Leading Rainbow Western Sydney

ZINE

LEADING RAINBOW WESTERN SYDNEY

Leading Rainbow Western Sydney is a leadership gathering series for established and emerging community leaders and groups who support multicultural LGBTQ communities in Greater Western Sydney to connect with, learn from, and support each other.

The goal is to bring together like-minded people and make cross-cultural connections as we support each other, build skills and foster ongoing community activity.

Outloud was happy to support ACON's event and to bring our zine table on the night!

THE PANEL Pola Taulafo (she/her) Pola Taulafo (she/her) is an activist and founder of the LGBTIQA+ asylum seekers and refugees community group.

She is currently studying a diploma in Community Service and works at NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS) as facilitator and trainer for their inclusive practice training which upskills service providers and how they work with LGBTQ people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds.

THE PANEL MARTIN Silveira (HE/HIM) Martin graduated from the University of Western Sydney with a Bachelor of Health Science (Health Promotion), and University of Sydney with a Master of Public Health and a Master of Social Work (Qualifying).

He has over 16 years of experience in health promotion, community development and social work. He has worked in the public and private systems in sexual health, HIV, multicultural health, ageing, mental health, general practice, refugee health and Social Policy.

Currently, Martin is a social worker at Western Sydney Sexual Health Centre (WSSHC) where he provides counselling, case management, education and advocacy for people with HIV and target populations (men who have sex with men, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, gender diverse people, people living with mental health issues and/or dependency, and sex workers).

Martin is a member or the Australian Association of Social Workers in which he has recently joint the Branch Management Committee. He enjoys and is passionate about education and have provided supervision to Health Promotion and Social Work students. And he is keen to help shape the LGBTIQ+ space in Greater Western Sydney.

THE PANEL ANDREW UNDI LEE (HE/HIM) Andrew Undi Lee is a queer Korean Australian screen writer and director, who co-founded; with three other members, "ALL" - The Korean queer society.

The community group is is mainly a vehicle for the queer members of the Korean diaspora to socialise, connect and share support for one another.

ALL also serves as a sounding board for any of the members seeking sexual health, queer parenting and peer to peer advice. Andrew has been an active volunteer with ACON since 2018, being involved in various queer asian mens' projects, workshop facilitation and community panel talks.

He is also part of the West words's bi-monthly meetup group, specifically created for queer writers in the western suburbs, located in Parramatta.

THE PANEL LOC NGYUEN (THEY/THEM) Loc Nguyen (they/them) is the Community Health Promotion Officer for Multicultural Engagement & Community Development at ACON with 4 years of experience in the sector. Loc has specialised in developing and delivering HIV and sexual health peer education programs, with a passion for supporting LGBTQ+ people from culturally, linguistically, ethnically diverse, migrant and refugee backgrounds, as well as LGBTQ+ people of colour.

Loc is currently the Co-Chair of the CALD Gay Men’s Action Group and ACON’s Multicultural Working Group. Outside of ACON, Loc has experiencing in the arts sector as a practicing artist and gallery co-ordinator.

THE PANEL ADRIAN MOUHAJER (THEY/THEM) Adrian Mouhajer (they/them) is the Program Coordinator of Safety, Inclusion and Justice at ACON. Adrian is passionate about providing safer and more inclusive spaces for LGBTQ+ individuals and communities, especially ones that account for the intersections of gender, sexuality, culture, and background.

Outside of ACON, they are a writer for Sweatshop Literacy Movement and won Highly Commended in the 2021 Sydney Opera House Antidote Mentorship for Diverse Emerging Writers. Their work has been published in SBS Voices, Sydney Opera House, Diversity Arts and Aniko Press.

Participants were asked: What does multicultural LGBTQ leadership look like to you?

They responded:

Participants were asked: How valuable was this event to you?

The event was given:

4.43 STARS

Participants were asked: How will you implement your takeaways from the event with your community or organisation?

They responded:

"share information with colleagues in my workplace and look to develop and amend policies to ensure there are sufficient accommodations to assist Multicultural LGBTQ overcome common barriers” “I made knew connections with both the organisers, speakers and attendees which I can use to connect my clients to straight away.”

Participants were asked: How safe did you feel at the event?

The event was given:

4.60 STARS

Participants were asked: What they thought of the event?

They responded:

“it was great and refreshing to see the event steered by culturally diverse people for culturally diverse people. often multicultural lgbtiq+ issues in western sydney are produced with a white saviour complex. thanks for this event and network and hope to see more!”

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