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Statewide
March-April 2007 ISSN 1448-4277 |
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Welcome to the Qld Association for Healthy Communities Newsletter. For contact details, to update your subscription details, give us feedback, or to unsubscribe, click here or see our details below. Please enjoy QuAC News. contents
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During the 2007 Pride Festival QAHC will be running a community campaign based on the theme of prejudice towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people by other LGBT people within the community, based on ethnicity or culture, gender, physical disability, HIV/AIDS status or age,. The campaign is called the "One Community Celebrating Diversity" campaign. Over the last couple of months QAHC has been collecting the opinions, views and experiences of the community about this type of prejudice through an online survey. Shaun Staunton, the QAHC project officer says "We know the community believes that this type of prejudice happens, our surveys show that almost 90% of people believe it occurs, because they have seen it or experienced it themselves". Anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide, attempted suicide, and alcohol and drug dependency are all effects which have been linked with the experience of prejudice and discrimination. With such consequences Paul Martin, QAHC's general manager, is committed to making this a topic of conversation during the Pride Festival. "As a key component of our new campaign we will get people talking about this, as a community and as individuals, in order to increase our knowledge about it and to bring this subject out in the open".
Some of the things we will be doing for this campaign include a giant campaign launch party 25th May in the Upstairs Bar of the Wickham Hotel, starting at 7pm. The bands Bertha Control and Anal Traffic will both be performing on the night, including new songs written just for the campaign. Other events also include a community forum, held Tuesday 12th June with a 6.30pm start, at the State Library of Queensland, called "A Hypothetical World" forum. This forum will get the community thinking about all that we have achieved as a community, and how things could be in the future for the LGBT community. Also happening are plays, radio spots, lots of new material to go out in the community, and of course Pride Fair Day.
If you have any questions, or would like to be involved in any of these activities, please contact Shaun Staunton on (07) 3017 1732 or sstaunton@qahc.org.au. If you want to know more about the campaign, check out the campaign page on the website, www.qahc.org.au/prejudice.
Have
your say on this topic - go to the QuAC Discussion Board - http://www.quac.org.au/forum/
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One way we are going to get people talking about the campaign is by holding a photography competition with the campaign topic as the theme. We will then display the submissions at various events and at Pride Fair Day. The photo theme is "A representation of pride & prejudice in our community" The photo entered must demonstrate this theme, either as a representation of prejudice in the LGBT community towards other LGBT people, a representation of the diversity of individuals which make up the LGBT community, or combination of both. Entries must be received by 21st May, and the winning entry will then be judged by William Yang, with the winner receiving $200. For more information, or to receive a submission pack, contact Shaun Staunton on sstaunton@qahcorg.au or (07) 3017 1732. Alternatively, the Competition Submission Pack can be downloaded from the campaign page on the QAHC website, www.qahc.org.au/prejudice |
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We are still collecting the input of the community about their experiences and opinions in relation to prejudice within the LGBT community, through an online survey. As well as having your voice heard about this issue, you can provide your first name and contact details (optional). Everyone who does this will go in the draw to win a $30 music voucher.
To fill in a short survey, copy and paste the link below onto your browser. It will take you directly to the survey.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=568933393357
Alternatively, you can go to the QAHC website, go to "get involved", then "research". A link to the survey is there.
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your say on this topic - go to the QuAC Discussion Board - http://www.quac.org.au/forum/
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The first QAHC Movie Night Fundraiser was held at Palace Centro Cinemas on Tuesday 13th March 2007.
Approximately 70 people attended and enjoyed the mingle and delicious nibbles prior to the screening of the movie. The nibbles were provided at no cost to QAHC by Chez Nous Corporate. Guests were also treated to a free glass of champagne, also provided at no cost, by Palace Centro. We thank both of these companies for the great support of the evening.
The screening of the "Razzle Dazzle" was a special preview prior to the national release of the movie on 15th March. It was quite an amusing movie and all those who attended appeared to leave the cinema with a smile on their face.
We hope to make this a regular event to raise funds for the QAHC Resource Centre, so please email jthwaites@qahc.org.au if you wish to be advised of future movie nights.
