LGBTIQ+ Health Australia is calling for immediate action to increase the personal safety of lesbian, gay, bisexual and other diverse sexually orientated women in response to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showing LGB+ women experience sexual violence at a rate of more than four times higher than heterosexual women. 

The chair of LHA Carolyn Gilespie joined Rach and Dean on JOY Breakfast to break down what this data looked like and what actions need to be taken to improve the safety of LGB+ Women, if at any point in this conversation you need support please head to www.joy.org.au/support for LGBTQIA+ support services.

Yesterday morning, the Trans Justice Project and the Victorian Pride Lobby released a ground-breaking new report into anti-trans hate in Australia titled Fuelling Hate. 

Using data from over 3000 survey responses, it’s the largest investigation of its kind, and very sobering reading, showing a vast increase in the last three years in anti- trans abuse, hatred & vilification. 

JOY Breakfast were joined by Jackie Turner, the director of the Trans Justice Project to discuss the report.

If anything discussed is distressing to anyone listening, know you can find a wealth of support services available to you at www.joy.org.au/support. 

Angelo Baronessa is an expert in his field and joins the JOY Breakfast crew to help us navigate all the many ways LGBTQIA+ people struggle with basic financial woes.

Today Rach & Dean are diving in with the big question… When is the RIGHT time to join finances with your significant other…? 

Helping you make your money matter even in your mornings.

At JOY Breakfast we have spoken many a-time about our love for the big C word, CONSENT, and this performance explores how we navigate consent with our own bodies and the nature of shifting boundaries. The creative force behind this production is Danielle Micich, Force Majeure’s Artistic Director, as well as intimacy coach for stage and screen. Australian movement-based theatre company Force Majeure has premiered their newest show ‘IDK’, a mesmerising blend of movement and narrative performance

Rach and Dean spoke to LGBTQI Portfolio manager Jeremy Oliver and LLO Officer Sergeant Jo Warwick to discuss everything from lighting the city of Naarm/Melbourne Purple for wear it purple day, to how Vic Police support LGBTQIA+ Youth. We touch on the news in the media about Officers fraudulently making false claims about being non-binary and the action Victoria Police is taking. VIC Police are on JOY Breakfast each month.

On the show Rach and Dean interview Edward Wilson, author of ‘A Gay Man’ a beautifully illustrated storybook about a collective journey may in our communities’ experience, the challenges of being perfectly imperfect and find a space to be you.

On Wear It Purple Day on Friday, an annual LGBTIQI+ day which aims to foster supportive, safe and inclusive environments for rainbow young people, a very special space had a soft launch in Gippsland that will do just that. 

The Gippsland Pride Hub will create a welcome and safe space of connection, community and advocacy across the vast shires that make up the Gippsland Region.

President of Gippsland Pride Initiative Caitlyn Grigsby joined Rach & Dean on JOY Breakfast to tell them all about it. 

The Gippsland Pride Hub will open late September for two days a week in one of the rooms at the West Gippsland Healthcare Groups community health centre, Trafalgar House, in Trafalgar and will provide support and resources to the LGTBIQA+ community. 

To find out more about it you can head to Gippsland Pride Initaitive’s website or via their social media. 

Each and every Monday, Rach & Dean speak to the eliminated queen from the STAN original series Drag Race Down Under – and this past episode had A LOT to talk about!

From a reading challenge that was anything but fundamental, too the wildest BMX stage performance the franchise has ever seen where do they even begin.

By chatting to the nipple queen herself, Ashley Madison. 

Last week, Rach & Dean spoke to Leanne Brooke from The Long Walk, a charity inspired by Michael Long’s walk 19 years ago from Melbourne to Canberra to get Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues back on the national agenda and yesterday the 20th anniversary walk set off from Melbourne Town Hall. 

Michael Long has decided to re-embark on the 650km walk to step up the conversation about the indigenous voice to Parliament, and with the date of the Referendum being announced this week, there’s no better time for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal supporters to not only keep the conversation going, but physically join The Long Walk as it moves forward to Parliament House. 

One of these supporters is Jason Tuazon-McCheyne from The Equality Project, an organisation who believes that bringing everyone to the table is the best way to make change and move forward together and today Jason is on the line with us from Windy Hill, the first stop along the Long Walk. 

He spoke with Rach & Dean to tell us more about why this is so important.

Find out more about The Long Walk and you can step up the conversation here.

Rach & Dean had a very special Wear It Purple JOY Breakfast, filled with listeners sharing their story, as well as hearing from young people about their experience growing up and finding spaces that accept them.

Wear It Purple Day is an annual LGBTIQA+ awareness day especially for young people, based in Australia and celebrated worldwide.

Supporters wear purple to celebrate diversity and young people from the LGBTIQA+ community.