By Maria Martello, Chief of Staff for Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (Province of Australia / Aotearoa – New Zealand)
Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (GSANZ) respects the dignity of all people, draws strength from them, and celebrates the diversity of our community. At GSANZ, we strive for an inclusive culture where lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, queer, asexual, and gender-diverse people (LGBTIQA+) feel safe and that they belong.
Our commitment in Australia and New Zealand to LGBTIQA+ inclusivity has been demonstrated through several initiatives over many years, including our 2018 voluntary public pledge to provide inclusive and non-discriminatory services to LGBTIQA+ clients and our initial accreditation in 2021 of the Rainbow Tick award.
Last summer, (June 17 – June 21, 2024), various Good Shepherd programs and teams in Australia were assessed against the Rainbow Tick Standards. We sought re-accreditation for the specialist Family Violence Program in Victoria and accreditation for the first time for the Youth and Family Services in Victoria and Youth and Family Services in New South Wales for the first time (read more about the services here).
We later received the news that GSANZ had been awarded the Rainbow Tick Accreditation. To celebrate this wonderful achievement an event was organized to coincide with the Wear it Purple Day, with events focusing on the sites that were included in the Rainbow Tick audit that had undergone the rigorous and robust audit process.
The Rainbow Tick Standards are a benchmark for LGBTIQA+ inclusive practice against which organizations are independently assessed. Organizations with the Rainbow Tick have demonstrated their commitment and ability to deliver safe and inclusive services to members of LGBTIQA+ communities and to continuously review and improve the quality of service they provide to LGBTIQA+ clients, as well as to LGBTIQA+ staff members.
GSANZ is committed to interculturality* and intersectionality in its practice and engagement with the Rainbow community. We commit to working with LGBTIQA+ staff, clients, and communities to ensure that systemic and social inequities that perpetuate discrimination and create barriers to good health and well-being are identified and addressed – both within our services and the broader community.
We recognize that, as an organization, we are part of the ecosystem we work within. Therefore, our commitment must also extend to challenging and transforming structural inequality that adversely affects LGBTIQA+ people, their families, and communities.
As we celebrate LGBTIQA+ History Month 2025, GSANZ continues to commit to providing safe, inclusive, and responsive services for LGBTIQA+ communities. Recognizing the challenges LGBTIQA+ communities face, we partner with them to create supportive spaces that empower individuals to live safe, strong, and connected lives.
*GSANZ operationally utilizes the term “interculturality to refer to the egalitarian exchange and communication relations between cultural groups that differ according to criteria such as ethnicity, religion, language, or nationality, among others” – INTERCULTURAL | Collins English Dictionary