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your say on this topic - go to the QuAC Discussion Board - http://www.quac.org.au/forum/
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Kevin - Health Promotion Officer
We have been extremely busy this year with the spike in HIV infections
in Cairns. We were able to hold a forum and have seen advertisements all
around the media outlets reminding people to get a sexual health checkup
. Our campaign will continue with a forum for Health and wellbeing organisations
and you will see our sexual health ad on the back of buses soon. We will
also be getting some health checkup cards out to you at the party on Queens
Birthday weekend.
Thanks to everyone who helped on the Film Festival weekend . A great turnout by our community and some excellent movies.
This next two months we will be running a 'SEX IT UP' course .This course is designed for sexual identity and gender awareness and talks about the work we are doing at QAHC . If you are interested in volunteering with QAHC it is necessary to do this course . It is a fun, hands on approach to learning and the first 2 day course is being run on May 26th and June 2nd 9-5pm in the Cairns Library meeting room . The course is free and includes all meals for the two days. Please ring us to enrol in the course .
May the 17th is HOMOPHOBIA Day so keep your eyes posted for some media releases and try to talk to someone at your work about the subject. We have come a long way but still have so far to go.
Please join me in welcoming Amanda Dean to our team. It is so great to have a person to share things with now and I'm sure you will all meet Amanda soon.
Amanda - Health Promotion Officer
In the past month I have been meeting local Trans women and men in Cairns
building relationships and sharing information. I hope these meetings
will boost support for the local Trans group and increase Transgender
Activism within Far North Queensland. The recent Queer Film Festival has
inspired me to try and work with the GLTBI community in producing a trans
film for next years film festival. Any input from the community would
be much appreciated. I am also interested to hear of any issues regarding
the transgender community that people would like to present to local politicians.
Youth and what is QAHC doing with them! Well its still early stages yet but there may be a GLTBI youth group starting up at a local high school. In addition a new revamped version of Qyouth (www.qyouth.net.au), a web site for LGBTI youth in Far North Queensland, has be revamped with a new look and feel. There has been a fun page added with links to a discussion board and chat room, with online surveys yet to come. Next issue you will hear about some more things I am doing in the Youth Project .
Well we did it.! Yes the first Tropical Alternative Queer Film Festival
was a success.
Thanks to the great work put in by QAHC(Graham) and MQFF (Lisa ) Cairns
ran a very successful 3 day film festival.
Opening night started out with a real party atmosphere as we lit up the foyer with rainbow colours and balloons. About 150 of our community came along and made the night fun.
Pink Saturday was the theme for all movies with the Pink Guide promoting their brand with a great prize of a trip for 2 to the reef and $100 meal voucher. Although we had a smaller crowd throughout the day all movies were well received and about 100 people attended the hilarious Another Gay Movie at 8.00pm. Our gay bar Sapphire was filled with the movie goers after wards with much laughter and talk of the movie.
Gay Male numbers were high but we were all thrilled as Sunday brought out many girls in our community with the showing of Red Doors and The making of Queer Cinema.
I would like to personally thank Graham for bringing this Film Festival
to Cairns. Mark Morein for his fabulous speeches and support throughout
the weekend and finally the community of Cairns for making this something
to remember and hopefully make an annual event.
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I am 24 year old MtF Transgender women with a Social Work Degree. I have spent 8 Years living in Cairns. I am very Left wing, skate boarder, gadget lover. I have a strong belief in building community. I am also bisexual for what ever that means. I have also done a field placement at Open Doors

QAHC is pleased to welcome Katie Stott as our new Central Queensland Gay Men's Health Promotion Officer. Katie's primary role is to develop, implement and monitor a range of health promotion projects aimed at preventing the spread of HIV and other STI's among gay men and non-gay men who have sex with men across central Queensland and especially in the region from Fraser Coast to Rockhampton.
She is working out of the QAHC resource centre in Maroochydore and would love to hear from local people with any suggestions or queries you may have on ways of working with gay men and MSM in the central Queensland area. You can contact her via:
Phone: 07 5451 1118
Email: kstott@qahc.org.au
Address: 10 Pikki Street,
Maroochydore QLD, 4558
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Since December 2006 there have been thirteen diagnoses of HIV with two still pending. Three of these diagnoses have been Indigenous males. The majority of people diagnosed contracted the disease through unsafe male to male anal sex.
