Brisbane Youth Services provides a safe space and ally for LGBTIQ+ young people.
In 17/18, 18% of the young people BYS supported identified as LGBTIQ+.
BYS has strong goals to grow our Queer service delivery. We are working to evaluate and design our service delivery to be more welcoming to young people from the LGBTIQ+ community; ensuring that our space is safe for young people regardless of their gender or sexuality identities.
Staff across BYS have recently completed Rainbow Pride @ Work training with Sami and Dylan from the Queensland AIDS Council. The program provides LGBTIQ+ cultural awareness training and practical support to ensure an open and inclusive environment for both LGBTIQ+ clients and staff.
The half day session provided information on:
- Sexuality, gender identity, intersex status
- Impact of discrimination on LGBTI people
- Social pressures that affect LGBTI people and the impact on their health
Staff are looking forward to the next level of training with the Rainbow Pride @ Work team next year.
BYS aims to be a best practice example of effective support for LGBTIQ+ young people who are homeless or at-risk.
We have delivered a number of unique events and programs in 2018 for LGBTIQ+ young people through the BYS Rainbow Project including:
- Rainbow Brunch celebrating Pride Month
- Pride March support
- Queer Picnic
- Queer Prom
What does an LGBTI inclusive organisation look like?
Source: Queensland Aids Council
An LGBTI inclusive organisation:
- Invites community consultation and participation to inform the organisations policies, procedures and practices and engages in social responsibility with the LGBTI community.
- Communicates its inclusivity through environment, resources, processes and marketing to both employees and clients
- Provides workforce development to raise awareness of LGBTI identities and issues for staff and clients and to create an LGBTI safe and inclusive workplace
- Operates LGBTI inclusive practice at every level of interaction with LGBTI people
- Embeds LGBTI inclusivity across all areas of policy and procedures.
The QLD AIDS Council’s (QuAC) Training and Development Program ‘Rainbow Pride @ Work’ has been providing practical support to health and community services to build an open and inclusive rapport with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) clients in QLD since 2005.