Become an Ally and Help Stop Shame, Fear,
Ignorance and Violence on our Campus
A joint initiative of The University of Queensland and UQ Union
Equity and Diversity – Make a Difference
What is an Ally?
An Ally provides a ‘safe zone' for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT/I) students and staff. An official Ally will display an ‘Ally' sign in their work area. Their visible presence assists in combating heterosexism and homophobia.
Potential Allies undertake a short training program and attend seminars to extend this knowledge. They are provided with information about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community resources that they can pass on to others who enquire. Allies are NOT ‘experts' on LGBT/I issues and they do NOT provide any type of counselling (or pseudo counselling). Allies DO undertake to provide a safe, welcoming and confidential environment for LGBT/I staff and students, or people wishing to find out information about issues that this community group faces.
Why do we need an ALLY program?
Unfortunately, homophobic incidents occur regularly on our campus. While we do not have figures for universities, research shows that 70% of gay and lesbian young people report being abused at school. The damage caused by experiencing homophobic behaviour contributes to serious emotional turmoil leading to 20 – 42% attempted suicide. Australia has one of the highest rates of youth suicide in the developed world, and Queensland has consistently higher rates. Homophobic behaviour contributes to higher dropout rates amongst LGBT/I youth and a raft of negative health outcomes.
The University of Queensland has policies that support the right of all students and staff to study and work in an environment that respects them as individuals and where they are not subjected to discrimination or harassment. Harassment or vilification on the basis of attributes such as gender identity or sexuality is not only unlawful, but it is against University policy and will not be tolerated.
Many people are ignorant about issues affecting lesbian, gay and transgender people and the effect of homophobic behaviour and heterosexist attitudes. The UQ ALLY project will help to raise awareness of:
- issues related to sexuality and gender identity among the staff and student body,
- the right of all members of our University community not to be fearful of harassment or victimisation because of their gender identity or sexuality and
- will provide ‘allies' for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people on campus.
In implementing an ‘Ally' network and proactively addressing issues related to sexuality and gender identity on campus, the University of Queensland will be following best practice of a number of universities in Australia and internationally, such as The University of Western Australia, The University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, Penn State University, Indiana University, the University of Winnipeg, and many others across the US and Canada.
Australian Universities with an ALLY Program, June 2008:
The University of Western Australia
Edith Cowan University
Curtin University of Technology
University of New England
Queensland University of Technology
Flinders University
Murdoch University
The Australian National University
RMIT University
University of New South Wales
University of Technology Sydney