LGBTIQ Community Response Melbourne

*New Venue* New Council Chambers Trades Hall 54 Victoria Street Carlton South Community meeting: We are members of the LGBTIQ community who want to provide a space to come together to discuss how to respond to the level of homophobic, transphobic and biphobic attacks coming from the right wing Australian Christian Lobby and certain sections of the liberal government. This includes, but is not limited to the following: • The attack on the Safe Schools Coalition, a program that aims to reduce bullying of LGBTIQ young people and students in schools. • The attempted shut down of the Minus18 Same Sex and Gender Diverse Formal, a rare event where young people can build positive relationships. • The potential plebiscite on the issue of marriage equality, which will increase the level of hate fuelled public debate against LGBTIQ people. • Concerns about the ACL’s request to be exempt from anti-discrimination laws so that they can legally vilify LGBTIQ people with hate speech. • The general political and media discourse that adversely effects the mental health and physical safety of LGBTIQ communities, in particular young people. As a community we need to stand together to support organisations who work tirelessly to improve our community’s health, wellbeing, safety and human rights. It is of upmost importance that we stand together to ensure that our younger and future generations are able to grow up in environments free from the threat of verbal, physical, mental and political abuse. Our safety is our human right. Please come along to a facilitated conversation about how we can support these organisations, programs and our whole community to ensure that LGBTIQ people cannot just survive, but thrive in life and to feel empowered and proud of who they are. This is not a meeting about marriage equality, there are already spaces and groups working on that issue and we feel this issue is broader than equal marriage rights. We need to counteract all the negative messaging, rhetoric, debates and abuse with positivity, strength and power. We need to demand that our political and community leaders stand up to this abusive treatment towards us. This has been a very upsetting time for many people and this will allow community voices to be heard and plan a community response. Enough is enough