Giving voice to our community and strengthening inclusion
- We ensure that ACON maintains meaningful involvement of people living with HIV, and ensures their strengths and concerns are shared with decision makers and the broader community.
- We amplify the voices of those we serve to ensure that decision makers are working with us to create opportunities for our communities to live their healthiest lives.
- We advocate for the meaningful inclusion, support and participation of our communities and the reduction of discrimination and stigma.
- We build strong partnerships and exemplify and share best practice models for inclusion and participation.
- We participate in and support research and strive for a strong evidence base to inform decisions made about our communities’ health.
Summary Highlights
Safety & Social Inclusion
We’re here to help LGBTQ+ people who have experienced violence and discrimination, and to help improve safety and security of our community by providing information and a range of programs and services.
This year, we supported the Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes set up to investigate unsolved suspected hate crime deaths of LGBTIQ people (or people who were presumed to be LGBTIQ) in NSW between 1970 and 2010.
We provided information, evidence, archival material and resources in the lead up to and during hearings of the inquiry. We also provided support services to people providing evidence or who were impacted by the work of the commission. The final report is due to be handed down in 2023-2024.
ACON acknowledges the significant work of the inquiry to date, as well as the efforts of many people and organisations over the decades who have worked to bring attention to these acts of hate and to call for justice. ACON will continue to advocate for justice and work towards improved responses to hate crimes.
As part of our work in empowering LGBTQ+ communities in Greater Western Sydney, ACON continued to support five Inclusive Communities Networks to deliver their inclusion activities: Fairfield Liverpool Inclusive Network, Inclusive Communities Network (Canterbury-Bankstown); Macarthur-Wingecarribee Diversity Network; Parramatta Queer Forum; and Western Sydney Rainbow Connection. The networks are comprised of service providers, LGBTQ+ community members, leaders, and groups, focussing on LGBTQ+ inclusion, safety, culturally competent services provision, knowledge-sharing, and collaboration.
In February, we published Stories Out West, a short story anthology developed in partnership with Sweatshop. The initiative sought to elevate the voices of LGBTQ+, Sistergirl and Brotherboy community members and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities in Western Sydney through storytelling.
Stories Out West is part of ACON’s work to achieve greater health equity for LGBTQ+ people from CALD, as well as migrant and refugee, backgrounds in Greater Western Sydney.
We continued our Leading Rainbow Western Sydney program, a forum for community leaders who support multicultural LGBTQ communities in Greater Western Sydney.
In June, ACON, in partnership with the Inclusive Communities Network, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, BCRG, Wellways and OutLOUD held the Rainbow Multicultural Fair at the Bankstown Arts Centre, which celebrated the colourful intersections of LGBTQ+ and cultural identity.
ACON’s Safety and Inclusion work in Western Sydney is funded by the NSW Ministry of Health through the South-East Sydney Local Health District.
Find out more about ACON’s work in Greater Western Sydney here.
We continued to provide support to many businesses, organisations, and services across Australia in creating spaces that are more welcoming and inclusive of LGBTQ+ people through our Welcome Here Project. Over the past year, the project saw continued growth with 930 businesses accounting for 5064 sites joining the project, bringing us to a total of 2,721 businesses and 10,667 sites. We thank the many businesses and services across Australia for proudly displaying Welcome Here stickers and committing to the first step of providing a welcoming space for people from LGBTQ+ communities.
We marked Pride Month in June with a small grants program that supported community organisations to hold Pride events in their local area. Fourteen grants of up to $1000 each were awarded to community groups and organisations throughout NSW, with a particular focus on regional and rural areas, as well as events for LGBTQ+ First Nations people.
In the coming year, our Safety and inclusion program will have a strong focus on supporting our LGBTQ+ communities in the face of escalating disinformation, stigma and violence directed at sexuality and gender diverse people. This work will include guidance on hosting LGBTQ+ events safely and facilitating opportunities for our communities to gather together to discuss solutions.
You can find out more about our work in safety and inclusion at acon.org.au/what-we-are-here-for/safety-inclusion/
Healthy Ageing
We’re here to offer support, companionship and advice for older sexuality and gender diverse community members by providing health information and a range of programs and services.
