Living the Rainbow: Supporting Individuals in Achieving Psychospiritual Health

1. ““Living The Rainbow”: how do we support individuals to interweave their religious, cultural, sexual and gendered selves in order to achieve psychospiritual Health? Dr Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli School of Health and Social Development Deakin University mariapc@deakin.edu.au http://mariapallottachiarolli.com.au/

2. The need to address the silencing of sexual and gender diversities in heterosexist multicultural and multifaith discourses, community spaces and services… • Access and promote cross-cultural spiritual, historical, pre-colonial, religious and cultural codes, biographies and narratives in relation to sexualities and genders

3. Being Multicultural MultifaithMultisexual 1. Developing/constructing healthy sexual, cultural, and gender identities (multiple selves) 2. Resolving/managing/negotiating conflicts that may arise in belonging to a cultural/home community, a queer community, several other communities, and the wider Australian society (multiple lifeworlds) 3. Resisting and challenging stigma and discrimination coming from the interconnections of homophobia, racism and sexism (multiple marginalities)

5. Is it the Culture or the Religion?Is it the Culture or Poverty?Is it the Culture or Lack of Education?Is it Spirituality or Man-Made Dogma and Interpretation? Who are the gatekeepers of the community? Where are alternative views?

6. Interweaving of Categories: drawing attention to the relationships between various conditions and constructs such as ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, disability, religion, geographical location and education

7. The Meanings and Deployment of Multiculturalism in (Not) Addressing Gender and Sexual Diversity • maintaining heteropatriarchal selective cultural/religious heritage and traditions 2. establishing and developing a heteropatriarchal community’s culture/faith by producing sex-gender normative specific cultural narratives, texts and festivals/spaces 3. constructing the authentic religious migrant/refugee experience as heteronormative, constructed by hegemonic gatekeeper voices

8. “The Ethnic Excuse”: Dealing With Resistance • “We’ve got enough to handle with racism and sexism in our organisation. This is too much.” • “This is a moral issue that our religious families will object to”. • “Our ethnic and migrant families will be offended as it’s contrary to their cultural heritage and maintenance of cultural traditions that as a multicultural organisation we are committed to.” • “We won’t get staff consensus on this one”. • “Parents/community leaders will complain”.

9. 1 Reclaiming Multicultural Queer Histories 1. Why is homosexuality considered by some CALD individuals and communities to be a Western “sin”, “sickness”, “crime”? 2. How has colonialism and Christianisation erased, or ignored, or re-written pre-colonial and pre-Christian sexual and gender diversities?

10. GLBTIQ peoples of the US/UK/Europe = MVP FAFF peoples of the Pacific • M – MAHU, Hawaii & Tahiti • V – VAKASALEWALEWA, The Republic of Fiji Islands • P – Papua New Guinea (Sister Girl is also used for the trans community) • F – FA’AFAFINE, Samoa & American Samoa • A – AKAVA’INE, Cook Islands • F – FAKALEITI or LEITI, The Kingdom of Tonga • F – FAKAFIFINE, Niue Island Two-spirit people (berdache) in Native American Indian cultures Kathoey in Thailand (5 genders) Arabic: ahrar el jins (homosexuality); M.M.M.M. (misliya (lesbian, misli (gay), mozdawij (bisexual), moghayir (transgender)

11. Colonial Religiosity versus Decolonising Faith-Based Traditions Right-wing Christian groups’ resources support anti-gay causes such as the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act 2014 (also known as the “Kill the Gays” Bill) The connection between religious doctrine and sexual oppression is not limited to Christian traditions: eg Sharia Law in Muslim communities

12. Some faith-based traditions have been ardent defenders of social justice: The Evangelical Network, Unitarian Universalism and various other organisations and denominational churches have established themselves as leading proponents of equal rights and LGBTIQ inclusion internationally.

13. AGMC: an Example of Multiplicity, Intermixture, Inclusion and Justice http://www.agmc.org.au/ The Australian Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex & Queer Multicultural Council with members who are: Jewish Muslim Italian Greek Diverse Asian Diverse Arabic Diverse African Diverse Southern and Central American

14. The AGMC Inc promotes, enhances and enables the health and wellbeing of culturally diverse GLBTIQ individuals/groups within an Australian context. • Promotes, enables and disseminates knowledge on issues relevant to GLBTIQ multicultural individuals and groups through discussion, research, publishing and other means. • Encourages and supports the formation and growth of GLBTIQ multicultural groups .

15. The AGMC Inc does this by initiating/auspicing/partnering within and between mainstream, CALD and GLBTIQ services and groups: • referring individuals and organisations *being a point of contact for individuals who are seeking support, * conducting and/ or supporting research activities * providing assistance for both support and social activities *holding social events like trivia & dance nights, film nights, community forums, eg United We Dance *media and public speakers * Sit on boards to inform policy, program and practive development

16. GLHV: Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria Resourceshttp://www.glhv.org.au/library/terms/Cultural+and+Linguistic+Diversity+%28CALD%29/all • Centre for Multicultural Youth Teaching Diversities Report: http://www.cmy.net.au/TeachingDiversities • Rainbow Network http://www.rainbownetwork.net.au/ • ARCSHS: Queer Young Refugees http://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/577282/Nothing_for_them_report.pdf • Coming out, coming home or inviting people in? Supporting same-sex attracted women from immigrant and refugee communities Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health and the Understanding Sexuality Research Project.

17. www.ilga.org/ Hares & Hyenas Bookshop 63 Johnston St, Fitzroy http://www.hares-hyenas.com.au/

18. Questions/Strategies to Guide our Understanding and Support of Multicultural MultifaithMultisexual African Communities • What is the range of beliefs, values, information, definitions and experiences in our communities? • Which community workers and religious leaders can act as mediators/facilitators? Are there GLBTIQ role models and mentors out there from various communities? • Is “coming out” appropriate? What will people gain? What will they lose? • How do we inform young people and their families of their own culture’s and religion’s sexual histories? What’s going on in their own ‘home’ countries?

19. What are some common understandings and shared spiritual values we can work with: the importance of family and loving our children; the reality of sexual diversity across all cultures • Is sexuality the problem? What are some underlying fears and concerns: that their children will end up alone without family to care for them; that their children are doomed to hell; media images of the GLBT community focus on sexual ‘promiscuity’, drugs and alcohol, affluent white urban party scene

20. “And Yet We Are Still Excluded”: Reclaiming Multicultural Queer Histories and Engaging with Contemporary Multicultural Queer Realities” co-written with Lian Low in Fethi Mansouri (ed) Cultural, Religious and Political Contestations: The Multicultural Challenge (2014, Springer) “Queerying Muslim Identities” written with Sekneh Beckett and Alyena Mohummadally in Abe Ata (ed) Education Integration Challenges: The case of Australian Muslims Melbourne: David Lovell Publishing (2014).

21. We Are Queer Africa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH4c7p5NQC8

22. How do we ensure cultural identities survive/thrive alongside pride and celebration of GLBTI identities? • Become an individual/group member : you don’t have to be “gay or ethnic”. • Partner with us

23. In the words of the young people… Get real Get informed Get comfortable Get honest