Media Release
Wednesday April 7th 2021
 
LABOR CONFERENCE DISAPPOINTS LGBTIQ+ ADVOCATES 
- Rainbow Labor secures some improvements but 2021 platform still falls short of past platforms
- Advocates pin hopes on election policies
 
Labor’s national conference has improved its LGBTIQ platform but failed to include key reforms, relegating them to the status of resolutions.
 
The draft national platform submitted to Labor’s national conference at the end of March erased many of the LGBTIQ commitments from previous platforms.
 
After lobbying from just.equal and Rainbow Labor it is understood some LGBTIQ commitments were re-instituted, including vilification protections, improvements to the Fair Work Act, references to HIV, and recognition of LGBTIQ homelessness and mental health issues.
 
But key reforms such as banning coercive intersex surgeries, improved access to health care for trans folk, and better discrimination protections for LGBTIQ school students were not included. Instead, it appears they were included in conference resolutions that have less clout.
 
Just.equal spokesperson, Rodney Croome, said,
 
“So many commitments were stripped from Labor’s platform and so few have been put back in, that it feels like the LGBTIQ community has been short changed.”
 
“I congratulate Rainbow Labor for getting as much as it could from the ALP national conference, but there is clearly resistance within some sections of the Labor Party to full-throated support for LGBTIQ equality.”
 
“Labor is yet to stand clearly and firmly against the resurgent prejudice experienced by LGBTIQ Australians ever since the marriage postal survey, and the longer it delays the more vulnerable LGBTIQ people will suffer.”
 
Mr Croome said the next opportunity for Labor to show its allyship was in its election policies.
 
“Labor has another chance before the election to show LGBTIQ Australians its support for inclusion and equality when it issues its election policies.”
 
“We will be watching closely to see if it issues LGBTIQ election policies that address the full range of community concerns.”
 
For a copy of this statement on the web, click here
For more information contact Rodney Croome on 0409 010 668.