The LOVE Project (Living Older Visibly Engaged), ACON’s ageing initiative, aims to empower older LGBTQ+ communities, including people living with HIV, to lead healthy, active and more socially connected lives. ACON runs a number of programs and events under our LOVE Project umbrella.
The Coming Back Out Salon was presented by Melbourne-based events company All The Queens Men, in association with Sydney WorldPride and supported by ACON and the LOVE Project. The spectacular social event celebrating older LGBTQ+ people for the whole community was held at Sydney Town Hall, as one of the WorldPride’s premier opening events.
Afternoon Delight is our annual event presented by the LOVE Project and funded by NSW Seniors’ Festival. Screening as part of Queer Screen’s 30th Mardi Gras Film Festival, the event is a movie matinee, afternoon tea and social gathering for the older LGBTQ+ community, friends, and allies.
In partnership with the Art Gallery of NSW, this initiative provided older LGBTQ+ people an opportunity to get up close to gallery and its artworks over a series of excursions.
The LOVE Project has a close and successful partnership with the City of Sydney. Their investment helps support activities and events for older LGBTQ+ people.
The event A Social Movement was delivered for the second time as a collaboration with ACON’s Women’s Health Project and Boomalli Aboriginal Artist Co-Operative. This event provided LGBTQ+ people with a safe space to make social connections and create art with the artist Hayley Pigram.
We collaborated with Tribal Warriors Cultural Cruises to offer older community members the opportunity to learn First Nations culture, history and stories of Sydney harbour.
In October, we held our inaugural LOVE Social Celebration. With generous funding support from Dowson Turco Lawyers, the event celebrated our trailblazing older community and paid tribute to our passionate LOVE Project members.
We also held the LOVE Social Catch Up at Glebe Town Hall, which included movement and dance exercises, a healthy lunch and discussion about cooking on a budget and information from the Welfare Rights Centre.
The LOVE Club Gatherings are a once-a-month activity responding to older LGBTQ+ community members wanting more safe spaces to socialise, more opportunities to stay connected and greater access to current health information and inclusive service providers. The gatherings have grown to become a fun and welcoming activity for older LGBTQ+ people to build their own support networks and friendships.
The Community Visitors Scheme (CVS), funded by the Australian Government, provides much-needed social support to older LGBTQ+ adults experiencing loneliness or isolation. Trained volunteers make weekly or fortnightly one-on-one visits to older LGBTQ+ people for social interaction and support. Over the year, 44 volunteers provided social support for 55 recipients. The program has received further funding for three years, enabling it to expand to the Hunter region.
In the coming year, ACON’s LOVE Project will continue to hold our regular LOVE Club Gatherings in person and online, providing opportunities for older LGBTQ+ community members to socialise and connect. With support from the City of Sydney, we will also deliver events for older LGBTQ+ people with focuses on digital literacy and social connection.
You can find out more about our work in ageing at acon.org.au/what-we-are-here-for/ageing/
Trans Health Equity
We are here to help trans people of all genders – binary and non-binary – take control of their health.
ACON’s Trans Health Equity unit was established in 2019 to deliver projects and initiatives that support the health and wellbeing of trans people.
Our work in trans health is led by the priority action areas outlined in ACON’s landmark Blueprint for Improving the Health and Wellbeing of the Trans and Gender Diverse Community in NSW. We have fostered and strengthened strategic partnerships such as working with ASHM, Justice Health and NSW Health to improve affordable and available gender affirming healthcare and trans affirming services.
It has been a difficult year for trans people of all genders everywhere. However, our community engagement, health promotion and advocacy efforts continue to demonstrate the importance and positive outcomes of peer-led care and support programs that aim to strengthen and empower our trans communities in NSW, and across Australia.
TransHub continues to be one of the most important online hubs for trans health and gender affirmation support across NSW. The site draws visitors from all over Australia and overseas. Over the past year, TransHub recorded 898,000 visits and 1.4 million page views.
We received generous funding from the TPG Foundation to deliver a national expansion project to increase the health and wellbeing of all trans people and provide key information and resources to trans people, their allies and health providers across Australia. This project involves partnerships, robust governance, and collaboration between ACON and community-controlled organisations in each state and territory to ensure a nationally consistent and central repository for social, medical, and legal affirmation information and resources on TransHub.
