provide a variety of opportunities. We hold events such as coffee and pub crawls, competitions, bake sales, see performances, march at rallies, promote awareness days, and participate in community workshops. Our Executive Committee attend conferences, and engage in regular meetings with university staff. We are managed by queer students, so we understand the sensitive nature of issues such as coming out as queer-identified, finding likeminded friends, internal conflicts (personal, moral, and religious), questioning one’s gender identity and sexuality, as well as relationship challenges. We aren't a counselling service, but we can provide a connection to appropriate counselling services such as QLife. Our Club is also very culturally and ethnically diverse, so this year we had our brochure translated into Arabic, Mandarin and Spanish so that we can reach out to students who speak English as an additional language - these brochures are available on our USASA page, and translations into more languages are being planned. Why is the Rainbow Club so important to the University of South Australia? Unfortunately, UniSA is one of the worst universities in Australia for queer staff and students. We’re one of the few universities in Australia without a dedicated queer space, Ally Network, and Queer Officer student representative. Thankfully, the university has been supportive of addressing our concerns, and is committed to making UniSA one of the most queer-friendly universities in Australia. We’ve been working together to develop an Ally Network and training program for staff, and auditing toilet facilities to find unisex toilets on each campus. The more complex issues of the female/male binary system, getting a dedicated queer space on campus, and having a Queer Officer on the USASA Student Board are long-term projects – but we’ve started working towards them. It’s shameful the reports students and staff have given us about discriminatory behaviour they’ve experienced here. We’ve had a range of issues brought to our attention such as; counsellors refusing to help same-sex attracted students; campus central staff refusing to change the titles and sex/gender markers in the files of transgender students; intersex and non-binary students being refused placements thus being unable to complete their degrees; and only having the binary options of female or male when enrolling as a student or signing a staff employment
contract - despite it being legal in South Australia to be non-binary, intersex, intermediate, or unspecified since 2017. It’s unacceptable, and nothing was being done until our Executive Committee brought a list of concerns to the Pro Vice Chancellor of Student Engagement and Equity. If someone was to go to a typical meet up for club members, what could they expect? They’ll meet our Executive Committee, and other queer students. Every event is a little bit different. Our more recent events have been our Pop-Up Rainbow Rooms, which has a chilled-out vibe, both for studying and for meeting new people. At a joint event they'll have the opportunity to meet queer students from Adelaide and Flinders. If the Rainbow Club was to be described in three words, what would those words be? Dedicated, compassionate, fabulous. If someone wants to join or find out more information about the Rainbow Club, what can they do? Membership is free and open to anyone, not just UniSA students or staff. Click the blue Sign Up button on our Facebook page, then log into/register your USASA account, and click ‘Join or Renew’ on our Club’s page. We also have a secret Facebook group for people who aren't out. Come along to our Executive Committee meetings with ideas and suggestions, or join our volunteer Facebook group. We hold our Annual General Meeting in March, where we elect our Executive Committee for the year. ◊
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