Justice Stocktake 2025

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Home | Discrimination of LGBTIQA+ Community

LGBTIQA+ community discrimination and disadvantage

While Australia has made significant strides in advancing LGBTIQA+ rights through legislative reforms such as marriage equality and antidiscrimination laws, there is still much work to be done to address systemic discrimination and create a more inclusive society.

Members of the LGBTIQA+ community continue to face various forms of discrimination and prejudice in different aspects of their lives, including employment, education, healthcare, housing, sports, and religious settings. Many LGBTIQA+ people live healthy and happy lives, but research demonstrates that a disproportionate number experience homelessness, exclusion, discrimination, and poorer mental health outcomes than non-LGBTIQA+ individuals.[1]

LGBTIQA+ people are more likely to be diagnosed with a mental health condition, and to report high levels of psychological distress.[2] This is related to experiences of exclusion, violence, stigma, discrimination, and abuse.[3] Community connectedness and positive relationships can protect against the effect of these experiences and create a sense of belonging, value, and identity.[4]

Younger people from the LGBTIQA+ community were more likely to report precarious or casual employment, regular financial difficulties and seeking mental health support.[5] They also report experiences of family rejection, conflict, and violence, which may lead to homelessness at a young age.[6]

Experience homelessness at twice the rate

People from the LGBTIQA+ community experience homelessness at more than twice the rate of those not from the LGBTIQA+ community.[7]

LGBTIQA+ people are nearly six times more likely to experience and be diagnosed with depression.[8]

28.1% experienced verbal harassment in the past 12 months

More than one quarter (28.1 per cent) of LGBTIQA+ secondary school students surveyed experienced verbal harassment relating to their sexuality or gender identity in this setting in the past 12 months.

Over one-third of secondary school students (38.4 per cent) reported missing day/s of school in the past 12 months because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable.[9]

We have the power to make a difference

We can urge action from our governments

Our social safety net is failing people. The Commonwealth Government needs to review and radically increase the rates of income support, such as JobSeeker and Youth Allowance, so that unemployment does not mean long-term poverty.

Governments need to work together to prioritise ending homelessness and housing stress. A commitment and concrete plan to increase social housing to at least 10 per cent of housing stock in Australia is a key intervention that will ease housing stress across our community.

We can implement change in our community and our workplaces

Workplaces and community groups often support causes through fundraising and learning opportunities. Poverty is a foundational social justice issue that leads to, results from, or exacerbates every other disadvantage in this report. When we are choosing a cause to highlight, we can choose ones that address the underlying issue of financial hardship.

When organising events, activities and memberships we can keep in mind that cost may be a barrier to some people participating. We can actively keep the individual cost of participation as low as possible and consider providing bursaries or scholarships to assist with costs that can be accessed without shame or stigma.

We can have influence in our personal lives

We can give to or volunteer with groups that are working to support people experiencing poverty. While structural issues need to be addressed, in the meantime there are already so many people doing what they can and so many opportunities to get involved. Acting in our own communities, we can make a difference for people one at a time.

  1. 125 StreetSmart. (2023, February 8). LGBTIQA+ Homelessness. [Link] LGBTIQ+ Health Australia. (2021, October). Snapshot of mental health and suicide prevention statistics for LGBTIQ+ people. [Link] Snapshot_of_MHSP_Statistics_for_LGBTIQ__People_-_Revised.pdf?1648014801 Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2024, February 27). Mental health findings for LGBTQ+ Australians. ABS. [Link] ↩︎

  2. Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2024, February 27). Mental health findings for LGBTQ+ Australians. ABS. [Link] ↩︎

  3. Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2024, February 27). Mental health findings for LGBTQ+ Australians. ABS. [Link] ↩︎

  4. LGBTIQ+ Health Australia. (2021). Beyond Urgent: National LGBTIQ+ Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Strategy 2021-2026. [Link] ↩︎

  5. Monash Centre for Youth Policy and Education Practice, Cutler, B., Gallo Cordoba, B., & Walsh, L. (2024). The pressures of being queer and young (Poster). Monash University. [Link] ↩︎

  6. StreetSmart. (2023, February 8). LGBTIQA+ Homelessness. [Link] ↩︎

  7. StreetSmart. (2023, February 8). LGBTIQA+ Homelessness. [Link] ↩︎

  8. LGBTIQ+ Health Australia. (2021). Beyond Urgent: National LGBTIQ+ Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Strategy 2021-2026. [Link] ↩︎

  9. Hill, AO., Lyons, A., Jones, J., McGowan, I., Carman, M., Parsons, M., Power, J., & Bourne, A. (2021). Writing Themselves In 4: The health and wellbeing of LGBTQA+ young people in Australia. National report, monograph series number 124. Melbourne: Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University ↩︎

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