This year we added new pages on updating name and gender details to vote, experiences of suicide and distress and developed resources for Australian employers focusing on trans-affirming workplace practice, including updating the workplace gender affirmation policy template available on TransHub.
Trans Vitality aims to reduce suicide rates in trans communities by strengthening the protective factors of trans people of all genders and the capacity of service providers across NSW.
This year, the program focused on a peer education model of supporting resilience-building, community connections, fostering self-determination, and prioritised the engagement and focus on trans people from culturally diverse backgrounds, people of colour and First Nations Sistergirls, Brotherboys and trans mob.
ACON’s Trans Health Equity team revised the pilot program workshops and in 2023 delivered four workshop streams held over three months in March-May. This included an in-person workshop stream for trans
people of colour in Western Sydney, and an online workshop stream for First Nations Sistergirls, Brotherboys and trans mob.
In total, 60 people applied to attend at least one of the workshop streams with 28 attending one or more of the workshop sessions. Attendees noted greater connection to community, greater confidence to support other trans people in their lives, increased awareness of trans-affirming and gender affirming services, increased awareness of local trans history and feeling more euphoric and affirmed.
This year, ACON established the Trans Mental Health Service, off the back of the successful P4T pilot trans peer navigator service that finished up in 2022 and is featured in a final report Insights Report: The role of Peer Navigators by the Mental Health Commission NSW.
This new service aims to improve the mental health, wellbeing, and quality of life of trans people and people questioning their gender, through the delivery of affirming and inclusive care coordination, counselling, peer navigation and peer support. All clinicians and peer workers delivering this service are also trans.
To date, this service has supported 58 people, through the delivery of over 580 occasions of service.
Trans health and rights are a key focus for ACON. In the coming year, we will continue developing new TransHub pages and resources with a focus on the national expansion project. We will engage trans communities across our Trans Vitality program for the development of new peer-led workshops and a social media campaign. We will work alongside our partners and key stakeholders to continue our on-going commitment to an inclusive and knowledgeable health sector and providing resources and advocacy for clear and easy pathways for accessing available gender-affirming care in NSW.
You can find out more about our work on trans and gender diverse health at acon.org.au/who-we-are-here-for/tgd-people
Policy, Strategy and Research
We’re here to work with legislators, policymakers, researchers and service providers to help them understand and address the health needs of sexuality and gender diverse people, and people living with HIV.
Our policy work remains committed to ending HIV transmissions and HIV stigma, as well as improving health outcomes for all LGBTQ+ people in NSW. This year, we produced a number of major policy papers including:
- HIV and Young Gay, Bi+ and Queer Men
- People Living with HIV and Smoking: An Evidence Brief
- The Role of the NSW HIV Partnership Network in our Response to Mpox
We provided submissions to a number of state and federal inquiries including the Australian Law Reform Commission’s Inquiry into Religious Educational Institutions and Anti-Discrimination Law; the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2026 Census topic consultation; the federal Inquiry into Universal Access to Reproductive Healthcare; a submission to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee regarding long-acting injectable PrEP; and advice to NSW MP Alex Greenwich on his proposed Equality Bill.
We gave evidence at hearings including the NSW Inquiry into Improving Crisis Communications for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities; the Inquiry into Universal Access to Reproductive Healthcare; and the Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ Hate Crimes.
We provided advice and feedback on a number of government strategies and policies, including the forthcoming National HIV Strategy, the NSW Women’s Strategy, the National Suicide Prevention Strategy, the NSW Alcohol and Other Drugs Strategy, the new NSW notification of HIV Infection form, NSW’s Clinical Guidance for the Management of Substance Use in Pregnancy, Birth and the Postnatal Period, the Medical Board of Australia’s Telehealth consultations with patients guidelines, as well as ongoing advice around the implementation of the NSW LGBTIQ+ Health Strategy.
We continued to advocate against mandatory disease testing by working with sector partners to produce guidelines for people who are the subject of a Mandatory Testing Order.
In the lead up to the 2023 NSW State Election, ACON worked alongside a coalition of organisations including BlaQ Aboriginal Corporation, Equality Australia, NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, Hepatitis NSW, SWOP, Positive Life NSW, HALC and Twenty10, to produce our Candidates Questionnaire, which outlined key commitments necessary in improving the health, human rights, and safety of people in our communities.
