Fourteen groups across Australia have received up to a total of $1000 each in funding as part of the second round of grants for 2019 by Lesbians Inc Community Grants program.

Receiving up to $1000 each, the fourteen grant recipients are individuals and organisations representing a wide variety of lesbians in Australia. They will use the funding for a wide range of purposes, including education and training, community development and creation, and arts and culture to help support lesbians and LGBTIQ+ communities across the country.

Grant recipients this year include:

Southside Women Publicity Campaign

Southside Women is the newest support group run by Diversity ACT. The goal of the group is to provide regular social activities for lesbian women living in South Canberra, and Canberra more broadly. Southside Women exists for lesbian women to attend, participate, make new friends and have fun. Diversity ACT and Southside Women are working together to ensure that vulnerable lesbian women are receiving appropriate physical, mental and social support to access services, activities and opportunities.

Better Together 2020 Equality Conference

Better Together is a 2-day national conference, and networking opportunity for LGBTIQ+ organisations and individuals to come together, share stories, network and learn from each other. It is open to all of the community and brings together the diverse members of the LGBTIQ + community including those that are indigenous, a person of colour, disabled or deaf. The LInc grant will help provide scholarships to those who would not otherwise be able to attend due to hardship. Better Together 2020 will be the 3rd national conference, hosting lesbian specific sessions and a 2-hour lesbian caucus. The training supports advocates and small organisations that might not have prior opportunities elsewhere.

Update and Reprint of ‘Talking Turkey’

This project involves an update, redesign, and reprint of our publication ‘Talking Turkey,’ a legal guide for lesbian parents and donors and the LGBTIQ community more generally. Talking Turkey is the only comprehensive publication providing a guide to the law around starting a family and parenting in NSW for LGBTIQ parents and donors. It is currently in its 4th edition and this project aims to develop and distribute the 5th edition.
Talking Turkey is produced by Inner City Legal Centre (ICLC) who provide access to justice for LGBTIQ individuals throughout NSW, and for all vulnerable people within their catchment.

DISCO INFERNO! – Bega Pride

Is produced though Bega Pride. They are a small group of individuals who have moved to the Bega Valley from larger cities. The project aims at bringing together regional LGBTQIA+ community by hosting a disco themed dance party called ‘Disco Inferno!’. The event will be on November 30, 2019 and will run from 8 pm – 12 am at Bega Country Club. We want to create the feel of a city gay bar in the country.

Red Velvet Ball

The nature of this project is connecting lesbians through social events, namely dinner and dance, where one can share a meal, catch up with friends, male new friends and feel part of a community. Networking through social media i.e. Meet Up Groups, Red Velvet Ball on Facebook and email. Based in Thornbury, Vic. the group aims to reach out to regional and international lesbians with the aim to be seen, present and respected, through their social groups and events.

WOODWORK for WOMEN: Cutting a new path for beginners

Cutting a new path for beginners focus on learning woodworking skills whilst building a project from start to a product completion and will be taught by Woodwork for Women. This project is produced by PFLAG Tasmania and provides a safe space for lesbians to explore their creativity by the completion of a project of significance which may form part of a final exhibition. PFLAG gives help, support and information to families, friends and community to strengthen understanding about issues of importance to the LGBTIQ+ community. PFLAG’s motto is ‘Supporting those we love’, they offer support programs which focus on strengthening community capacity and social connection.

Australian Lesbian Museum

This project, is produced by L Media Ltd, it is a virtual museum, with the hope that it will grow into a travelling museum that can be shared across Australia. L Media Ltd has one of the most comprehensive historic library of lesbian life and culture in Australia. (Digital and Print). This historic project; which will inform the next generation of Australian Lesbian activism, lifestyle and culture. The project aim is to establish a secure publishing platform that will highlight lesbian cultural significance such as the Lesbian Space Project, The Drag King Culture, Lesbian families and more. L Media Ltd is a non for profit corporation which publishes LOTL Magazine, Australia’s lesbian publication since 1989. LOTL is one of the last lesbian owned media worldwide, and provides lesbian visibility through events and publishing in print and in the digital space.

