New South Wales LGBTIQ community group Rainbow Families has started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to develop new resources to support transgender and gender diverse parents.
Co-chair Mat Howard said there were very few resources available to provide guidance to them, and that needed to change.
“For families where one or more parents are transgender or gender diverse, the everyday challenges of raising children can be intensified by experiences of misunderstanding, exclusion or even hostility and hatred,” he said.
“The resources are designed to assist with the process of transitioning in the community, relieving much of the pressure transgender and gender diverse parents can experience to educate and inform others.”
The group have already raised more than half of their $10,000 goal on crowdfunding platform Pozible.
The funds will allow the group to work with experts and consultants in health, education and social work, to devise informative and supportive resources providing clear information around common struggles faced by transgender and gender diverse parents, including:
- Finding the best way to include their partners, children and extended families in the process of transitioning;
- Educate and inform teachers, health workers, colleagues, friends and other members of the LGBTIQA+ community about the experience of being transgender;
- Mediate and support children’s experiences at schools, child-care centres and sporting clubs;
- Practice self care and support themselves through the process of transitioning and beyond; and
- Find ways to celebrate the diversity of their families
The money raised will also allow the group to print and distribute the resources, including to libraries across the state, the group said.
Rainbow Families is a volunteer-led organisation based in New South Wales, with a mission of building a community that connects, supports and empowers LGBTIQ families. To get in touch with the group, visit their Facebook page.
