Pride
Between 17 February and 5 March 2023, Sydney WorldPride will celebrate Australia's brilliant and diverse LGBTQIA+ community.
In honour of World Pride, we have compiled a collection of papers, podcasts and media coverage with LGBTQIA+ themes produced by some of the leading scholars at ICS.
By Corrinne Sullivan, Kim Spurway and Karen Soldatic
This research aimed to understand and promote the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning young people, and to work with services to develop appropriate supports. This page includes access to community reports, special issues and webinars.
Authors: Karen Soldatic, Linda Briskman, Corrinne Sullivan, Kim Spurway, William Trewllyn
By Corrinne Sullivan, Kim Spurway and Karen Soldatic
There is an absence of research into the effectiveness of service provision for First Nations LGBTIQSB+ young people in Australia. To address this gap, our researchers conducted interviews in Australia to highlight young people's perspectives on essential components of service provision. Participants expressed concerns about the ongoing impact of implicit and explicit settler-colonial heteronormativity and racism on services providing support for young First Nations LGBTIQSB+ peoples.
Authors: Karen Soldatic, Linda Briskman, Corrinne Sullivan, Kim Spurway, William Trewllyn, John Leha
By Corrinne Sullivan, Kim Spurway, Georgia Coe and Karen Soldatic
Although previous research indicates a positive relationship between community belonging and well-being in Indigenous Australian contexts, little is known about how this relationship is experienced by Indigenous Australians who are gender and/or sexually diverse. In this paper, ICS researchers Corrine, Karen, Kim and Georgia draw from qualitative interviews with LGBTIQ+ Indigenous youth to explore concepts of belonging and connectedness and how these concepts relate to their identities and lived experiences of 'community'.
Authors: Corrinne T. Sullivan, Georgia Coe, Kim Spurway, Linda Briskman, William Trewellyn, John Leha, Karen Soldatic
By Corrinne Sullivan, Kim Spurway and Karen Soldatic
Experiences of inaccessible, discriminatory, and culturally unsafe services and/or service providers are considered a root cause for the health inequalities that exist among Indigenous queer youth. This paper examines the perspectives of Indigenous LGBTIQ+ youth and health service providers to identify what challenges, obstacles and opportunities are currently being faced and what could be implemented to improve the health and wellbeing outcomes for Indigenous LGBTIQ+ youth in the future.
Authors: Corrinne T. Sullivan, Georgia Coe, Kim Spurway, Linda Briskman, William Trewellyn, John Leha, Karen Soldatic, Duy Tran
Image Credits: (left) illustration by Brendan Chippendale / @chippendaleportraits; (right) Image by Anna Shvets/Pexels
How Do We Design Social Media Platforms That Are Safer For Marginalised Youth?
By Benjamin Hanckel & Shiva Chandra
In this episode of Draw History, Ben and Shiva examine the complexity of community, what risks are inherent in some social media interactions, and how platforms can foster diversity and feelings of safety for marginalized young people. This discussion is the follow-up from Ben and Shiva's co-authored research into young LGBTQIA+ people's use of social media during COVID lockdowns, which can be found here
Representations of LGBT youth: A review of Queer Youth and Media Cultures
By Benjamin Hanckel
Benjamin Hanckel's review of Queer Youth and Media Cultures was published in the Journal of LGBT Youth in 2016. Queer Youth and Media Cultures is a crucial edited collection that examines how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) identities are constructed, performed, and represented in television, movies, and new media spaces.
The social life of data: strategies for categorizing fluid and multiple genders
By Benjamin Hanckel
Accurate data collection from LGBTIQ+ communities is crucial for public health research and the provision of equitable services. Co-authored by Ben Hanckel, this paper reviews a selection of international surveys from the last ten years. It presents a case study of data collection in an Australian mixed-methods study of LGBTQ+ young people's uses of social media. The research explores some of the obstacles to collecting data from trans, gender-diverse and non-binary (TGD) communities and the difficulties in synthesizing meaning about fluid or multiple identity categories.
Authors: Son Vivienne, Benjamin Hanckel, Paul Byron, Brady Robards, Brendan Churchill
By Benjamin Hanckel
Co-authored by Benjamin, this paper examines how queer young people in Australia engage in an online community to address their marginalisation and oppression. The findings indicate that the community not only provides a sense of belonging for the participants and reduces their experiences of isolation but also connects them to resources and networking opportunities that foster political participation.
Authors: Benjamin Hanckel, Alan Morris
Social media use among bisexuals and pansexuals: connection, harassment and mental health
By Benjamin Hanckel
Analysing survey data from 1,304 LGBTQ + young people in Australia collected in 2016, this paper considers key distinctions between the experiences of bisexual and pansexual participants and lesbian and gay participants in relation to social media use and aspects of connection, harassment and mental health.
Authors: Benjamin Hanckel,Brady Robards, Brendan Churchill, Son Vivienne, Paul Byron, Rosie Nelson
A Multi-Faceted and Relational Approach to Gay Men's Identities
By Shiva Chandra
Shiva Chandra's paper studies the idea of a 'post-gay' identity, suggesting that sexuality no longer remains a pivotal identifier of gay men's sense of self. This concept provides a useful framework for theorising how gay men's identities include and go beyond their sexuality. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of diverse gay male identities in contemporary multicultural Australia.