Representatives from the major parties and key independents provided their position and elaborated on their commitments at our community forum held in March at the Teachers Federation Conference Centre. Over 150 community members attended in person and online.
ACON remains committed to our multi-partisan approach to our work. We look forward to continue working with the NSW Government to achieve positive health outcomes for our communities.
Sydney WorldPride saw the return to in-person recruitment of the Sydney Gay Community Periodic Survey (SGCPS) back to pre pandemic levels. This year, 3,395 valid surveys were collected. We engaged 30 peer recruiters, working a total of 496 hours during Sydney WorldPride.
Delivered in partnership between ACON, UNSW’s Centre for Social Research in Health, the Kirby Institute, Positive Life NSW and the NSW Ministry of Health, the SGCPS is an annual cross-sectional survey of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men recruited in community sites in Sydney and online throughout NSW.
ACON is committed to evidence-based policy and programs to improve health outcomes and HIV responses for our communities. Research is critical to building the evidence base that underpins our work, helping us to understand our communities’ needs and design effective programmatic and policy responses.
Our Research Ethics Review Committee, which is committed to ensuring our communities are meaningfully and ethically included in research, reviewed and provided advice to 45 research projects from 18 research institutions, exploring a range of topics including HIV stigma, PrEP, cancer, violence, inclusion, drug and alcohol use, mental health, mpox, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, trans and gender diverse health, multicultural LGBTQ people and health service access.
ACON staff also provided support to 21 research projects in an advisory capacity including the SGCPS, PrEPARE, SWASH, Alcohol and Tobacco Use Among LBQ Women study, GoGoVax, Bi+ HIV and Sexual Health survey, #SpeakingOut@Work, and the Transforming Responses to Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence study, among others.
In the coming year, ACON will start developing the next iteration of our Strategic Plan. It will be a collaborative effort involving consultations with our community members, stakeholders, and staff, alongside a comprehensive review of our existing programs and initiatives. In addition, we will continue our advocacy efforts including responding to Alex Greenwich MP’s Equality Bill, participating in the NSW Drug Summit, and addressing the findings of the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes, which is due to report in 2023/24.
You can find out more about our work in policy, strategy and research at acon.org.au/what-we-are-here-for/policy-research/
LGBTQ People With Disability
We’re here to support, build capacity, advocate for sexuality and gender diverse people with disabilities across Australia.
ACON’s LGBTQ People With Disability project began in September 2019 with the development and production of a resource helping sexuality and gender diverse communities understand and navigate the National Disability Insurance Scheme. We partnered with People With Disability Australia to develop Queerability, an toolkit that focuses on providing culturally-informed information about choice and decision-making in the NDIS application and management processes. ACON is continuing to update and improve this toolkit to reflect changes in NDIS policy and legislation, and to make the toolkit easier to use and more user-friendly.
In 2023/24, ACON will deliver virtual workshops to support LGBTQ+ people with disability nationally to build advocacy skills and navigate the NDIS. In NSW, we will also create opportunities for LGBTQ+ people with disability to connect socially.
Learn more and find resources designed for LGBTQ People With Disability here.
Regional Services
We’re here to help sexuality and gender diverse people, and people with HIV in regional NSW take control of their health by providing a range of local services and supporting a variety of local community groups. We have offices in the Northern Rivers and the Hunter, along with outreach services operating across Western and Southern NSW.
Our regional teams engage with community members and people living with HIV in providing care coordination and counselling services, delivering health promotion campaigns, undertaking community development and peer education initiatives, supporting community groups and events, providing training and support to mainstream services, and providing access to needle and syringe programs. Our regional teams also provide face-to-face and off-site counselling through via phone and the internet.
Based in Newcastle, ACON Hunter works with the community and partner organisations throughout the Hunter, New England, Central Coast and Western NSW Regions.
Among the highlights this year were:
- Delivered ACON’s HIV prevention and sexual health campaigns, including the With Love, WorldPride and Mpox campaigns via our online platforms and through local networks.
- Provided a peer support service to the HNELHD Mpox vaccination clinic in Newcastle.
- Engaged communities in regional NSW on ACON’s LGBTQ+ health campaigns and resources, including the Red Ribbon Appeal for World AIDS Day, Mpox vaccination, PrEP guides, Cancer Prevention, and Safety and Inclusion.
