Latrobe City Council celebrated the LGBTIQ+ community and diversity more broadly in the lead-up to IDAHOBIT day on 17 May.
IDAHOBIT Day is the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia, and recognises that on 17 May 1990, the Word Health Organisation removed homosexuality from the Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.
Council flew the Rainbow Pride flag outside its Corporate Headquarters in Morwell from Monday 10 May as a sign of being inclusive to all including the LGBTIQ+ community.
Staff also took part in LGBTIQ+ Awareness Training, facilitated by Dean Sutton, a Latrobe City resident and a member of the Victorian State Government LGBTIQ+ Taskforce.
Latrobe City Council Chief Executive Officer Steven Piasente said the organisation valued diversity and inclusion.
“It is important that we have a diverse workforce as such an organisation achieves great outcomes,” he said. Dean inspired staff by sharing some of his personal stories and learnings in the hopes of creating a greater understanding of the LGBTIQ+ community and awareness for the inclusion needs of people from other diverse backgrounds.
“It’s common for LGBTIQ+ people to indirectly come out again and again,” he said, giving a real example of a manager who assumed his partner was female. In a split instant, Dean had to assess if it was safe to bring his whole self to work and correct his manager, or not.
“It is important that we all challenge ourselves about our language and our perceptions so that we are all open and inclusive.”
Dean was a guest speaker at the first North Gippsland Football Netball League Pride Cup match in 2017, a game held to increase diversity and inclusion in sport and awareness of the LGBTIQ+ community.
“Pride is the opposite of shame. For so long, a lot of the community have been made to feel shame for who they are,” he said.
The Rainbow Pride flag has a story of its own. Red represents life; orange, healing; yellow, sunlight; green, nature; blue, harmony; and purple, spirit.