The eighth annual Proud Awards are almost upon us, celebrating the best of local LGBTIQA+ community advocates and entertainers.
The most prestigious award of each year’s ceremony has been the Hall of Fame, honouring those who’ve made outstanding contributions to our community and affected real, lasting change across a range of sectors.
The 2023 entry into the Proud Awards Hall of Fame is no exception. Sandra Norman (pictured top left) is a long-time member of the Living Proud team, the local LGBTIQA+ service that is responsible for operating national crisis hotline QLife alongside a range of services that promote mental wellbeing and LGBTIQA+ inclusion.
We caught up with Sandra for a chat about her work, Living Proud’s significant impact and her great love of science fiction. Sandra began by telling us how she got her start in the community sector.
“I started as a volunteer for what was then called GLCS (Gay and Lesbian Community Services), now Living Proud.
“I was initially doing fundraising, then volunteering on the peer support phone line while also helping out in the office once a week. When the only paid staff member left, I applied for the job but I also continued to volunteer on the phones for 12 years.”
Living Proud has a long history here in Western Australia, and has evolved with our community to meet our needs and broaden its scope on inclusion and accessibility.
“Living Proud has changed its name a few times but it’s been essentially the same service for 50 years (next year is the big anniversary).
“It’s always had a phone support line – these days as part of a national service called QLife – and it’s always been about promoting health and wellbeing in our community.
“We now have a bit more capacity to do community projects like Queer and Accessible and to support smaller groups through the Proud and Connected Community Grants, as well as upskilling mainstream services to work with LGBTIQ+ people, and advocating to government.
“My own role constantly evolved as the service grew and different bits of funding came and went. I’ve been an admin worker, a book-keeper, a project officer, a training coordinator – I’ve never been too hung up on the titles, it was just a case of doing whatever was needed.
“For many years I was the only staff member so I’d be doing photocopying one day and meeting with government ministers the next.”
Reflecting on her time with Living Proud, as well as the organisations broader history, Sandra shares some of her proudest moments as part of the team.
“A highlight for me was winning a Community Services Industry Award for Opening Closets, which was a project we did in partnership with the Perth Inner City Youth Service.
“We’d spent 18 months travelling all over WA training staff at supported accommodation services, which in the early 2000s was a daunting task. I have many war stories from that project.
“Another proud moment was being recognized for work we’ve done in the suicide prevention space, making adaptations to the ASIST training program to be more LGBTIQ+ inclusive. ASIST is an international program but Australia’s really been leading the way in this area and it all started with some work that came out of Perth.”
Speaking to OUTinPerth during Mental Health Week, Sandra shares her view on why it’s so essential for LGBTIQA+ communities to have dedicated support services.
“I believe it’s important for people to have the choice to either access a mainstream service that’s inclusive and informed, or to access a dedicated LGBTIQ+ support service.
“Many people feel more comfortable seeking support from staff whose knowledge is not just theoretical but comes from lived experience. When you’re struggling with your mental health, the last thing you need is to be constantly fearing an ignorant response from the person who’s supposed to be helping you, or to feel like you have to first educate the staff before you can get the help you’re entitled to.”
Just some of the myriad programs Living Proud oversee are the Opening Closets training, promoting LGBTIQA+ inclusion and belonging in the workplace and other organisations, and the more recently-launched Queer and Accessible (Q&A) project, supporting disability inclusion among our community. Sandra speaks to the impact of targeted programs such as these.
“The Q&A project has really shifted the conversation in the LGBTIQ+ community, raised the visibility of people with disability, and had a ripple effect on the venues and spaces used by our community groups.
“It’s been wonderful to see how Pride WA and other groups now take it for granted that they consider accessibility when they’re planning community events.
“The training has been my main focus over the last 20 years and I’ve seen such a transformation in that time, in both knowledge and attitudes.
“It’s always awesome to hear stories from workers we’ve trained about how they’ve made changes in the way they deliver their services, or how they use language, or how they collect data, and the impact that’s had on their clients. So many people have had a more positive experience, or felt safe to disclose their authentic self, in the agencies that work with our most vulnerable community members.
Though Living Proud is a formidable force, with remarkable longevity, community-focused organisations like these always need support. Sandra shares ways people can come together to support the organisation.
“There are a lot of ways to support our work. You can get actively involved as a volunteer, either for QLife, in the office, or doing events.
“If you don’t have time to volunteer, we always need donations. You can encourage your workplace to bring us in do staff training or consultancy. If you have any political influence, you can support our government advocacy or our efforts to gain sustainable funding. You can also promote our QLife service, support our fundraising events, and share our social media posts.”
Aside from her commitment to our community wellbeing, Sandra is also a great lover of all things science fiction. Sandra shares how finding the sci-fi community made her find her place in the world.
“I discovered the local science fiction scene before I’d even come out and I experienced it as very welcoming of all kinds of diversity. The fan community doesn’t just accept difference, it actively celebrates it, not necessarily in a political way, it’s just a general philosophy of ‘the weirder the better’.
“There’s also a lot of cross-over between the science fiction scene and the goth scene so I used to go dancing with my girlfriend in the local goth club, which at the time was the only place I felt safe to do that outside the queer community.”
There’s also been a big shift in demographics in the community. I think most people see science fiction as being written and read by men but a few years back I was watching a panel of all the finalists for year’s best science fiction novel and I realized there wasn’t a single cis man on the stage.
“Much of my favourite science fiction comes from an era when queer people weren’t spoken about directly, so we learned to read the sub-text and to see ourselves in stories about difference and alienation.
“An example is The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, which is a book that affected me quite profoundly as a teenager. It has characters who are different, hidden, and persecuted by a conservative religious society, but who find and support each other.
It’s also been lovely to watch these things change over the years as queer people become more visible. I still remember my shock as a Buffy fan, watching the sub-text between Willow and Tara actually become an acknowledged romantic and sexual relationship.
Of course, with such an expert on hand and being completely spoiled for choice among the plethora of streaming services, I have to ask Sandra for her top recommendation.
“You left the hardest question until last. I hate choosing just one thing but go watch the TV adaptation of Good Omens, it’s lovely.”
Sandra joins the iconic Nana Neil, Connections Nightclub owner Tim Brown, veteran advocate June Lowe, HIV advocate and STYLEAID founder Mark Reid, BAFTA-winning drag performer Strykermeyer, DJ Seb Sharp and the late Aunty Vanessa Smith in The Proud Awards Hall of Fame.
You can join in celebrating Sandra alongside other fantastic LGBTIQA+ community leaders and entertainers at The Proud Awards this Saturday 14 October. For tickets head to stickytickets.com.au
Leigh Andrew Hill, image: Galina Romalis
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