IDAHOBIT Day 2019

idahobit
day INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST
HOMOPHOBIA, BIPHOBIA,
INTERSEXISM AND

TRANSPHOBIA

Our values

Courage

Justice

innovation

celebration

About
QuAC

The Queensland AIDS Council (QuAC) aims to improve the lives of
lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI), Sistergirl and
Brotherboy Queenslanders through prevention programs, by helping
people to improve, and have more control over, their health and
wellbeing.

The community is diverse, with 10% of Cairns’ population and 33%
of outback Queensland’s population identifying as Indigenous*.
Regional cities and remote communities, including Cairns have to
think differently from Brisbane to work effectively with their
communities.

Staff at QuAC in Cairns have explored options to disseminate health
messages among a town whose population is diverse and spread
out. In 2007 we supported the birth of Culture, a newsletter devoted
to rainbow folk of Cairns and the surrounding areas and distributed
at cafes and LGBTI venues in the region. This publication is a
vehicle for health promotion, HIV and other sexually transmitted
infections (STI) messaging in Queensland and information about
social events for rainbow folk in Cairns.

There are barriers to engaging and educating our communities who
are at risk of HIV transmission, including those in regional and
remote Queensland and Aboriginal, South Sea Islander and Torres
Strait Islander people. People regularly travel between regional cities
and remote communities which poses a challenge in trying to
communicate with these people.

Cultures amongst Indigenous people also vary, so being able to
build relationships and engage with health promotion messaging
focusing on sexual health is challenging. Many communities have
young groups of people who feel shame even talking about sex, let
alone sexual health. Much work has been done to investigate what
kinds of programs are needed to resolve these barriers.

About 2
Spirits

QuAC’s 2Spirits program utilises a whole of health approach for
communities to ensure social and emotional wellbeing are improved
for Indigenous people. The program engages in culturally
appropriate health promotion with Sistergirls and Brotherboys who
identify as gender diverse.

Health promotion for STIs and HIV prevention is talked about in
yarning circles and explored through painting and art workshops.
Working closely with Aboriginal Medical Centres, such as Gurriny
Yealamucka Health Service, provides opportunities for engagement
with young people. An example of this engagement is during young
persons’ health check week where staff encourage youth in the
Yarrabah community to visit the health service for sexual health
screening.

In Cairns, 30% of people identify as overseas-born.*The natural
beauty of the region means that tourism is one of Cairn’s main
industries. Engaging with overseas born people in regional cities
such as Cairns creates an additional challenge for health promotion
messaging. In many cultures, HIV is still considered a death
sentence, which means service delivery has to be tailored to the
diverse range of people who visit and live in Cairns. This includes
translating online and print resources in to other languages and
partnering with other service providers, such as Carers Queensland,
who have established in-home services with communities from Asia
and the pacific.

In many communities, HIV and STI prevention is complemented by a
healthy lifestyle and education to enable Sistergirls, Brotherboys and
LGBTI people living in regional and remote Queensland to take
control of their health and wellbeing through better access to
healthcare services.
*Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

What is
idahobit
?

The International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism
and Transphobia (previously called IDAHO and IDAHOT Day) is
observed on May 17 and aims to coordinate international events that
raise awareness of LGBTI rights violations and stimulate interest in
LGBTI rights work worldwide. By 2016, the commemorations had
taken place in 132 countries across the globe.

The founders of the International Day Against Homophobia, as it was
originally known, established the IDAHO Committee to coordinate
grass-roots actions in different countries, to promote the day and to
lobby for official recognition on May 17.

That date was chosen to commemorate the decision to remove
homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases of
the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1990.

And
why?

Suicide 40%
attemps per 30%
population 20%
group

10%

0%

Health General population Trans Intersex
impacts on people
inclusion and
recognition young

LGBTI

Improved resilience
Increased sense of security

Public Health
benefits

Social cohesion

Stronger mental
health

Increased access to healthcare

Psychological Feeling unsafe
distress

Addictionexperienced by
LGBT people Psychological distress
with the general

Self HarmAustralian
Risk of mental illness
population

25

20

15

10

5

0 General population Trans Bisexual Same sex attracted

Results: Same- Response rate
sex marriage Response with a clear
postal survey response was 67.6% and
2017 no response was 32.4%

More than 7.8 million people 32.4%
voted “yes” to same-sex
marriage beating the 4.9 million Cairns
“no” voters.

No 67.6%
38.4%

National

Yes Federal Electorate
61.6% Leichhardt of Leichhardt,
including Cairns, Port
Douglas, torres and cape

No

36.6%

Leichhardt

Yes
63.4%

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics, same-sex marriage survey results
[2017].
National LGBTI Health Alliance, statistics at a glance [2016]
Wikipedia, International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and
Biphobia [2019]
ARCSHS [2010] La Trobe University.
ARCSHS [2012] Private Lives 2: the second national survey of the
health and wellbeing of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender [LGBT]
Australians, La Trobe University.
ARCSHS [2010] Private Lives 3: the third national survey of the health
and wellbeing of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender [LGBT]
Australians, La Trobe University.
[2016] Intersex, stories and statistics from Australia.
[2009] Suicidal thoughts and behaviours among Australian adults,
findings from the 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and
Wellbeing, The Royal Australian and New Zealand Journal of
Psychiatry.
[2012] Trans Mental Health Study, Scottish Transgender Alliance,
Scotland.
[2016] The impact of marriage equality and marriage denial on the
health of lesbian, gay and bisexual people, ACON.

Contact us

QuAC North Queensland

P: 4041 5451
E: [email protected]
A: 290 Draper Street,
Parramatta Park, Cairns
QLD 4870
W: https://quac.org.au