Wendybird Connects

Wendybird is a not-for-profit community group led by a collective of LGBTIQ+ people who are working together to intentionally grow a safer and always supportive community for people of diverse bodies, genders, relationships and sexualities, their friends, families and children. They strive to create inclusive spaces where people can be authentically themselves and build meaningful connections. The LInc grant will go towards supporting Wendybird social events. Events are held every 6 weeks, each event has a unique theme, which is developed from their core values of inclusion, participation, sustainability, authenticity, compassion and everyone belonging in community.

Recreational activities program at Ten Forty Matrix “Friends of Dorothy” Camp

Ten Forty Matrix’s Friends of Dorothy Camp to be held in March 2020. The project focuses on reaching out to older lesbians from regional and remote areas, as well as those not linked in to any established networks. It is a three-day gathering that will be fully catered and offers accommodation for up to 60, as well as recreational activities. The groups activities and social aspects of the weekend will be a crucial part of connecting older lesbians some of whom are socially isolated, struggling with health and other issues and/or on low incomes.

Later Life Lesbians Coming Out podcast

Later Life Lesbians Coming Out is a podcast project that will be produced by JOY 94.9 Community Radio Station. JOY 94.9 is an independent voice for the diverse lesbian gay bi-sexual transgender & intersex communities listened to by 589,000 monthly listeners across Australia. JOY is wanting to create a podcast episode to share the experiences and learnings of lesbian women who have come out later in life, potentially after being in a heterosexual marriage and having children. The podcast will be hosted on our website and promoted through our networks, social media and on-air messaging. The podcast can be downloaded by our intended audience. The purpose of the podcast is to provide lesbians with support and knowledge to assist their journey and daily challenges via the sharing of experiences.

Yarns Heal Suicide Prevention Campaign Resources

Yarns Heal is a LGBTIQ+ Suicide Prevention Campaign is a suicide prevention campaign for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ+ SB community, created by IndigiLez Womens Leadership and Support Group. Yarns Heal is about sharing stories and reaching out to our loved ones and cultural connectors when times are tough. Yarns Heal will help us learn how to better support one another and aims to strengthen our peer to peer support systems so we can access help in culturally safe ways that nature cultural healing and love. Visibilty is essential in starting the conversations about Suicide. This submission is to increase the connection point and visibility of resources in the Campaign.

DocDir: LGBTIQ+ doctor directory

DocDir is a searchable map-based online directory of LGBTIQ+ friendly health services in Australia. They are currently working with Dr Sarah Burrowes, administrator of DocLIST, an online list of doctors recommended by lesbian and bisexual women in Australia, and are expanding their data set of LGBTIQ+ health services in Australia. This grant will enable them to have a stall at Midsumma carnival, to recruit a community consultation group for ongoing improvements to the site, gain recognition among the LGBTIQ+ community, ask for doctor recommendations from community, and sign people up to receive updates when the website is live and an invitation to the launch.

A lesbian comedy called ‘The Punter’s Siren.’

Gina Schien will be directing and co-producing a season of her play ‘The Punter’s Siren’ in the Adelaide Fringe in 2020. LInc funding to help with the marketing costs. The Punter’s Siren’ is a one-act comedy, that charts one day in the life of Helen, who falls madly in lust with a woman called Linda, who she meets at the racecourse. The odds are firmly against Helen, from the moment she hands a bundle of cash to the bookie to her final desperate dash for freedom.

Once in a Lullaby: a portrait of Australia rainbow families

Once in a Lullaby: a portrait of Australia rainbow families is a photographic project book that records and celebrates Australian rainbow families in their own homes by freelance photographer Mia McDonald who is based in Melbourne. This is as much about what it means to be an Australian as it is about sexuality. Mia’s aim is not to sensationalise the families but to archive, capture and document images of a rapidly changing community and the lives of people who offer brave new visions of what it means to be family in Australia today.