- Partnered with Hunter New England Sexual Health to offer a twice-weekly drop-in sexual health service that provided HIV and STI testing and treatment to over 421 clients.
- Partnered with SWOP to conduct 7 outreach visits to brothels and provided HIV and STI testing for 52 sex workers.
- Distributed 30,208 free condoms.
- Partnered with the City of Newcastle to deliver Trans and Gender Diverse inclusion and wellbeing events.
- Attended 56 events to engage in health promotion and help create inclusive spaces for the LGBTQ+ community and promote HIV awareness. These included regional pride events, SHAG week with the University of Newcastle, Mardi Gras viewing parties, Queer social and arts-based events, service provider expos, and outreach community catchups.
- Delivered the ComeOUT LGBTQ+ youth inclusion project, which developed work-ready skills among LGBTQ+ young people and produced eight social inclusion events attended by over 250 LGBTQ+ youth in Newcastle.
- Continued to deliver both peer education and training to local service providers working with our communities. In total, we delivered 46 education and capacity-building sessions to 603 participants from a broad section of our regional communities. Our Community Health Promotion Officers also provided an additional 5,734 occasions of health education to our LGBTQ+ peers.
- Conducted 34 outreach trips to towns and cities across the region, facilitating social connection, networking, capacity building, and health and wellbeing opportunities that were attended by 3,781 people. An additional 24,000 people attended Newcastle, Central Coast, and Lake Macquarie pride festivals, where ACON had activator stalls.
- Provided counselling, care coordination, and peer support to over 555 clients directly from the ACON Hunter Client Services Team and achieved a >95% client satisfaction rating.
- Maintained the peer-led Needle and Syringe Outreach Service and delivered 60,890 needles and syringes, and other sterile injecting equipment to people in regional areas with limited or no access to existing NSP outlets.
- Distributing a further 233,180 needles and syringes and providing 1,369 brief interventions at our Maitland Road NSP outlet
- Developed and distributed 15 regionally focused HIV, sexual health, and harm minimisation health promotion resources.
ACON’s Northern Rivers office is based in Lismore and works with community, along with partners and services throughout the Northern NSW and the Mid North Coast – from Tweed Heads in the North to Port Macquarie in the south and out to Tabulam and Drake in the west.
Since March 2022, the ACON Northern Rivers team has worked hard to rebuild and refurbish the office that was inundated by severe floods that hit the region. In June 2022 our office re-opened, with improved facilities and counselling and care spaces, allowing us to continue supporting our communities.
Among the highlights this year were:
- Delivering ACON’s HIV prevention campaigns and sexual health messages at local events throughout the Northern Rivers and Mid-North Coast. We promoted ACON’s HIV awareness campaigns at community events, including World AIDS Day, Tropical Fruits Fair Day, RU Okay Day at Southern Cross University, It’s OK on the Macleay, Mental Health Day BBQ in Ballina and NAIDOC events in Lismore.
- Provided 15 training sessions about HIV treatment, prevention and testing, LGBTQ+ inclusion, and ACON services. These are free sessions for the community and service providers that help to reduce stigma and discrimination for the LGBTQ+ community and people living with HIV.
- Our Client Services team and Health Promotion team established a new Community of Practice for clinicians to improve the care they provide to trans and gender-diverse people. Over 50 people actively participate in this group.
- Delivered counselling, care coordination and client services to 193 community members in the Northern Rivers region.
- Supported domestic violence and suicide prevention initiatives through our membership in the Kyogle Anti- Violence Alliance and the Lismore Suicide Prevention Collaborative.
- Conducted 15 outreach trips to towns and cities across the Northern Rivers, facilitating social connection, networking, capacity building, and health and wellbeing opportunities.
- Attended 15 local events to engage in health promotion and help create inclusive spaces for the LGBTQ+ community and promote HIV awareness. These included events at support groups for gay, bi+ and men who have sex with men and people living with HIV.
- Continued to partner with local community organisations and support groups for people living with HIV, including Northern Rivers Gay Men, Lismore Lads and Brunswick Lunch Club, while creating new relationships with Rainbow in the River in Laurieton and Rainbow Coffs Harbour.
- Distributed 9,900 free condoms.
- Distributed 9,606 sterile needles and syringes and provided 61 brief interventions via our Needle Syringe Program outlet.
