Behind the Scenes
Lesbian and Gay Anti-Violence Project
This Is Oz is a project of ACON’s Lesbian and Gay Anti-Violence Project (AVP) in New South Wales, Australia. The AVP supports people in our community who have experienced homophobic violence and same sex domestic violence. We work to improve the outcomes for victims and to address the underlying causes of violence.
We do this work because gay men and lesbians in NSW are between four and six times more likely to be assaulted than men and women in the general population and 85% have experienced some form of homophobic violence or abuse. We also know that one third of GLBT people have experienced domestic violence, and only 30% will seek help.
ACON
ACON is Australia’s largest community based GLBT health and HIV/AIDS organisation. ACON promotes the health and wellbeing of NSW’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community. We also provide information, support and advocacy for people living with HIV or at risk of acquiring HIV, including sex workers and people who use drugs.
A lot of our work is related to HIV/AIDS because it’s one of the biggest health issues facing our community. But our work also covers other health issues such as:
- Sexual health
- Mental health
- Lesbian health
- Alcohol and other drugs
- Anti-Violence
- Youth
- Ageing
- Community care
- Advocacy
We’re a community-based non-government organisation. This means the work we do is done in our community, for our community and by members of our community. Most of our funding comes from the NSW Government to help us with our HIV work. Our other work is financed by small grants from the public and private sectors, fundraising activities and donations. Projects like This Is Oz are always in need of funding, find out more here.
PARTNERS
The project was developed in collaboration with a range of partner organisations:
- Amnesty International Australia NSW LGBTQ Network
- Anti-Violence Project of Victoria
- City of Sydney
- Diversity Council Australia
- The Gender Centre
- Highschoolers Against Homophobia
- Metropolitan Community Church Sydney
- National LGBT Health Alliance
- Department of Justice and Attorney General
- NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby
- NSW Police Force
- NSW Young Lawyers Human Rights Committee (Same-Sex and Anti-Discrimination Working Groups)
- Twenty10
Faces of US
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This Is Oz was inspired by FACES OF US, a project initiated in the USA by Brendan Davis:
"The idea for FACES OF US came along when I saw what I thought was a lack of comprehensive education about LGBT rights issues and the people that are affected by them. Proposition 8 had just passed in California and the entire country was in an uproar about marriage equality in that state. It was wonderful to see people out in the streets protesting Proposition 8, but I wanted to know why we weren’t discussing marriage equality and other LGBT issues on a federal level.
The fact that an International Day Against Homophobia exists proves that we need to look beyond the borders of our own states and our own countries and address these issues worldwide. It’s an honor to have this project be a part of an event happening in Australia and I hope that it will work well to open some eyes."
Brendan Davis
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