The Victorian Pride Lobby (the Lobby, formerly the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby) is a community-based advocacy group that works towards equality, social justice and advancing human rights for lesbian, gay, queer, bisexual and same-sex attracted people in Victoria.
The Lobby was created in October 1997, following the presentation of a report to a public meeting which proposed a model for a Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby. This model was accepted, and 21 days later the Lobby held its first annual general meeting, elected a management committee, adopted the rules of association, and began the process of incorporation. [1]
The Victorian Pride Lobby is a community based advocacy group that works towards equality, social justice and advancing human rights for lesbian, gay, queer, bisexual, and same sex attracted Victorians. They work together with, and lobby on behalf of, the whole community. They do not speak in the place of trans and gender diverse, intersex, and asexual community members, but rather work in conjunction with trans and gender diverse, intersex, and asexual community organisations to achieve social change for the LGBTIQA+ community.
In 2020, the Lobby’s members and the Committee of Management voted unanimously in favour of changing its name to the Victorian Pride Lobby. [2]
The Lobby has worked on a variety of issues such as domestic partnerships, [3] access to in vitro fertilisation and adoption, [4] and an end to homophobic violence. [5]
The Lobby also initiated the national Equal Love campaign, in an effort to win marriage rights for Australian gay and lesbian couples. [6]
The Committee is voted in by its membership at an annual general meeting.
The Committee is made up of up to 10 current Lobby members from the gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer and same-sex attracted community. The Committee of Management is responsible for the day-to-day running of the organization and each member usually heads a portfolio or working group. [7]
Current Committee members include: [8]
The current Co-Convenors are Nevena Spirovska and Devina Potter.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the gay liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Earlier movements focused on self-help and self-acceptance, such as the homophile movement of the 1950s. Although there is not a primary or an overarching central organization that represents all LGBT people and their interests, numerous LGBT rights organizations are active worldwide. The earliest organizations to support LGBT rights were formed in the early 20th century.
Queer is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning "strange" or "peculiar", queer came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the late 1980s, queer activists, such as the members of Queer Nation, began to reclaim the word as a deliberately provocative and politically radical alternative to the more assimilationist branches of the LGBT community.
LGBT is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) is an organization who is committed to advancing human rights to all people, disregarding gender identity, sex characteristics and expression. ILGA participates in a multitude of agendas within the United Nations, such as creating visibility for LGBTI issues by conducting advocacy and outreach at the Human Rights Council, working with members to help their government improve LGBTI rights, ensuring LGBTI members are not forgotten in international law, and advocating for LBTI women’s issues at the Commission on the Status of Women.
A pride flag is any flag that represents a segment or part of the LGBT community. Pride in this case refers to the notion of gay pride. The terms LGBT flag and queer flag are often used interchangeably.
Over the course of its history, the LGBT community has adopted certain symbols for self-identification to demonstrate unity, pride, shared values, and allegiance to one another. These symbols communicate ideas, concepts, and identity both within their communities and to mainstream culture. The two symbols most recognized internationally are the pink triangle and the rainbow flag.
Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH) is a community activist organisation based in Sydney, Australia. Since its establishment in 1999, CAAH has aimed to eliminate homophobia and achieve full equality for queer people—defined as "lesbian, gay, bisexual, same sex attracted, transgender, intersex or non-heterosexually identifying" in the CAAH constitution.
The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people in the Philippines have a distinctive culture in society and also have limited legal rights. Gays and lesbians are more so tolerated than accepted in Filipino society. Despite recent events that have promoted the rights, general acceptance, and empowerment of the Filipino LGBT community, discrimination remains. Homosexuals in the Philippines are known as "bakla", though there exist other terms to describe them. According to the 2002 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey, 11 percent of sexually active Filipinos between the ages of 15 and 24 have had sex with someone of the same sex. According to Filipino poet and critic Lilia Quindoza Santiago, Filipino culture may have a more flexible concept of gender; kasarian is defined in less binary terms than the English word; kasarian means "kind, species, or genus".
New Zealand society is generally accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) peoples. The LGBT-friendly environment is epitomised by the fact that there are several members of Parliament who belong to the LGBT community, LGBT rights are protected by the Human Rights Act, and same-sex couples are able to marry as of 2013. Sex between men was decriminalised in 1986. New Zealand has an active LGBT community, with well-attended annual gay pride festivals in most cities.
LGBT movements in the United States comprise an interwoven history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied movements in the United States of America, beginning in the early 20th century and influential in achieving social progress for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and transsexual people.
The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association, formerly the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association and the National LGBT Bar Association, is a national association of lawyers, judges and other legal professionals, law students, activists, and affiliated lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender legal organizations. It was formally founded in 1989 and became an official affiliate of the American Bar Association in 1992. The association is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and its current executive director is D’Arcy Kemnitz.
Brisbane Pride Festival started in 1990 as a means of organising and promoting public events and activities that contribute to queer culture. The first event was held as a rally and gay pride march through the streets of Brisbane, ending with a small gathering at Musgrave Park, South Brisbane.
Delhi Queer Pride Parade is organised by members of the Delhi Queer Pride Committee every last Sunday of November since 2008. The queer pride parade is a yearly festival to honour and celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and their supporters. The parade usually runs from Barakhamba Road to Tolstoy Marg to Jantar Mantar.
The following outline offers an overview and guide to LGBT topics.
Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". They are substantially more likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) than the non-intersex population, with an estimated 52% identifying as non-heterosexual and 8.5% to 20% experiencing gender dysphoria. Although many intersex people are heterosexual and cisgender, this overlap and "shared experiences of harm arising from dominant societal sex and gender norms" has led to intersex people often being included under the LGBT umbrella, with the acronym sometimes expanded to LGBTI. However, some intersex activists and organisations have criticised this inclusion as distracting from intersex-specific issues such as involuntary medical interventions.
Gender and sexual diversity (GSD), or simply sexual diversity, refers to all the diversities of sex characteristics, sexual orientations and gender identities, without the need to specify each of the identities, behaviors, or characteristics that form this plurality.
LGBT erasure refers to the tendency to remove lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, asexual and queer groups or people intentionally or unintentionally from record, or to dismiss or downplay their significance. This erasure can be found in a number of written and oral texts, including popular and scholarly texts.