Illustration by Brendan Chippendale / @chippendaleportraits
Making friends with the family: A fresh look at coming out
By Shiva Chandra
Also authored by Shiva, this paper draws on a study of 15 gay men of South Asian descent in Australia. Shiva's research looked into how coming out can lead to positive developments in family relations, even if they exist alongside negativity about one's sexuality.
Authors: Jennifer Wilkinson, Shiva Chandra
By Shiva Chandra & Benjamin Hanckel
LGBTQIA+ young people carefully curate social media spaces to find similar others in careful ways. However, more needs to be understood about how existing connections to families of origin (re)shape social media practices. Drawing on interview and focus group data with 65 LGBTQIA+ young people, this paper examines family considerations in social media practices and curation strategies.
Gender Equity in the Workplace: Intersectional and Gender & Sexuality Diverse Approaches
By Shiva Chandra & Benjamin Hanckel
Workplaces are increasingly looking to expand their equity and diversity work to understand how to address aspects of identity that intersect with gender or sexuality and with genders and sexualities beyond binary (M/F) understandings. Our researchers held roundtable consultations with external stakeholders who would benefit from intersectional diversity and inclusion research. These discussions allowed them to tailor their research and ensure their priorities are considered in future studies, as well as ensuring that our research has real-world utility.
Authors: Benjamin Hanckel, Shiva Chandra, Lucy Nicholas, Jacqueline Ullman, Tania Ferfolja
In/visibility on campus? Gender and sexuality diversity in tertiary institutions
By Benjamin Hanckel
This paper draws on the largest and most comprehensive Australian research that explores the campus climate for sexuality and gender-diverse (SGD) people at one university. The findings of the survey illustrate how exclusion serves to silence individuals across multiple levels and how this, in turn, limits the visibility of and redress for, exclusion, impacting health and well-being.
Authors: Tania Ferfolja, Nicole Asquith, Benjamin Hanckel & Brooke Brady
Tumblr as a Space of Learning, Connecting, and Identity Formation for LGBTIQ+ Young People
By Benjamin Hanckel
Before Tumblr came along, the internet had long been considered a valuable resource for LGBTIQ+ people to find connections, friendships, and a sense of belonging in heteronormative and sometimes hostile worlds. A survey conducted in 2016 found that young LGBTIQ+ people in Australia were five times as likely to use Tumblr. This paper looks at why Tumblr is so appealing to young LGBTIQ+ people.
Authors: Brady Robards, Paul Byron, Brendan Churchill, Benjamin Hanckel, and Son Vivienne
By Georgia Coe
In this paper, Georgia looks at the individual and collective digital strategies of two Indigenous sexually diverse Australians as they navigate TikTok's governing algorithms. Through their online tactics, content, and collective moments of political digital mobilisation, popular TikTokers Tilly and Q reveal how they challenge racist discourses perpetuated through algorithmic bias and counter-code transphobic discourses found in mainstream media.
Exploring Southeast Asian Queer Migrant Biographies: Queer Utopia, Capacitations, and Debilitations
By Quah Ee Ling
This chapter by Quah Ee Ling has been featured in ‘Queer Southeast Asia’, which presents a collection of new and established scholarly voices, including local activists directly involved in developments in Southeast Asia. The paper explores the migration biographies of queer individuals who have emigrated out of their Southeast Asian home country.
Authors: Quah Ee Ling Sharon & Shawna Tang
By Quah Ee Ling
This article explores the family practices of female-headed households in Singapore, specifically those of lesbian and divorced mothers, as they negotiate the entrenched normative orders of sexuality and gender in Singapore.
Authors: Quah Ee Ling Sharon & Shawna Tang
LGBT+ normativity: Trying to understand everyone’s realities
By Shiva Chandra
In this essay, Shiva Chandra talks about the term ‘normativity’ and finding belonging, love, joy, meaning and happiness in ways that feel right for each individual.
By Shiva Chandra, Ben Hanckel & Amanda Third
Ran by the Young and Resilient Centre at the ICS, this project aims to connect young people with other rainbow families and to value and celebrate the diversity in these families. The Little Rainbows project stems from a need within the LGBTQ+ family community for a resource to support young people in these families to navigate and communicate their family dynamics to other families.
The Wellbeing Health and Youth Commission, which the Young and Resilient Centre runs, had its first Research Pride webinar in June. This webinar focused on how LGBTQIA+ young people can be better engaged in youth health research. Everyone involved, including our panellists (young people, researchers and advocates), shared insights that will help change how health researchers and policy-makers engage with the LGBTQIA+ community in this country.
Interviews
 Click here to read the full interview. |  Click here to read the full interview. |
Statement of Support
The Institute for Culture and Society has committed to the Statement of Western Sydney University Support for the Rights of Sexuality and Gender Diverse People. All groups, research centres or individuals across the university are invited to sign this statement in support of our sexuality and gender diverse staff and students, as well as in the broader Australian and global community, starting from Greater Western Sydney. You can sign the statement here (opens in a new window)
Other WSU Initiatives
- Check out the Rainbow Western Collective (opens in a new window)
- Or join the Ally Network (opens in a new window)
- There are plenty of activities to take part in, check them out here (opens in a new window)
- Sexualities and Genders Research Network (opens in a new window)