What does this mean to us as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gay men and sistergirls? Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gay men and sistergirls are having unsafe sex. Some of us may be unaware that having anal sex without a condom puts us at risk of HIV or some of us are making a decision to have unsafe sex irregardless of the risk.
The statistics tells us that some of our mob are presenting late for testing. This means that people do not know their HIV status until they get sick. Reports tell us that HIV positive people who do not know their HIV status sometimes have unsafe sex because they believe that they are safe. Unfortunately this is a very common way HIV is unknowingly transmitted from one person to another.
What can we do to protect ourselves and others from HIV? As sexually active people we can go and be tested for all STI's including HIV every six-Twelve months. That way we can keep track of our health and also make informed decisions about the types (safe/unsafe) of sex we practice. We can plan our party time by making sure we carry condoms and lube and we have standard ways to say no to unsafe sex such as ''If its not on its not on". We can set a limit on the amount of grog and drugs we use because being out of it can influence our decision making. Come up with firm replies before we go out so that we don't have to think on our feet. For instance 'I've had enough thanks, I might stick to water for a while.'
Where do we go to be tested or to talk to someone about increasing my
awareness?
To be tested: In a community we can go to our men's or women's health
worker also known as the sexual health worker or sexual health nurse.
If we're in town we can go to our sexual health clinic under Queensland
Health or to our Aboriginal/Islander Medical Service. We can be tested
by our local Doctor or GP.
Don't be shame we need to take care of our health for our own sake. Take a friend if your uneasy or ring Brendan or Wilo on (07) 40 356491. For information on safe sex the QATSIHAP can provide pamphlets or you can attend a forum or Social Group outing.
We have a responsibility to our own spirit to stay safe and keep our health in check. When we do this for ourselves we take care of our families and communities.
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your say on this topic - go to the QuAC Discussion Board - http://www.quac.org.au/forum/
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Have
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For many years now queer film festivals have screened in the capitol cities of Australia. The oldest queer film festival in Australia and one of the oldest queer film festivals in the world is the Melbourne Queer Film Festival which has been screening yearly sine 1991.
The MQFF has been touring a substantial part of its program to the Brisbane Powerhouse for six years, and for two years has toured parts of its program to Bendigo in regional Victoria. Both tours were a critical success and QAHC was lucky to grab the Brisbane Festival timeslot while the Poweerhouse underwent renovations and we were able to tour weekend long festivals to Cairns and Rockhampton.
These types of events are expensive to run, both in time and money and you may be wondering what QAHC is doing sponsoring them, how it relates to our work in promoting health in the LGBT communities. It's actually quite simple - there is a lot of evidence to suggest that when people are comfortable in their own skins, in their own lives and in their own sexuality, then this is a precursor to their being able to live healthy lives.
The Rockhampton film festival was held on the 20-22 April 2007 at the Walter Reid Cultural Centre. A fabulous selection of films were screened which looked at the contemporary lesbian and gay life as seen through the eyes of some of the prominent film makers from across the globe.
Attendance was low which may have been associated with numerous factors including recent local negative press towards the gay community, but overall those who attended were extremely pleased with the event and the support from QAHC and we believe that it proves the need to provide supportive cultural events in smaller centres and are looking at doing it again next year!
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The LGBT Health Systems project will be distributing the Out West Training Project - raising awareness of sexuality and gender identity issues for health and health-related service providers. The training workshops will be delivered in Longreach, Emerald, Mt Isa and Gladstone at the end of May and June 2007.
Mr David Wells and Ms Rikki Menzies from the Sunshine Coast have been employed to deliver the free one day training workshops throughout the project. The training aims to raise awareness of sexuality and gender identity, specific health concerns within the LGBT community, barriers for LGBT people seeking to access health and health-related services and provide mechanisms to improve service provision and create inclusive service environments. The recently completed Sexuality and Gender Identity Training Resource will be used to develop and guide the delivery of the workshops.