The impact of the 2022 floods was significant and continues to cause psychological distress and social and economic hardship among our communities in the region. We continued to provide support by:
- Providing financial assistance with funds raised from ACON’s flood appeal. $12,800 was distributed to 78 people from our communities to assist with essential items such as food, fuel and clothing.
- Delivering a suicide prevention workshop in April to support those with feelings of despair or thoughts of suicide. This was made possible with support from the Lismore Suicide Prevention Collaborative and North Coast Primary Health Network.
- Developing a series of workshops to increase wellbeing and preparedness for LGBTQ+ communities impacted by flooding in the Northern Rivers, along with additional counselling support to flood-affected community members. This program is funded by Healthy North Coast through the North Coast PHN program.
ACON’s Regional Outreach team works with partners and services throughout the Illawarra Shoalhaven, Southern NSW, Nepean Blue Mountains, Murrumbidgee and Far West Local Health Districts. Among the highlights this year were:
- Hosted a peer-led HIV prevention regional forum for GBMSM “HIV in 2023” and presented three peer-led workshops for GBMSM focusing on HIV, sexual health and wellbeing.
- Hosted a rapid HIV testing and Dry Blood Spot pop-up clinic at the Broken Heel Festival.
- Delivered 10,820 safe sex packs to community events, organisations, and venues in Southern, Nepean Blue Mountains, Murrumbidgee and Far West regions.
- Delivered World AIDS Day events in Katoomba and Wollongong, including coordinating the refurbishment and unveiling of the AIDS memorial at the Wollongong Memorial Gardens.
- Delivered ACON resources to 180 services and organisations in the Southern, Nepean Blue Mountains, Murrumbidgee and Far West regions.
- Partnered with local GPs, and Primary Health Networks to develop ACON PrEP guides for Wagga Wagga and the Southeast Coast to improve access to PrEP in regional NSW.
- Delivered ACON’s HIV prevention campaigns and sexual health messages at key local events in Wollongong, Albury, Wagga, Hay, Katoomba, Penrith, Bega, Young, Queanbeyan, Jindabyne and Nowra.
- Supported and attended key events marking LGBTQ+ days of significance in Wollongong, Leeton, Hay, Katoomba and Penrith.
- Attended or ran over 20 events and initiatives to engage in HIV and STI health promotion and help create inclusive spaces for the LGBTQ+ community. These included six regional pride festivals in Broken Hill, Hay, Bega, Wagga, Port Kembla and Jindabyne. Additionally, we supported the Western Sydney Rainbow Connection speaker series, Wollongong Spin Festival, Koori Knockout, World AIDS Day Red Party Wollongong, Medlow Bath AIDS memorial grove service, and IDAHOBIT Day events.
- Partnered with the Parramatta Pride Forum to plan, operate and sponsor the 2022 Paramatta Pride Picnic.
- Conducted 27 outreach trips to towns and cities across our region, including in the NSW Far West, Murrumbidgee, Illawarra Shoalhaven, Nepean Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands, and Southern NSW.
In addition to maintaining our broad range of programs and services in regional NSW, in the coming year, we will have a special focus on:
- Continuing to work closely with Local Government and Community Organisations in regional NSW to offer safe, fun, and engaging opportunities for our communities to gather despite an environment of escalating disinformation, lobbying, stigma, and aggression directed against LGBTQ+ people.
- Supporting the Tropical Fruits NYE festival, which is returning for the first time in several years, by providing a large harm minimisation and health promotion presence via the ACON Rovers program.
- Continuing to focus on delivering our Mental Health Resilience and Wellbeing services in Northern NSW as the long-term impacts of the floods continue to be felt by our communities.
- Extending access to our suicide prevention and trans and gender diverse mental health peer support services to better meet the needs of our communities in Regional NSW.
You can find out more about our work in regional NSW at acon.org.au/who-we-are-here-for/regional-nsw/
Pride Inclusion Programs
We’re here to help make the places where our community members live, work, study, play and heal more inclusive of people of diverse sexualities and genders.
ACON’s Pride Inclusion Programs offer Australian employers, sporting organisations and health and wellbeing providers a membership-based program that provides dedicated relationship management, expert advice, training, resources and on-call support for all aspects of LGBTQ inclusion.
