The City of Perth has officially launched their LGBTQIA+ inclusion plan this week, after adopting the initiative at a council meeting in late October.
The plan is dedicated to improving the experience and wellbeing of the LGBTQIA+ community in the city, developed by an LGBTQIA+ Advisory Group made up of lived-experience community member.
The three-year plan will focus on the City of Perth’s role as a service provider, partner and facilitator in increasing the visibility, social inclusion and health and wellbeing of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The plan outlines actions in seven key areas including safety, education, homelessness and healthcare.
Some of the actions in the plan include ensuring training is rolled out across the organisation, increasing the number of gender-neutral bathrooms, regular engagement with LGBTQIA+ stakeholders and a review of LGBTQIA+ inclusion among City of Perth services.
The plan was launched by City of Perth CEO Michelle Reynolds, Advisory Group co-chairs Paul-Alain Van Lieshout-Hunt & David Goncalves and Perth’s Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas.
“The City of Perth has a rich LGBTQIA+ history,” Van Lieshout-Hunt said at the launch, “This plan puts that culture, that lived experience, our community’s struggles and aspirations, front and centre.”
“It builds bridges and gives meaning to decades of stories with practical commitments. I’m tremendously proud of the approach – a co-design and co-development approach – that we took in developing this plan.”
Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas also welcomed the plan, acknowledging the initiative grew from offensive comments he made on live radio that hurt and incensed our community last year.
“When I reflect on what happened that day, and perhaps the effect of what took place that day, what I was most reminded of in my own mind is the way that I was brought up,” Mayor Zempilas said.
“I was brought up to have some fundamental principles in my mind. Respect, kindness, compassion… and on that particular morning I went against my own values and my own principles. In doing so I realised I caused a lot of people a great deal of pain, and of course I’m truly sorry for that.”
“Out of something as disappointing as that, what we have been able to do collectively – and I guess by corralling our emotions in the one direction – has been to grow from that experience, and there is no doubt that I have grown from that experience.”
The LGBTQIA+ Advisory Group will continue to participate in the rollout of the plan over the next three years.
Find out more about the plan at perth.wa.gov.au
OIP Staff
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