Last year I spoke calling for unity among the Sex and Gender Diverse community. This year, I looked outside the community to government, community and medical institutions, calling for them to include and accept sex and gender diversity as a natural part of life.

My speech is behind the jump.

First of all, I’d like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, who are the traditional owners and custodians of the land we meet on today.

Every year, all over the world, thousands of transgendered people gather on the 20th of November to memorialise those of us who have fallen prey to violence in the last 12 months. Every year hundreds of transgendered people are the victims of hate crimes, and have their names added to the ever growing List of the Dead. Every year, hundreds more die unnamed, and are not remembered, because their status as gender diverse was unknown, or was never reported by the mainstream press.

There are segments of the transgendered community who are more vulnerable than others. As a middle-class, white, able bodied non-sex worker, living in one of the most affluent cities in Australia, I have a massive amount of privilege that keeps me safe from being attacked and slaughtered on the street or in my home. I acknowledge that privilege, and ask that everyone here please think for a moment about the structural oppressions that lead to the list of the dead being predominantly sex workers, and people of colour. We also recognise that the violence perpetuated against the most vulnerable members of our community is an expression of the same transphobia that all sex and gender diverse people experience every day.

One of the issues we face with gathering data is the underreporting of discrimination and violent crime against transgendered people. Both in the media, and the trans people themselves approaching authorities. However, there have been several studies of the health and well being of transgendered people that have provided us with invaluable insight into the situation of transgendered Australians.

Beyond Blue have pointed out that 90% of transgendered people have faced discrimination for being trans. A study conducted in 1994 found that 49% of transgendered people have been raped in their lifetime. One third of trans people face discrimination more than once a week. Even though trans people have above average education, most of our community subsist on an income of less than $25,000 a year due to employment discrimination. With statistics like that, Is it any wonder That more than half of us suffer from clinical depression? That the suicide rate of the trans population is 300 times that of the general population?

Thats right. THREE HUNDRED TIMES that of the general population.

We are not trash! We are not garbage! We are not alone! We are fierce, stronge, resilient, brave, proud and beautiful people. We are special, and loved when we are alive, and mourned by our friends and families when we are dead.

We know we’re worth more than the systematic destruction of our lives would indicate. We deserve human rights. We deserve to be full and included citizens of this nation, and fully included members of our community.

We call on the ACT Government to change the legislation that discriminates against trans people, and makes them a target for transphobic attack every time they have to produce identity documents. We demand the right to equality and recognition before the law. We demand the right to privacy. These are basic rights recognised internationally, and supposedly enshrined in ACT Law in the Human Rights ACT. We demand access to marriage, and to civil partnerships. We demand effective anti-discrimination legislation.

We call on the police force to protect and defend the trans population of Australia. We demand that our deaths be investigated, and we be taken seriously when we are assaulted. We damand that we are not outed as trans to violent predators, as happened in NSW and Victoria last year, or laughed off as happened to A Gender Agenda members when reporting a violent crime, just this year!

We call on the medical establishment to stop discriminating against gay and lesbian trans people. To provide much needed medical care and sexual health care to transgendered people. To stop acting as gatekeepers, and start acting as the ‘medical professionals’ you are supposed to be.

We call on the Gay and Lesbian community to start including us as more than a letter on the end of an acronym, but as unique and valuable members of the community in our own right, and on the wider Australian community to open their hearts and minds to the trans people who are your children, parents, friends and coworkers.

Organisations like A Gender Agenda often feel like we are facing an insurmoutable task. Our to do list seems to get longer every day, and the number of people who have heard of us, and contact us requesting help keeps on growing. We call on the government to acknowledge and fund the valuable work that we perform.

The thing that makes our hard work so worthwhile is the strength and resilience displayed by our community. The support offered by organisations that sponsor our events, and help us hold fundraisers. The new friendships that are formed, the young people who will grow up strong, the older people who have finally embraced their life and decided to live to the fullest.

We rest assured in the knowledge that even if we never achieve the legislative changes we so desperately need, we’ll have made a difference for a handful of people, and that the number of demoralised, disheartened, lonely, and depressed is reducing, and that the list of the dead is a few names shorter, because of us.

Peter gave a moving speech at the opening. You can read it beyond the cut. The ACT Human Rights commission also sent a speaker, who’s speech you can download in PDF Format here.

