*NEW* Capacity Building in the LGBTIQ Youth Sector
Over the Rainbow Survey
The Over the Rainbow Survey, Queensland’s only state-wide survey about Community, Government or Human Services work with LGBTIQ young people, is up online and just waiting to be filled in!
It is for: Anyone who works with 12-24 year olds in Community, Government or Human Services in Queensland.
As part of the state government funded LGBT Youth Sector Capacity Building Project, Open Doors Youth Service (based in Brisbane (http://www.opendoors.net.au/?page_id=852)) is investigating how we can make it easier for services and individuals to work well with LGBTIQ young people. To ensure that we get a useable sample of youth-related Community, Government and Human Services workers from around Queensland, we would very much appreciate it if you could assist us by filling it in yourself, then forwarding this e-mail to your networks and/or posting the link to your website.
- The survey will take people about 15 minutes.
- People who complete the survey go into the draw to win an iPod shuffle.
- All answers are anonymous, and there really are no right answers.
The link is here: www.surveymonkey.com/s/Over_the_Rainbow
This project could really help to improve outcomes for LGBTIQ young people, who are one of the most vulnerable groups of young people in Australia.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Alex Mercer on research@opendoors.net.au
Open Doors Youth Service is running a Capacity Building research project called the Over the Rainbow Project. Through the Over the Rainbow Project, we want to find out:
- What types of support provide the most benefit to LGBTIQ young people to improve their health and wellbeing?
- What is the capacity of the youth sector in Queensland to provide these types of support?
- What is the capacity of the youth sector in Queensland to meet the needs of LGBTIQ young people generally?
- What strategies are needed to improve and build upon the capacity of the youth sector to meet current (and future) needs of LGBTIQ young people?
The project involves literature reviews, a survey for youth workers, and small discussion groups in a selection of communities across the state. It is funded by the Queensland Department of Communities and will run from March 2010 to March 2011.
The Capacity Building project worker is Alex Mercer.
To find out more please email research@opendoors.net.au
Who are LGBTIQ young people?:
Young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, or questioning their
sexuality or gender identity.
The Over the Rainbow Project uses the following labels:
Bisexual: A person who is emotionally and sexually attracted to people of both sexes.
Gay: Someone whose primary emotional and sexual attraction is towards people of the same sex. This word is most commonly used to describe men, although some women describe themselves as “gay” also.
Diverse sexualities: This survey uses “diverse sexualities” to describe the full range of possibilities when it comes to romantic and sexual relationships. It includes lesbian, gay and bisexual behaviours and preferences.
Gender identity: Everyone has a gender identity. This term describes a person’s deeply felt sense of being female, or male, or both, or in between, or neither.
Intersex: Someone who is intersex has a body that doesn’t fit typical definitions of “male” bodies or of “female” bodies. This difference might be about chromosomes, hormones, or genitalia. Intersex people can identify as male, female, straight, gay, or none of these.
Lesbian: A woman whose primary emotional and sexual attraction is towards other women.
Queer: “Queer” was originally a derogatory term, but now some people who are same sex attracted, transgender or gender diverse use it to describe themselves. This word is particularly popular with young people with diverse sexualities or who are gender diverse but do not want to call themselves lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
Same sex attracted: This survey uses “same sex attracted” to describe all people who experience romantic and/or sexual attraction to others of their own sex. This includes people who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual. It also includes young people who identify as heterosexual but who feel same sex attracted some of the time.
Transgender or gender diverse: This survey uses “transgender or gender diverse” as an umbrella term to describe young people whose gender identity doesn’t “match” with the sex they were assigned at birth. Transgender and gender diverse young people may or may not want to access hormone therapy and/or surgery to change their bodies.