Mapping Rural Pride (Goulburn Valley)

📣 Are you interested in finding out about an LGBTIQA+ map of regional, rural and remote Australia?

👉 Do you want to hear how LGBTIQA+ across rural Australia are overcoming local challenges?

🌈 Would you like to help us change the way Australia thinks about rural LGBTIQA+ life?

You’re invited to come join Rural Pride Australia in our visit to the Goulburn Valley.

• What: Mapping Rural Pride (Goulburn Valley)
• When: Friday 8th November 2024, 10.00am – 2.00pm (lunch included)
• Where: 136-142 Maude Street, Shepparton Vic 3630
• Who: For LGBTIQA+ people, their allies, supporters and families - both biological and chosen

Rural Pride Australia is mapping regional, rural and remote LGBTIQA+ Australia. We’re travelling across the country to create a Rural Mural - an LGBTIQA+ snapshot of what life is like outside the big smoke.

At the end of this demonstration project, we want to complete a national digital map of regional, rural and remote LGBTIQA+ communities, that:

(a) reflects their LGBTIQA+ best, including signs of LGBTIQA+ hope, local stories and history;
(b) shows local services, resources and community-led initiatives and events;
(c) maps LGBTIQA+-friendly, inclusive and safe toilets, spaces and settings; and,
(d) creates a pathway for the reporting of LGBTIQA+ hate (i.e. abuse, harassment, violence and discrimination).

Along the way we'll visit every state and territory to find out about local LGBTIQA+ life. We’re interested in what you think about local LGBTIQA+ visibility, safety and inclusion, particularly in mainstream services. Where there’s interest, we’ll also share the experiences of other regional, rural and remote communities, and what they’re telling us about what works, what’s challenging and their signs of local LGBTIQA+ hope.

And we’re also interested in collecting local LGBTIQA+ stories, so please reach out to us if you’d like to share your experiences over a cuppa. ☕

Who is Rural Pride Australia?

For eleven years Rural Pride Australia, formerly NICHE Australia, has partnered with LGBTIQA+ people and mainstream organisations in regional, rural and remote communities to make those communities safer, more supportive, welcoming and inclusive. Previous partnership work has included Mt Isa (2013), Bunbury (2014), NW Tasmania (2015-2017) and SE Queensland (2018).

For eight years we’ve partnered the Victorian Commissioner for LGBTIQA+ Communities to work with 29 regional and rural communities on the LGBTIQ Equality Roadshow, Regional Communities of LGBTIQ+ Practice gatherings and co-design the Rainbow Ready Roadmap. We also led in the FabJab LGBTIQ+ Vaccination Campaign, distributed 1000s of RATs to LGBTIQA+ people across rural Victoria, provided immediate relief funding for LGBTIQA+ people in flood-affected communities and provided Signs of LGBTIQA+ Hope grassroots micro-grants in early 2024.

We’re grateful for our Amplify Pride grant from the Aurora Group and GiveOut, as well as everyone who has donated to help us travel to every state and territory in 2024.

🔗 Find out more here - ruralpride.au

Who is Daniel Witthaus?

Daniel Witthaus believes you can change the world one cuppa at a time. He has spent 28 years challenging homophobia and working on LGBTIQA+ inclusion one cuppa at a time in schools, rural communities and, occasionally, developing countries. He has also worked with Kids Help Line, VicHealth, the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and No to Violence.

Daniel is the author of Beyond Priscilla: one gay man, one gay truck, one big idea… (2014), Beyond ‘That’s So Gay!’: Challenging homophobia in Australian schools (2010) and the Pride & Prejudice educational package (2002, 2012) – which won Human Rights Week awards for work in three Tasmanian schools.

In 2013 Daniel founded Rural Pride Australia, formerly NICHE, which focuses on the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in regional, rural and remote Australia. His focus is on helping communities assess their LGBTIQA+ inclusion readiness, practical strategies that work outside metropolitan centres and working on what can be done “in the meantime” ahead of an LGBTIQA+ utopia.

Accessibility of the space and further information:

• Uniting Vic. Tas. has 8 off-street parking spaces available on site, that are free, first come first served. One of these parks is an all-accessibly disability parking space.
• Entry into the Settlement Hub space is along a concrete path, and the entrance has a slight incline, with a ramp.
• The space has large windows along one side, with fluorescent lighting.
• Inside of the space there is lino and carpeted flooring.
• There are all gender, female only, all gender ambulant and an all gender all-accessible bathroom on site.
• Lunch will be provided.
• There are tables and chairs that people will be sitting at.
• The session will include a combination of conversational based learning, small group conversations, and larger group conversations using some PowerPoint slides.
• There will be an OUT in the OPEN festival volunteer present at this event, please make them feel welcome.

#colourmyworldatoito2024 🌈🌈

This event takes place on the lands of the Yorta Yorta people. Goulburn Valley Pride and the OUTintheOPEN Festival acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land on which we live, work and play, the eight clans of the Yorta Yorta Nation. We also pay our respects to their Elders past and present. On the land of the Goulburn Valley, sovereignty was never ceded.