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We asked what matters – here’s how you responded to the 2021 Rainbow Families Survey

We asked what matters – here’s how you responded to the 2021 Rainbow Families Survey

Late last year as part of their company-wide Impact Day, Deloitte carried out some research with Rainbow Families to better understand our members and supporters. We are very grateful to the hundreds of LGBTQ+ parents who took the time to participate!

The research gave us some valuable insights into the wide diversity of family types that look to Rainbow Families for support. It confirmed our awareness that there is no “one size fits all” type of family. There are blended families, families just starting on the journey of parenthood, multi-generational families and sole parent families. Families with lesbian mums, gay dads, bi-parents and trans and gender diverse parents.

One thing that came across very strongly is the way the needs of our children changes as they navigate the milestones of growing up. Many commented that while playgroups and other community networks provided wonderful reinforcement for Rainbow Family children, entering primary school can then mean having to confront a range of challenges.

An important thing for kids in primary school according to many participants is children having confidence and pride in their family. This is helped by having connections with families “just like them”.

The teenaged years also bring new challenges as many teenagers do not want to “stick out” as different. Resources and support for teenagers are something many families are looking to access.

Many participants also highlighted the difficulties of living in regional and rural areas, where there may not be the kind of LGBTQ+ community that exists in places like Sydney.

Overall, the survey highlighted that “community”, “Inclusion” and “support” during every stage of the journey in becoming a Rainbow Family is what really matters. These are definitely front and centre of our thinking ahead for 2021 as we finalise the events, resources and other activities we’re planning.

 

 


We want all families to be equal

Our families experience many forms of discrimination, and we don’t think that is OK. One of the ways Rainbow Families supports LGBTQ+ parents is to work to remove this discrimination for our community.  

Cathy Brown has headed up our advocacy work for the past few years and had decided it is time to hand the reigns over to someone new. We have a position on our Board for a new advocacy lead.

Tasks include

  • Working through the recommendations in our two reports into discrimination our families face from government
  • Preparing submissions for parliamentary enquiries
  • Consulting with our community to establish advocacy goals
  • Working with other organisations to remove discrimination for LGBTQ+ families
  • Leading our advocacy committee

If you are interested in taking on this advocacy position, please contact us. 


Trans And Gender Diverse Resources

At Rainbow Families we acknowledge families are created in various ways. We also acknowledge that not all parents identify as “mum” or “dad”, and some parents may be exploring their gender identity, or transitioning. We also acknowledge some parents may have a child or teenage who is exploring their gender identity, who may identify as transgender and/or non binary or gender diverse (TGD).

 

Here are some wonderful resources including some groups.

TransHub is a comprehensive resource for anyone with a TGD family member or friend, as well as for members of the TGD community. 

For TGD parents

Rainbow Families Gender Diverse Parents Facebook Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/GenderDiverseParents/

 

Trans and Gender Diverse folks and their supports and allies.

https://transprideaustralia.org.au

 

The Gender Centre

https://gendercentre.org.au

 

Relationship peer support

Australian TGD Peer Support has two groups. One is for those in the relationship, the other group is for non-transitioning partners and ex partners. There are also a number of parents in these groups as well.

 

There is also a full list of resources on this page.

Website: https://tgdsupport.info

 

For parents who have children or teens who are trans and/or gender diverse

For children

Parents of Gender-Diverse Children

https://www.pgdc.org.au

 

For teens

YGender

http://www.ygender.org.au

 

For YOUR parents

 

Parents and Friends of Lesbian and Gays (PFLAG) who, despite the name, do cover families of TGD people as well.

https://pflagaustralia.org.au

 

The NSW Gender Centre run groups specifically for parents. 

https://gendercentre.org.au

 

We hope this helps!


One Nation NSW Religion Bill - What You Can Do

One Nation has introduced a bill in the NSW Parliament which contains a number of alarming provisions which could have a range of really negative impacts for our families.

In NSW, our families already can face discrimination in faith-based education and community settings.

The Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Religious Freedoms and Equality) Bill 2020 would expand these significantly.

  • The Bill would give protection to religious activities that vilify our families;
  • Faith-based foster-care organisations could challenge NSW Government policies that require them not to discriminate against prospective LGBTQ foster carers;
  • Faith-based organisations will be able to discriminate on the grounds of religion in employment, education and service delivery, even when receiving public funding;
  • it will be almost impossible for government and non-government employers, educators and professional and licencing bodies to foster inclusive cultures, or meet shareholder, customer or community expectations, when their employees or members use their religion privately to hurt others
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Family Law System Submission

Rainbow Families has been invited to contribute to the Federal Parliament's Joint Select Committee on Australia's Family Law System. You might recall that there was a comprehensive Australian Law Reform Commission review of the Family Law system in 2018 which resulted in detailed recommendations. The Federal Government has not responded to those recommendations, instead agreeing to Pauline Hanson's demand for a further review of the family law system. You may have heard media about Senator Hanson's personal views about the roles of men and women in family law proceedings. In particular she has sought to minimise the impact of domestic and family violence.
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