The Out West Project follows on from the Out West Service Providers consultation held in Mount Isa in March this year. The consultation aimed to increase QAHC's networks and awareness of issues related to sexual health, sexuality and gender that are prevalent for service providers in Western Queensland. The Out West Project will also be complimented by the final What We Don't See Training - raising awareness of issues that affect young people exploring their sexuality and gender identity, that will be held in Roma, 28 May 2007.
To date the LGBT Health Systems Project has provided training to 450
service providers throughout Queensland. At the end of June the project
will release a report on the experiences and future direction for sexuality
and gender identity training throughout the state. The LGBT Health Systems
Project will become the position of the QAHC Training and Development
Coordinator at the end of this financial year, with funding to continue
this training until June 2009.
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Director, Chris Maver, has been producing and facilitating Queer events since the fabulous 80's. For four performances this June, at the Judith Wright Centre, Chris will gather a stellar array of young, sexy, brilliant artists under his "pride" care to present his latest offering, The Fruit Tingle Cabaret.
Chanteuse Jo Doyle, vivacious, sassy, singing sensation, and runner up in the 2006 Australian Lesbian Idol program is coming directly from her residency at Spring Hill's Scarlet's.
Bent Physical Theatre's Divo Sock and Sofia Woods present an alarming, alluring and sometime dangerous theatre piece titled Switch.
Direct from Mt Isa, Queensland's singing cowboy, Ken Glanville, in sartorial splendour, will warm the very broke-back mountains of our hearts.
The desirable Fez Fa'anana and partner in passion, Mark Windwill, pull out all expletives for a tempting, tumbling and terrifyingly physical tête-à-tête which will leave audiences gasping.
Whipping this all together, gender confusionist, compere and ringmaster, Chris Maver dishes up a fruity lesson in Queer history. Gary Nunn supplies the musical topping.
And for one night only, on Saturday 9 June, the lively musical passion of Bertha Control trips the light fantastic into Valkyrian depths, finishing the season in a celebratory frenzy of dance!
Designer, David Clark brings a lush display of steamy, sensual, visual delights.
Reaching out to Queer and non-Queer communities and institutions, to acknowledge and celebrate Queer arts, The Fruit Tingle Cabaret is presented in association with Pride. Purely home grown, 100% local, this Queer cabaret, showcases cutting edge and innovative multi-artform performance.
Age recommendation 15+ - contains adult themes.
Please contact: The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts on 07 3872 9000 for further information on dates, times and ticket prices.
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your say on this topic - go to the QuAC Discussion Board - http://www.quac.org.au/forum/
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The next event planned will be a 'PFLAG Wine and Cheese Evening' with the Special Guest Speaker, 'Shelley Argent' who recently won the 'Order of Australia' Medal for her work establishing PFLAG in Brisbane. The PFLAG Wine and Cheese Evening is a free event and will be held from 7pm on July 6th and promoted to all GLBT people, Family members and Friends.
PFLAG Sunshine Coast is a social support group organised by parents, family and friends whose primary objective is to provide support and assistance for parents, family members and friends whose children have disclosed to them as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender (LGBT). PFLAG is completely voluntary and is non-political and non- religious based and is proudly supported by Queensland Association for Healthy Communities (QAHC).
The purpose and objectives of PFLAG is to promote the health and well being of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender persons, their families and friends through Support - to cope with adversities in society, Education - to enlighten an ill-informed public and Advocacy - to end discrimination and to secure legal rights in all areas.
Many parents, family members and friends may experience feelings of shock and confusion and do not know where to go for assistance and support when their child or loved one makes them aware of their sexual orientation.
For further information please contact PFLAG Sunshine Coast, c/o QAHC
on (07) 5451 1118.
Start: 05/05/2007 - 8:00pm
End: 05/05/2007 - 10:00pm
Meet the local Yuggera tribe and watch them perform indigenous stories, songs and dances. RSVP by 30th April. For more information please call Ash on 3017 1733.
Start: 18/05/2007 - 7:00pm
End: 18/05/2007 - 10:00pm
RSVP by 14th May 2007. For more information please call Ash on 3017 1733.
