The founder and CEO of The Equality Project, Jason Tuazon-McCheyne has offered an apology for the podcast interview that has sparked multiple organisations pulling out this week’s Better Together Conference in Adelaide.
In an letter published online McCheyne said he was “deeply sorry” for the hurt caused by the publication of the conversation and made a committment to listen, learn and do better in the future.
“I apologise for the hurt caused by an episode of our Brave Conversations podcast published earlier this year. Rather than a journalistic piece, we intended to surface each individuals beliefs and values. As a result, we put sources into the public that the TGD community have been campaigning against as misinformation, and I acknowledge that this caused a lot of hurt. I am deeply sorry for this.” Tuazon-McCheyne said.
McCheyne said the podcast series had been taken down in consideration of the concerns that had been raised and to mitigate any further harm being caused.
“Transgender people are our community. They deserve appropriate and respectful access to healthcare and all the other parts of our society that full citizens should have access to. We will continue to create a space for the voices of transgender people in our work as we have always done. Now more than ever, these voices are important.
“I am grateful to the members of the transgender community who have reached out to talk, and those who have shared resources with us.” Tuazon-McCheyne said.
The CEO said the Better Together Conference which begins on Friday in Adelaide would still feature many members of the transgender and gender diverse communities leading sessions and creating conversations.
“This conference isn’t about The Equality Project. Better Together is by the community, for the community. I would deeply regret if this mistake also hurt the opportunity for this amazing bunch of diverse speakers, many of who don’t get a voice outside of this space, to have their say and connect with community.”
Tuazon-McCheyne signed off saying, “I am grateful to everyone who has stayed in dialogue with us about this, and we remain committed to listening, learning and doing better.”
Since Victoria’s Drummond Street Services announced their concern over the podcast conversation between Tuazon-McCheyne and Matt Beard, Exectutive Officer of global LGBTIQA+ rights group All Out, multiple organisations have pulled out of attending the conference.
Trans Sisters United, who are also based in Melbourne, said the apology from The Equality Project sidestepped the concerns that were being raised.
The Equality Project issued an apology on Saturday, and on Monday all the episodes of their podcast series were wiped from the internet. However the initial apology did little to quell the exodus of presenters scheduled to speak at the conference.
Western Australian based organisations WAAC and Pride Youth Network also pulled out.
Amnesty International’s NSW LGBTQIA+ Network also publicly criticised The Equality Project posting a message of solidarity with transgender communities.
South Australia’s Rainbow Advocacy Alliance said they would still be attending the conference this week, published a statement condemning the podcast. While Victoria’s Commissioner for LGBTQIA+ Communities, Joe Ball, said he would still be heading to Adelaide to present.
The 2025 Better Together conference is set to run in Adelaide over two days beginning on Friday with over 80 sessions in the program. OUTinPerth will be covering the conference and presenting two sessions.
