Just over one in 20 adult Victorians openly identify as being LGBTIQA+1 (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex, queer and asexual). LGBTIQA+ Victorians are valued members of our community who add to our diversity and make Victoria a better place to live.
LGBTIQA+ Victorians also face higher levels of discrimination, stigma and exclusion, which can lead to poorer health, economic, social and mental health outcomes than other Victorians.
Many people within LGBTIQA+ communities who with other forms of inequality or discrimination, such as LGBTIQA+ people of colour, asylum seekers, refugees, people of faith or sex workers are less visible. This overlapping and interconnecting of identities is often called ‘intersectionality’.
LGBTIQA+ voices are at the heart of Victoria’s first LGBTIQA+ strategy. Over 1,600 LGBTIQA+ Victorians, their families, advocates and allies, organisations and broader community, shared their experiences to help us develop Victoria’s first 10-year LGBTIQA+ strategy to improve the lives of LGBTIQA+ communities.
Vision
The strategy’s vision includes making sure:
- all Victorians feel safe, are healthy, have equal human rights and can live wholly and freely.
- LGBTIQA+ Victorians experience the benefits of full participation in economic, educational, political, community and social areas at all stages of life
- Victoria leads the way in LGBTIQA+ equality, celebrating culture, community and taking sustained, enduring and measurable action.
Delivering the vision
The Minister for Equality will lead the LGBTIQA+ strategy with the support of all other Victorian ministers and their departments.
The Commissioner for LGBTIQA+ Communities will continue to engage with community and represent community perspectives as we develop and deliver actions.
The Victorian Government’s LGBTIQA+ Taskforce will continue to provide community advice and oversight for delivering actions and tracking outcomes.
LGBTIQA+ communities’ voices are embedded in the design and delivery of reforms, with opportunities for community to participate in and lead these changes.
We will develop an outcomes framework to measure the impact the strategy is having on LGBTIQA+ Victorians, tapping into existing government outcomes measures and building new data points that reflect LGBTIQA+ outcomes.
Finally, we will report back to all Victorians each year across the strategy’s 10-year lifetime via this webpage to keep the community updated on our progress.
Priority areas
The actions we commit to in this strategy are organised around four priority areas:
Priority area 1: Equal rights and freedoms
Strengthening existing legal protections for LGBTIQA+ Victorians and ensuring we create laws with an equity lens will benefit all community members.
Priority area 2: Equitable, inclusive and accessible services
Services should be approachable, welcoming, safe and inclusive for all Victorians throughout their journey and when moving between services.
Priority area 3: Visibility to inform decision making
Improving LGBTIQA+ data collection to build evidence will enable us to get a better picture of how LGBTIQA+ Victorians experience all parts of their lives.
Priority area 4: Safe, strong and sustainable communities
LGBTIQA+ communities are a proud part of the Victorian community. It is critical that we build a society where all people can be themselves and support one another.
Funding
The Victorian Budget 2021-22 provided an initial $6.5 million to deliver the LGBTIQA+ strategy:
- $2 million for the delivery of state-wide training and resources
- $1.3 million to support the health and wellbeing of people with an intersex variation
- $2 million to support the government’s Trans and Gender Diverse Peer Support Program
- $1.2 million to roll out awareness raising campaigns
More information
Watch the former Commissioner for LGBTIQA+ Communities, Todd Fernando, and Minister for Equality, the Hon Harriet Shing, talk about the strategy and why it is so important:
Definitions
We recognise the diversity of Aboriginal people living throughout Victoria. While the terms ‘Koorie’ or ‘Koori’ are commonly used to describe Aboriginal people of southeast Australia, we have used the term ‘Aboriginal’ to include all people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who are living in Victoria.
Some data mentioned on this webpage is limited because it does not always account for the experiences of people with an intersex variation. For this reason, we sometimes use the term ‘LGBTQ+’ to reflect the research’s limitations.
The words ‘our’ and ‘we’ used throughout this webpage refer to the Victorian Government.
For a more complete list of definitions, please refer to the definitions and key terms web page.
References
[1] The Victorian Population Health Survey 2017 estimates that 5.7 per cent of Victorian adults are LGBTIQ+. Source: Victorian Agency for Health Information (VAHI) 2020, The health and wellbeing of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer population in Victoria: findings from the Victorian Population Health Survey 2017, State of Victoria, Melbourne, 4.
Updated