Start: 21/05/2007 - 10:00am
End: 21/05/2007 - 4:00pm
Raising awareness of sexuality and gender identity issues for health and health-related service providers Where: Longreach Shire Council, Fairmount Room, 96A Eagle St, Longreach Cost: Free - Catering Provided Registration: RSVP Reply The training will address the related social pressures that can affect both health outcomes and service provision to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. This training is not designed solely for service providers working with LGBT clients. Sexuality and gender identity are not physical characteristics that are easily identifiable. Many LGBT people in our communities, schools and services are not visible. This can create barriers for both service providers and LGBT people seeking to address related health concerns or access support. There is a growing awareness that the social pressures related to sexuality and gender identity, such as expectations or experiences of discrimination and social isolation, can have negative impacts on the health and wellbeing of LGBT people. These concerns are often increased for LGBT people living in regional and rural areas. The training aims to raise awareness of these issues with both health and health-related service providers and address:
* Sexual and gender identity formation, values and identities
* The impact of social pressures related to sexuality and gender identity
* Prominent health concerns for LGBT people
* Inclusive service environments, service provision, referral and resource
information
Start: 25/05/2007 - 10:00am
End: 25/05/2007 - 4:00pm
Raising awareness of sexuality and gender identity issues for health and health-related service providers Where: To Be Advised Cost: Free Registration: RSVP Only The Queensland Association for Healthy Communities (QAHC) is providing a FREE one day training workshop on sexuality and gender identity. The training will address the related social pressures that can affect both health outcomes and service provision to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. This training is not designed solely for service providers working with LGBT clients. Sexuality and gender identity are not physical characteristics that are easily identifiable. Many LGBT people in our communities, schools and services are not visible. This can create barriers for both service providers and LGBT people seeking to address related health concerns or access support. There is a growing awareness that the social pressures related to sexuality and gender identity, such as expectations or experiences of discrimination and social isolation, can have negative impacts on the health and wellbeing of LGBT people. These concerns are often increased for LGBT people living in regional and rural areas. The training aims to raise awareness of these issues with both health and health-related service providers and address:
* Sexual and gender identity formation, values and identities
* The impact of social pressures related to sexuality and gender identity
* Prominent health concerns for LGBT people
* Inclusive service environments, service provision, referral and resource
information
Start: 28/05/2007 - 10:00am
End: 28/05/2007 - 5:00pm
Raising awareness of issues that affect young people exploring their sexuality and gender identity Where: Road Tech Admin Office, Training Room, 14 Tiffin St, RomaCost: Free - Catering providedRegistration: RSVP ReplyThis training will provide health and health related service providers with an awareness of the social pressures, risk behavious and health outcomes that are often related to young people their exploring sexuality and gender identity or identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT). This training is not solely designed for service providers working with LGBT young people.Sexuality and gender identity are not physical characteristics that are easily identifiable. Many LGBT young people are not visisble in our communities, services and schools. This often creates barriers for both service providers and LGBT young people seeking to address these issues and provide or obtain support.The training aims to provide service providers with an awareness of sexuality and gender identity issues, soical factors related to sexuality and gender identity that can impact upon a young person health and wellbeing, provide mechanisms to improve service provision and create inclusive service environments for LGBT young people.
Start: 01/06/2007 - 7:30pm
End: 01/06/2007 - 10:00pm
Back by popular demand we are going Ten Pin Bowling. RSVP by 28th May
2007.
For more information please call Ash on 3017 1733.
Have
your say on this topic - go to the QuAC Discussion Board - http://www.quac.org.au/forum/
QLD Association of Healthy Communities
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| ph: | 07 3017 1777 | email: | info@qahc.org.au | |
| fax: | 07 3852 5200 | web: | www.qahc.org.au |
mail address: PO Box 3142,
South Brisbane BC 4101
street address: 30 Helen St, Newstead
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155 141 |
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Gay Men & Sista Girl |
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3017 1736 |
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| Donations and Bequests | 07 3017 1714 |
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Images in this newsletter are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to imply any particular point of view, sexuality or state of health.