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WA Government announces funding, LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Strategy and plan for new peak body

The WA government has just announced $900,000 in funding for the first ever WA LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Strategy.

The funding will go in part to community controlled organisations — TransFolk of WA, Living Proud WA & GRAI – GLBTI Rights in Ageing Inc — where it will have a big impact in helping them to grow.

The remainder will go to developing an LGBTIQA+ peak advocacy body to develop and implement the new inclusion strategy – a body that consults and represents our communities at all levels of government decision making.

Rainbow Futures WA was named by the government as a major proponent in this initiative, confirming the group will continue to contribute to the development and implementation of the Strategy.

“This is an incredible starting point for an improved relationship between WA’s LGBTIQA+ community and Government,” Rainbow Futures WA spokesperson Misty Farquhar said.

“This funding will have a big impact for these community-controlled organisations that do so much for LGBTIQA+ people in WA and will help them to build and grow more sustainably moving forward.

“But providing funding is just the beginning. Our call for the government to urgently implement LGBTIQA+ law reform remains as loud as ever.”

Farquhar and Rainbow Futures WA also called for legislative action on a range of issues by name, including an updated Equal Opportunity Act that provides protections for LGBTIQA+ people, modernisation of the legal gender recognition process, banning of conversion practices, surrogacy to be made available to all people, and an end to medical interventions that modify the bodies of children with intersex variations without their personal informed consent.

“The LGBTIQA+ community has lost a lot of trust in the government and rightly so. Promises have been broken and people have been left in limbo,” they said.

“But this shows a real commitment from the government to get it right. We need to ensure our voices are heard in consultations with LGBTIQA+ people that are meaningful rather than symbolic.”