Face the facts:
LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,TRANS AND INTERSEXPEOPLE • 2014

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Face the Facts: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people • 2014
ISBN 978-1-921449-67-3
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Infographic Design Firefly Interactive
Content James Iliffe, Black and White Media Australia
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Face the Facts: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people • 2014 • 1

Lesbian, gay,bisexual, trans andintersex people
Equality and freedom from discrimination are fundamental
human rights that belong to all people, regardless of sexual
orientation, gender identity or because they are intersex.
On 1 August 2013, the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 wasamended to make discrimination on the basis of a person’s
sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status against
the law.
Despite this important step forward, lesbian, gay, bisexual,
trans and intersex (LGBTI) people in Australia still experience
discrimination, harassment and hostility in many parts ofeveryday life; in public, at work and study, accessing healthand other services and securing proper recognition of their
sex in official documents.

About• Australians of diverse sexual orientation, sex orgender identity may account for up to 11 per cent of
the Australian population.1• Same-sex couples make up about one per cent of
all couples in Australia. In 2011, there were around
33,700 same-sex couples in Australia, including
17,600 male same-sex couples and 16,100 female
same-sex couples.2 The number of same-sex couples
more than tripled between 1996 and 2011.3• In 2011, there were 6,300 children living in same-sex
couple families, up from 3,400 in 2001. Most of thesechildren (89 per cent) are in female same-sex couple
families.4• There are no firm figures for Australia’s intersex
population. Estimates range from one in 2,000 births
to four per cent of the population.5

2Key issues for LGBTIpeople• A large number of LGBTI people hide their sexuality orgender identity when accessing services (34 per cent),
at social and community events (42 per cent) andat work (39 per cent).6 Young people aged 16 to 24
years are most likely to hide their sexuality or genderidentity.7• LGBTI young people report experiencing verbal
homophobic abuse (61 per cent), physicalhomophobic abuse (18 per cent) and other types ofhomophobia (nine per cent), including cyberbullying,graffiti, social exclusion and humiliation.8• Eighty per cent of homophobic bullying involving
LGBTI young people occurs at school and has a
profound impact on their well-being and education.9• Transgender males and females experiencesignificantly higher rates of non-physical and physicalabuse compared with lesbians and gay men.10• Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people arethree times more likely to experience depression
compared to the broader population.11• Around 60 per cent of same-sex attracted and genderquestioning young people said they experiencedverbal abuse because of their sexuality, while
18 per cent reported experiencing physical abuse.
Young men (70 per cent) and gender-questioning
young people (66 per cent) were more likely than
young women (53 per cent) to experience verbal
abuse.12

Positive developments• LGBTI young people at schools where protective
policies are in place are more likely to feel safe
compared with those in schools without similar
policies (75 per cent compared with 45 per cent). They
are almost half less likely to be physically abused atschool, less likely to suffer other forms of homophobic
abuse, less likely to self-harm and less likely toattempt suicide.13• People in same-sex couples tend to be more highly
educated,14 more likely to work in highly skilledoccupations (53 per cent compared with 43 per cent)15
and more likely to have higher incomes.16• On measures of general health and family cohesion,children aged 5 to 17 years with same-sex attracted
parents had significantly better scores whencompared to Australian children from all otherbackgrounds and family contexts. For all other healthmeasures, there were no statistically significant
differences.17

Did you know?
• Almost half of all gay, lesbian, bisexual andtransgender people hide their sexual orientationor gender identity in public for fear of violence ordiscrimination.18

Find out more
• Australian Human Rights Commission, Addressing
sexual orientation and sex and/or gender identity
discrimination: Consultation Report (2011)• Australian Human Rights Commission, Sex Files: thelegal recognition of sex in documents and government
records (2009)• Australian Human Rights Commission, Same-Sex:
Same Entitlements, Report of the National Inquiry
into discrimination against people in same-sex
relationships in the area of financial and work related
entitlements (2007)• Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society,
La Trobe University, Private Lives 2: The second
national survey of the health and wellbeing of GLBT
Australians (2012)• Beyond Blue, In my shoes: Experiences ofdiscrimination, depression and anxiety among gay,lesbian, bisexual, trans and intersex people (2012)

Our role
The Commission can investigate complaints of discriminationon the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity andintersex status under the Sex Discrimination Act, which wasamended in August 2013.
The amended Act also protects same-sex couples fromdiscrimination under the definition of “marital or relationshipstatus”.
We have conducted a number of major projects in recentyears to identify and build community awareness around thehuman rights issues faced by LGBTI people.
Find out more about our work in this area.

Face the Facts: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people • 2014 • 3

Endnotes

41

Department of Health, Australian Government, National Lesbian, Gay,Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Ageing and Aged Care
Strategy (2012).

2

Australian Bureau of Statistics, 4102.0 – Australian Social Trends, July
2013, Same-Sex Couples (July 2013).

3

Australian Bureau of Statistics, above.

4

Australian Bureau of Statistics, note 2.

5

See the website of the Organisation Intersex International Australia (OII).
OII recommends a mid-range figure of 1.7 per cent of all births.

6

Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe
University, Private Lives 2: The second national survey of the health andwellbeing of GLBT Australians (2012).

7

Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La TrobeUniversity, above.

8

Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe
University, Writing Themselves in 3: The third national study on
the sexual health and wellbeing of same sex attracted and genderquestioning young people (2010).

9Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe
University, above.

10

For example, while 26 per cent of males and 23 per cent of females
reported verbal abuse in the past 12 months, the percentages jump
to 47 per cent and 37 per cent for trans males and trans females
respectively. See Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society,La Trobe University, note 6.

11Beyond Blue, In my shoes: Experiences of discrimination, depression andanxiety among gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and intersex people (2012).

12

Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe
University, note 8.

13

T Jones and Western Australian Equal Opportunity Commission, A reportabout discrimination and bullying on the grounds of sexual orientationand gender identity in Western Australian education (2012).

14

Australian Bureau of Statistics, note 2.

15

Australian Bureau of Statistics, note 2.

16

Australian Bureau of Statistics, note 2.

17

University of Melbourne, Australian Study of Child Health In Same-Sex
Families (ACHESS): Interim report (2013).

18

Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe
University, note 6.

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Face the Facts: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people • 2014 • 5

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