News
The Poets Cafe Montville: the two sides of the street
Last week QNews reported on an incident at the Poets Cafe, Montville. During Pride month, as marchers joined Black Lives Matter protests worldwide, and in the midst of the greatest global health crisis for a century, a lesbian couple — both health workers, one black — found themselves rudely ordered out of a cafe in …
How to lobby from home against the Religious Discrimination Bill
LGBTIQ advocates Shelley Argent and Rodney Croome have called for Australians to keep up the pressure against the government’s controversial Religious Discrimination Bill in a new video. PFLAG spokesperson Shelley Argent said while COVID-19 had pushed the proposed legislation off the front pages, “it is very likely to return and we need to be ready.” …
Lesbian couple told to leave cafe and ‘never come back’
Last Sunday, at the end of Pride month, during the worst health crisis in a century and as the world grapples with racial discrimination through the Black Lives Matter movement, the owner of Poets Cafe in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, chose the moment to demand an inter-racial pair of lesbian health workers leave his cafe …
Adelaide’s first gay rugby team make their debut
South Australia’s first gay and inclusive rugby team the Adelaide University Sharks has set its sights on the Bingham Cup after making their debut at the weekend. Last year Adelaide University Rugby, the state’s oldest rugby club, launched the first gay and inclusive male rugby team. And on Saturday, the team made it onto the …
Queens Ball book: the world’s longest-running LGBTIQ+ event
The Queens Ball book, launched as a PDF on Saturday, documents the longest-running continuous LGBTIQ+ event in the world. Proceeds from book sales will fund an annual award in honour of Brisbane Queens Ball founder, Dame Sybil von Thorndyke. Scroll down for purchase link Publisher Bill Rutkin OAM said the book will go into print …
Gay Indigenous MP Chansey Paech makes history in NT Parliament
Northern Territory MP Chansey Paech has this week become the country’s first openly gay indigenous speaker of an Australian parliament. Paech (pictured right), the Member for Namatjira, won his seat in the NT Legislative Assembly in the 2016 election. He became the first openly gay First Nations MLA in Australian history. In his maiden speech, …
Same-sex parents still struggle to find kids books with rainbow families
Close to a third of Australian same-sex parents struggle to find books for their children that represent rainbow families like theirs, according to new research. Deakin School of Communication and Creative Arts researchers Dr Helen Young, Dr Paul Venzo and Lara Hedberg have surveyed LGBTQI+ parents, guardians and care-givers on their experiences with LGBTIQ-inclusive childrens …
The Pinnacle Foundation helping LGBTIQ+ youth to thrive
From 1 July, The Pinnacle Foundation invites scholarship applications from LGBTIQ+ students between the ages of 17 and 26 who plan to study full-time education at a public institution of higher education in Australia. The Foundation awards scholarships with the aim of helping LGBTIQ+ youth to thrive and so build our communities. QNews recently spoke …
Tasmania’s groundbreaking gender reforms prove beneficial
LGBTIQ advocates today welcomed a new report giving Tasmania’s gender reforms the all-clear. They also called for the criminalisation of surgical intervention on intersex children. Scroll down for video explainers The Tasmanian Law Reform Institute (TLRI) report says Tasmania’s groundbreaking new gender laws have had a beneficial impact since they were enacted over a year …
Doctors call for end to Australia’s gay blood donation bans
A Melbourne doctor has joined dozens of other medical professional to sign a new declaration calling for changes to Australian gay and trans blood donor policies. Currently, Australia’s Lifeblood donation service refuses male donors who have had sex with men in the past 12 months. In April, the Therapeutic Goods Administration approved a reduction of …