originally posted on 25-07-2016 10:10 PM

originally posted on 25-07-2016 10:04 PM

Great stuff guys! Now time to summarise what we've chatted about tonight:

• So first of all we asked you whether you think sexuality and gender can be fluid or whether they stay the same. Overall we seemed to agree that it’s different for everyone, so while someone might stick to one identity others may shift and change with time. Some of the things that you guys said might influence a change in identity were age, life experience and knowing about different identities.
• Next we talked about why the experience of coming out can be so different for different people. A few of the reasons you guy brought up were differences in emotional development, how much stigma a person faces and what kind of environment a person grows up in.
• After that we tackled what we can do to reduce the stigma around being LGBT+. Education, providing support services for LGBT+ people, improving LGBT+ awareness in mental health/general health services, normalizing the idea of being LGBT+, calling about stigmatizing ideas and behaviours, and improving LGBT+ representation were a could of the great ideas that you came up with.
• Then we discussed the topic of mental health for young LGBT+ people and how we can improve it. A big part of improving mental health that was brought up was tackling stigma, as well as challenging gender roles and heteronormativity, finding ways to find LGBT+ friendly mental health professionals and again improving presentation (especially in sexual education).
• Next, we chatted about the people in our lives that support and respect our gender and sexuality identities. Some of the types of people who came up were parents, friends, family and mental health professionals.
• Then we touched on some of the lesser-known LGBT+ identities and what we can do to promote better visibility for them. Some of the identities that were brought up were those on the asexuality spectrum, pansexuality, non-binary people and trans identities. In terms of what can be done to help visibility, giving proper representation came up again as a theme, particularly in the media.
• We also talked about what straight, cisgender people can do to be good allies to the LGBT+ community. Validating identities, elevating the voices of LGBT+ people rather than speaking from them, listening to and believing LGBT+ experiences, calling out anti-LGBT+ behaviour in the people around them and avoiding stereotyping and stigmatizing LGBT+ people were a few of the pieces of advice you gave.
• After that, we gave some advice to people who are questioning their sexuality or gender. Some advice you had was taking your time with it, that only you can decide who you are, that your gender/sexuality doesn’t determine your worth, that it’s okay to be different, that there are people out there who will support and respect your identity and to talk to someone who you trust about it.
• To round things off, we named a few of our favourite examples of LGBT+ representation in the media. Modern Family, Sailor Moon and Legend of Korra were some of the examples that came up.

All that's all folks! Thanks so much for chatting with us and big ups to @safari93 and @Ben-RO for running an awesome GR session 🙂

originally posted on 25-07-2016 10:07 PM

Thank you @safari93 and @Chessca_H for running the show! And thanks to everyone else who shared their views, helped write question or just watched the show. What an informed bunch of folk we have here! 

Night everyone!

originally posted on 25-07-2016 10:06 PM

Thanks for an awesome discussion everyone! And to @Chessca_H @safari93 and @Ben-RO for running it 🙂

originally posted on 25-07-2016 10:02 PM

originally posted on 25-07-2016 9:57 PM

LGBT+ representation in the media has become a pretty popular topic of conversation as of late and while there is definitely a way to go there are some great examples out there. Can you share with us one of your favourite examples of LGBT+ presentation in the media?

I love Cam and Mitchell from Modern Family. This scene always makes me crack up 😄

originally posted on 25-07-2016 10:00 PM

originally posted on 25-07-2016 9:56 PM

My one piece of advice, would be to speak to a trusted friend and if you are not sure if they would be comfortable talking about this, then there is always Q Life on 1800 184 527 or chat online https://qlife.org.au/ from 3pm to 12am daily.

originally posted on 25-07-2016 9:50 PM

So now we've touched on some advice for allies, lets get to some advice for people in the LGBT+ community:

What’s one piece of advice that you would give to a person questioning their sexuality or gender?

originally posted on 25-07-2016 9:54 PM

What’s one piece of advice that you would give to a person questioning their sexuality or gender?

It's hard to think of something without sounding stupidly cliche, but basically:

Your sexual/gender identity doesn’t determine your self worth. And it's okay to be different. There are people out there who will accept and celebrate you for who you are – it might take a little while to find them but keep holding on and you'll find them eventually

originally posted on 25-07-2016 9:48 PM

Good point @N1ghtW1ng. It sounds obvious but it's really important when having these discussions to ensure that the actual voices of the community aren't drowned out or overlooked 🙂