Firstly I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we now call Australia and specifically the Ngunnawal people on whose land we meet today.
Secondly I welcome all of you – Ladies, Gentlemen, and most importantly all the rest of us – I’m Peter Hyndal from A Gender Agenda and we are thrilled to be hosting the “Gender Rights are Human Rights” exhibition. I think you’ll agree that we have a range of very impressive work.
I would really like to thank all the artists who have participated in this project – Robyn Grafkin, Erica Green and Gabriele Thomson who can not be with us this evening. Peta Bourne, Tina Fiveash, Margot Seares, and Ingrid Singh who are here, and especially Stephanie Parker who is not only a contributing artist but who has also put an enormous amount of time and effort into helping to organise the exhibition.
This exhibition could not have been possible without the financial support of Pink Tennis the Canberra Gay and Lesbian Tennis Club, and we’d also like to sincerely thank the Tennis Club for their support.
It’s interesting that no government or government department actually collects statistics about transgender or intersex people, and yet every government maintains that there are not very many of us at all. For example a very commonly quoted statistic is that out of every 150,000 people born female there will be one one transgendered person who chooses to live their life as a man. This would mean that there is only one trans man living in the ACT. I have it on very good authority that there are at least 5 times that number of trans men – in this room this evening – let alone in all of the ACT!  Based on the contacts that A Gender Agenda has, we believe that around 1 in 200 people in Canberra are Sex or Gender Diverse.
When we talk about transgender and intersex issues many people feel they do not have the information they need in order to understand.
I’ve had a flick through one of the most recent research papers published in Australia. The findings are consistent with a range of earlier Australian papers as well as many international studies, and the lived experiences of our community.
These are things that we know to be true:
We know that compared to the general population, our community is better educated – and yet we have unemployment rates 3-10 times greater. In relation to income levels – we also know that the greatest grouping of our community members is in the “less than $25,000 pa” category.
We know that the majority of us are the victims of discrimination, stigma or violence on multiple occasions every day. We know that there is a direct causal link between the experience of discrimination and the incidence of depression and so it comes as no surprise that 40-50% of us meet the criteria of being clinically depressed at any given point in time. This is a rate at least 40 times higher than the general population.
We know that depression is the major predictor of suicide and we also know that our community commits suicide at a rate more than 300 times greater than the general population.
The most common argument against law reform for identity recognition is that it is “too complicated”. I want you all to look at me now as I stand in front of you.
And I want to ask you – how can it be simple or easy to continue to insist that I am legally a woman?  When I stood up to speak every one of you identifies  me as being a man – how can it be so “complicated” for the law to recognise this reality?
They say a pictures worth a thousand words. And I hope that’s true because there’s been so many millions of words written that haven’t seemed to make any difference at all. So it’s heartening to believe that the fabulous art work around us also has the capacity to make a real difference.
Thankyou all for coming  Please engage with the artists about their work, encourage your friends to come and look at the exhibition later over the next week, and enjoy the rest of the evening!

They have requested that A Gender Agenda advertise their fabulous youth project, and we are more than happy to oblige! Qwire have made a fantastic effort to create an environment where they hope that trans, intersex and genderqueer youth will feel comfortable participating. I strongly recommend that if you have any interest in music, you consider getting involved.

They are seeking interested participants who would like to take on roles in singing, production, development, design, music and lyrics writing and arranging, and anything you else can think of, to develop and produce a public performance and commercial recording of an “event”.

Any way, here’s the info:
Participants aged 16-25, who identify as Lesbian or Gay, Trans or Intersex, bisexual or any other colour of our rainbow are who we are looking for!

Not only will participants produce their own performance, but they will be supported, coached, and joined by members from the Qwire, as well as music and production professionals from around Canberra, ACT and nationally.

Participants will also be encouraged and welcomed to join with the Qwire for a number of other events including:

How do I participate?
We will be holding a public meeting at 6pm on Tuesday 24th, for interested participants to come and hear more about the project, to meet and talk with Qwire members, and sit in on a Qwire rehearsal, just following our “Light and Fluffy” concert Late November.

Venue will be ANU Music Department, Llewellyn Hall, Level 5, Lecture Theatre 2. Please let us know if you wish someone to meet you there.
At this meeting, we will clarify questions about the project and seek your expression of interest, to commence working on the project, writing your own music and words, designing, developing and all the things that go with it, in the near year.
Those registering their interest prior to the meeting will also be invited to attend the “Light and Fluffy”, concert free of charge – with our guests, Can Belto (one of Canberra’s favourite choirs – other than us!),

Please contact the project Chef de Partie, Tim Little (Qwire Assistant Musical Director), on 0422210768 or cooltim@westnet.com.au to confirm your attendance, to register your interest and receive details of the “Light and Fluffy” concert.