In addition, members are provided with strategic roadmaps for best practice, benchmarking opportunities, and participation in annual employee surveys, all of which provide valuable information on the scope, trajectory, and impact of their work. Pride Inclusion Programs also holds an annual conference, several awards events, information sessions, data presentations, and panel events throughout the year.
Pride in Diversity is an employer support program for LGBTQ inclusion in the workplace. Pride in Diversity are specialists in HR, organisational change and workplace diversity dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of LGBTQ people by reducing exclusion, invisibility, homophobia and stigma in the workplace.
Membership of Pride in Diversity has substantially grown this year with member numbers rising to 469, an increase of 14.4% year-on-year.
The Australian LGBTQ Inclusion Awards did not take place this year due to the significant redesign of the Australian Workplace Equality Index and will resume in 2024.
Pride in Sport has maintained its success over the past year, partnering with over 60 national, state, professional and university sporting bodies, including prominent entities like the Australian Sports Commission, Sport Integrity Australia, and Paralympics Australia. Notably, fee-for-service support surged, enabling our team to engage with 100+ sporting organisations.
A highlight this year is the ‘Pride in Sport Collective’, a Sport Australia-funded initiative where 12 national sporting bodies collaborated with Pride in Sport on inclusion policies and community engagement, yielding resounding success.
We played a pivotal role in the Australian Institute of Sport’s ‘Thrive With Pride’ initiative; empowering out and ally ambassadors and developing education packages, fostering greater inclusivity within elite sport.
The 2023 Australian Pride in Sport Awards set a new benchmark with the largest attendance to-date, making this a must-attend event celebrating LGBTQ inclusion successes.
Pride in Health + Wellbeing enjoyed a 46% growth in membership this year closing the financial year with 92 members. This year also saw culmination of both Pride in Health + Wellbeing members and Pride in Diversity Health members under an overarching ‘Health’ umbrella, for the purpose of extending our work across the health sector and providing better value for members across both programs.
2022-2023 saw Pride Training continue to grow with increases in training sessions and a broad range of special projects. The team delivered 110 facilitated training sessions (an increase of 59%) which was made up of 413 hours of training (an increase of 48%) delivered to 2,196 learners (an increase of 89%). The overall satisfaction score for these sessions remains steady at 9.4/10.
Over the year, Pride Training developed and delivered bespoke training and e-learning packages around LGBTQ+ awareness, inclusive practice and trans-affirming support for professionals and service providers across a broad range of sectors and industries.
All Pride Inclusion Programs publish an index for best practice within their respective areas of expertise. These indices act as:
- a roadmap that empowers organisations to develop their LGBTQ inclusion strategies and action plans through an evidence-based approach guided by best practice insights
- a submission instrument that assesses the workplace inclusion initiatives within an organisation based on evidence and responses supplied,
- a survey designed to gauge the overall impact of inclusion initiatives on organisational culture as well as on LGBTQ identifying and non-identifying respondents.
This allows organisations to holistically plan, audit, and measure the impact of their work in LGBTQ inclusion, benchmark themselves against their peers, and provide a comprehensive overview of progress to date.
This year the Australian Workplace Equality Index and the Pride in Sport Index undertook significant changes after an extensive member consultation. Due to the extent of the AWEI review, submissions were not collected for the 2022 year. 41,157 respondents participated in the AWEI Employee Survey. The Pride in Sport Index saw 27 organisations take part and over 1,000 survey responses collected, making this one of the richest datasets for LGBTQ inclusion in sport to-date. The Health + Wellbeing Equality Index saw 28 submissions with a total of 1,177 survey responses.
The Pride in Practice Conference is the only national conference dedicated to advancing LGBTQ inclusion in workplaces, sporting organisations and the health and human services sector. This year was deemed the most successful conference to-date, held in Melbourne with 960 delegates across the three days, 143 speakers and 50 sessions overall.
Looking ahead we see the start of the new iteration of all our program indices and surveys and the return of the much-anticipated AWEI awards event in 2024. Across all programs there is an anticipation of increased uptake with newly programmed initiatives and bespoke work by our Pride Training program, increased engagement of executive leadership in forums and peer discussions across all inclusion programs and a refresh of divisional cross-program offerings.
You can find out more about our work in LGBTQ inclusion at prideinclusionprograms.com.au.
Our Focus Areas
