Rainbow HACSU members celebrated IDAHOBIT Day at the Clyde Hotel in Carlton attending the We Are Union Pride Network's Pride Chats launch.

The panel was diverse and shared their varying expriences of working in fields varying from IT to tertiary education in Melbourne and on the Murray. Everyone in the room was passionate about how to protec the LGBTIQ+ community from religious hatred - and how that extends to workplaces in religious organisations, including mental health and disability providers.

The panel featured: 

• Josh Raymond, who is a student, part-time kitchen hand and electorate officer for Yan Yean.
• Virginia Mansel Lees, President of the La Trobe Branch of the National Tertiary Education Union, NTEU Victorian Division member, member of the Women’s Action Committee, Convenor of the Queer Unionists in Tertiary Education (QUTE) Caucus for the Union; and President of the North East Border Trades & Labour Council
• Ethan Taylor, first and current National President of the Union of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students (UATSIS). Ethan is from the Warumungu nation that surrounds Tennant Creek, and within his nation he belongs to the Parte clan and the Japal Jari skin group.

The new Pride Chats are a great tool to bring LGBTIQ+ workers togetehr to discuss experiences of work and how being LGGTIQ+ affects that - and then working together to find solutions with collective action.

You can 1) Take the online survey!

2) Host a pride chat with your colleagues or friends. There's a training session on Friday 15th June at Trades Hall.

Click here to take the online survey - share your experiences and inform new organising resources for unions to be better at LGBTIQ+ issues and inclusion.