A new initiative has been launched to create a foundation to deliver support to indigenous LGBTI people and provide suicide prevention strategies.

A crowdsource fundraising campaign has been launched to fund the Black Rainbow Living Well Foundation through the website StartSomeGood. Founder Dayemon Bonson told OUTinPerth that the organisation’s aim will be to raise issues that are nuanced to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTI people.

“Racism and LGBTI-Phobia can have a significant impact on us; affecting our mental health and our social and emotional wellbeing, yet there are no direct supports or resources.” Bonson said.

“In an act of self determination we are establishing Australia’s first, and we think the world, dedicated Indigenous LGBTI suicide prevention and mental health support source for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTI people and our families and communities.”

Bonson said it was important that the foundation existed in its own right; “We don’t want to be competing for attention in the LGBTI sector nor do we want to competing for attention in the Indigenous sector. In both, we are the minority and it has been a struggle, in both camps to get heard and get traction. As our own entity we won’t have to rely the organisation in those sectors, rather we can influence and work collaboratively in this space.”

Bonson said it was confounding that many major mental health organisations didn’t have a dedicated LGBTI staff member or any indigenous staff; “This is troubling when both these groups, individually, are at the highest risk of suicide in the country.”

To donate to the fundraising campaign head to www.startsomegood.com/blackrainbow

OIP Staff