Fridae

What are the unique experiences of living with multiple identities and between two diverse communities? 

What does ‘coming out’ as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex or queer (GLBTIQ) mean within multicultural families and communities?

There will be a facilitated discussion, workshops and an exhibition featuring artworks from local artists who work in this area. There will also be a chance to find out about available services and network with service providers, community leaders and organisations.

Workshop topics include: religion & sexuality, gender diversity, arts & culture, rights & politics, multicultural GLBTIQ young people, the Australian GLBTIQ Multicultural Council and diversity in community care for older people, people with a disability and their carers.

Why?

It is easy to sift through any of my previous articles on Fridae.com and uncover some of my own experiences around being a gay Asian man in four different countries (Malaysia, Singapore, the USA, and now Australia). I have written, not to exaggerate my journey as either unique or special, nor to claim some privileged status of heroism or victimhood. Rather, I want to demonstrate how my life is but one, like so many others’… Lives lived self-consciously in this very dance between here and there; family and nation; tradition and modernity; ‘homeland’ and host-land…

While gay culture has gone ‘global,’ globalisation has often meant greater visibility of Euro-American tastes, values, and bodies. Even the words that comprise the “GLBT” umbrella – “gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender,” are words derived from English, Greek and Latin; languages and cultures which frame the cultural legacy of the “West.” Typically, the word “Western” is used to refer to cultures associated with continental Europe and contemporary North America.

It is interesting that many consider Australia a Western country, even though we are a giant island republic waist deep in the South Pacific Ocean. While Australia is part of the British Commonwealth, geographically, this beautiful continent is closer to the rest of the Asia-Pacific than to Europe. Indeed, the Australia that I know and live on a daily basis is not a single, static culture. It is a mosaic of incredibly diverse and beautiful peoples. From the Aboriginal citizens of this country who have been here for over 40,000 years, to the descendants of early Anglo-Celtic convict settlers. From the Chinese Australian communities who have been here since the Gold Rush of the 1800s, to the Greek Australians who make Melbourne the largest Greek-speaking population outside of Greece itself. Truly, Australia is a repository of the globe’s wanderers, a home for the homeless, soil for the rootless…

A library of stories.

Prior to 1973, from the early 1900s, people who were classified as ‘not white’ were strictly restricted from immigration into Australia as part of a piece of racist legislation known as the White Australia policy. Since the end of the policy, Australia has seen waves of immigrants and refugees from Asia, the Pacific Islands, Latin America, and Africa, arriving on the shores of Australia, interacting with, influencing, and being influenced by the majority Anglo-Australian culture that has been most visible for over two centuries since British colonisation of Aboriginal land.

Indeed, terms like “multiracial,” “multicultural,” “racial diversity,” “ethnic diversity,” or the uniquely Australian moniker “Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD),” are the new buzzwords for a contemporary Australia that is boasting a new alchemical vision of what it means to be a people.

Through my professional and personal connections with ACON, Australia’s largest GLBT health organisation (formerly known as the AIDS Council of New South Wales), I was invited by the City of Sydney to be a part of the steering committee for ‘Sharing Our Stories.’ ‘Sharing Our Stories’ is a forum featuring a film screening of Tony Ayres’s film Chinadolls, and personal stories from a panel of speakers who will broaden our understanding of multiculturalism, sexuality, sex and gender diversity in Australia.

ACON

The steering committee has included representatives from ACON, ALLY@UNSW, Asian Marching Boys, Australian GLBTIQ Multicultural Council, City of Sydney, Dayenu, Ethnic Communities’ Council of NSW, Family Planning NSW, ISANA NSW, NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, Trikone, Twenty10 and other community groups and networks.

As a recent immigrant into Australia from the USA (where I spent five years of my adult life), Singapore and Malaysia (where I cumulatively spent the first 18 years of my life before that), I recognise the unique opportunities afforded me in a city like Sydney, where I write this article.

I have the privilege of living in a progressive, democratic country such as Australia where it is legal and socially acceptable to write about my sexual and cultural identities publically. I am incredibly fortunate to have had opportunities in my life to be supported by my family, and to form communities of people who affirm my journey, everywhere that I have lived.

I would like to extend this invitation to others… If you are in Sydney next Tuesday 14th December, come share your story with us!

Who?

The panelists for the forum include: 

Gary Paramanathan
Gary was born in Sri Lanka and is a film maker, photographer and arts & cultural entrepreneur based in Sydney’s inner west. Gary is interested in issues of sexuality and identity and is passionate about the role which cultural practitioners can play in exploring and raising awareness of these issues.

Sekneh Beckett
Sekneh is a psychologist who works with Muslim sexually and gender diverse people dealing with significant safety and mental health issues because of their sexuality. She was recently nominated for ACON’s 2010 Community Hero award and is highly regarded in the GLBTIQ community. She is well known for her work on the development of culturally appropriate practices for working with GLBTIQ people from multicultural backgrounds.

Dr Maria Pallota-Chiarolli
Dr Pallotta-Chiarolli lectures in the School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, and is a writer, researcher and consultant in the issues of cultural diversity, gender diversity, sexual diversity and family diversity. She is a founding member of the Australian GLBTIQ Multicultural Council, the Honorary Patron of PFLAG Victoria, and an external Faculty member of Saybrook University, San Francisco. She has published widely in the area of ethnicity, gender and sexuality.

John Tzimas
John is a Chartered Accountant that has been involved in the not for profit sector for over 25 years. Since 1988 he has been actively involved within the GLBTIQ Community and has during that time been the Convenor of the Greek and Gay Support Network in Melbourne and since 2003 has been on the Australian GLBTIQ Multicultural Council (AGMC Inc.) committee and its preceding committee. John has been the Treasurer of AGMC Inc. since 2006 and has presented at a number of conferences and forums.

Jonash Ocampo
Jonash is a 20-year-old young person from Western Sydney and is from a Filipino background. For the past four years he has been a panel speaker for Family Planning NSW’s Same Difference Program, an anti-homophobia program for high schools. As part of this program Jonash has been sharing his personal story with teachers and students to increase understanding of same sex attraction and the impact of homophobia. 

Vicky and Adolfo
Vicky and Adolfo are committee members of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). They are from Argentina and are proud parents of a gay child. They will share their journey, where they are at today and why they are members of PFLAG.

Andy Quan
Andy is an author, musician and community activist. His writing has often explored the ways in which sexual identity and cultural identity interact. He is also the co-founder of the sexualracismsux.com campaign, which aims to confront racist behaviour and speech in gay men and within the gay community.

When: Tues, Dec 14, 5.30pm drinks for 6pm start. Concludes 9.30pm

Cost: Free - Drinks and refreshments will be provided - please advise us if you have any access or dietary requirements

Where: NSW Teachers Federation, 37 Reservoir St, Surry Hills, SYDNEY, Australia

RSVP/Enquiries: Maria Chan on 02 9246 7312 or mchan@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

How to get to this event: 3 minutes walk from Central Train Station 

For more information about the forum: whatson.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
For more information on programs ACON runs for people in our community in Sydney, check out: acon.org.au
ACON also runs projects specifically for Asian Gay Men.
To learn more about Australian history of race relations, check out: humanrights.gov.au/voices