You can also contact us on canberraqwire@yahoo.com.au for more information about the Qwire, and our regular season – you are welcome to join us

And we do mean a community space – a space that is run by and for the community – a space that the community truly “owns”. Which is where YOU come in!

We want to hear your dreams!
What will we call this “space of our own”? What functions could this space serve? What services do you think are most urgently needed? What activities would you love to see offered? What do you dream might be achieved in 1 year? 3years? 10 years?

Please come along – to share your own ideas, to hear what other people have to say, and to be part of your community space right from the very beginning.

DATE: Monday, 30th of November 2009
TIME: 5.30 – 8.30 PM

WE UNDERSTAND THAT NOT EVERYONE CAN MAKE IT BY 5.30PM. PLEASE COME ALONG EVEN IF YOU NEED TO ARRIVE LATE.

Hope to see you there, or at one of our upcoming SpringOut Events.

We wont be having any more events for a couple of weeks, as the SpringOut Pride festival swiftly approaches. Watch this space for advertisements for our events during November though!

Canberra is a pretty sleepy little town, and even though we’re national leaders with regard to Gay and Lesbian rights, we tend to be a bit behind the times when it comes to queerness and gender diversity. There seems to be a pretty persistent belief that all trans people are straight elderly ladies who started out as boys. Tonight as I sat at a table with a pair of cute radical queer dykes, young trans men, and young queer trans women, I felt very at home, and mused that most people don’t even realise that we have this many gender diverse and radically queer people in Canberra, let alone this being a rather smallish gathering of a narrowly defined demographic. I really hope that AGA’s youth group continues to grow, both in numbers, and in diversity of genders, sexualities, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and abilities.

We started talking about what kinds of things we might do in the future, and floated such ideas, as having a glamorous and highly silly dress up party, a craft-a-noon, going bowling, or just meeting up for another coffee. We’ll also be adding a mailing list for the youth group to use for discussion and organising, so no doubt things will start to happen.

I’d like to finish off this post, by thanking Robyn and Gabrielle for taking over the task of organising the Youth Group. You are both AWESOME!

This picnic is intended to be a fun day out for the entire alphabet soup. You don’t need to be trans to attend, you don’t even need to know a trans person. If you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, genderqueer, intersex, asexual or questioning your gender or sexuality, or know someone who is, you are more than welcome to come along and join in the fun.

Remember that you can bring your whole family, parents, partners, kids, and pets. Its a day out in a park, and there’s a playground for youngsters to play on. There are also BBQ facilities for those who want to cook food.

We try to be as inclusive as possible, so if you have a disability or other special requirements that we might be able to help with, please shoot us an email, and we’ll do our best.

WHAT: A Picnic

WHEN: 10th of October 2009, 12.30pm

WHERE: Glebe Park in Civic

WHO: You, and your family

WHY: To get to know other people of diverse age, sexuality, gender identity and expression, in a fun and family friendly environment.

Another reminder will go out closer to the event, but pencil the date into your calendar now!

SpringOut 2009

Its that time of year again… the run up to November, the month of Canberra’s local Pride Festival. A Gender Agenda and NewCTN are holding a joint stall at SpringOut’s Fairday this year. We’ve got lots of fun activities and events planned for the day, so come along and check out the festivities!

Also during November we have planned an Art Exhibition of Trans Political Art, with the grant kindly provided to us by Pink Tennis, the local Gay and Lesbian Tennis Club. This will be shown both in the Legislative Assemblies Exhibition Space, and in another Art Gallery, that we are still confirming.

There will also be an A Gender Agenda Picnic on the last Saturday of November, so mark the 28th of November in your calendar, and keep it clear!

In less cheerful news, we will be marking Transgender Day of Remembrance again this year. TDoR falls on the 20th, which is a Friday this year. We are hoping to have a ceremony inside a building, but again we haven’t yet confirmed locations. More details will be posted closer to the date.

Anyway, we hope to see you at an event soon.

The evening was excellent practice, and gave us plenty of new ideas on how to improve our training strategies, and ways of explaining things. In particular, it helped build our ongoing relationship with NewCTN. AbbeyJane helped us write the package, and present it, and one of the other CTN Regulars was in the audience and provided us with invaluable feedback at the end of the evening.

We also had the unique and pleasurable experience of being trans people sitting by while a non-trans person goes into bat for our rights. One of our non-trans members spoke eloquently about what being a trans ally meant to her, and where she sees the LGBT Communities shortcomings in being inclusive of transgendered people.

So thankyou to all the attendees of the training session, and Abbey, Peter, and Gab for being excellent presenters!