience can be completely different,’ said Charis.
‘There are lots of transpeople who are heterosexual and lots of people who are queer who are cis, so to have everything all in one isn’t giving enough time for the voices of individuals and their own experiences to be heard.’
The TGD Network aims to establish support for staff to speak to managers or others about using the correct pronouns and other supportive resources.
Inclusion matters to us
We have a long history of celebrating IDAHOBIT, which marks the day 31 years ago on 17 May 1990 when the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from the Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.
Michelle said these forms of legalised discrimination were still being torn down today, noting that it was just two years ago that the ‘gay panic defence’ was eliminated in South Australia – the last state to do so.
‘We often talk about IDAHOBIT and the elimination of acts of homosexuality being removed from the DSM health manual (the WHO’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders),’ she said.
‘But we don’t talk about transgender, gender diverse being removed.’
‘(That) conversation started in May 2019 but we had until January 2022 to remove it from the health manual, so we’ve only been free of a mental health issue since technically January of 2022.’
Our recent advocacy on anti-vilification reforms and the Religious Discrimination Bill is an example of some of the work we do to better protect LGBTIQ+ people and other minority groups from discrimination.
We also continue to drive improvement in our own workplace.
Our recently submitted Gender Equality Action Plan outlines a four-year plan to strengthen inclusivity, gender equity and safety by bridging gender pay gaps, improving data on genders and intersectionality among staff as well as promoting leadership and management opportunities for women and trans and gender diverse staff.
Watch the video
More information
Read about our work on anti-vilification reforms.
Connect with the Victorian Public Sector Pride and get more information about GenSHED.
Reviewed 26 April 2023