Have you ever considered a career in politics? The ‘It Takes More’ campaign aims to get more LGBTIQ+ people in the Victorian Parliament.
More LGBTIQ+ candidates will be supported to run and win seats in next year’s Victorian state election under a new campaign launched this week by the Victorian Pride Lobby.
The non-partisan campaign – ‘It Takes More’ – will seek to address the low numbers of LGBTIQ+ representation in the Victorian Parliament by working directly with LGBTIQ+ candidates in a bid to support and mentor them.
The campaign will also see the Lobby reach out to political parties and political party pride organisations to understand how LGBTIQ+ candidates are being supported to run for winnable seats.
Additionally, LGBTIQ+ media outlets, journalists and broadcasters will be asked to take the It Takes More pledge, which would see them feature only LGBTIQ+ candidates and party spokespeople when covering LGBTIQ+ issues on the campaign trail.
Co-convenor of the Victorian Pride Lobby, Nevena Spirovska, said that by working directly with LGBTIQ+ candidates, the Lobby was seeking to create a network of support and mentorship.
“The Lobby will be reaching out to the various political party pride organisations and political parties themselves to understand how LGBTIQ+ candidates are being supported to run for winnable seats,” she said.
“We’re also reaching out to LGBTIQ+ media outlets, journalists, and broadcasters to take the It Takes More Pledge, to feature only LGBTIQ+ candidates or party representatives when speaking about LGBTIQ+ issues on the campaign trail.”
“It takes more than a rainbow lanyard to have equality. We will only be the equality state when our parliament reflects the rich diversity of our communities,” she said.
Currently, Victoria has one of the lowest rates of LGBTIQ+ representation of any parliament in Australia with only around two per cent of parliamentarians identifying as LGBTIQ+.
Comparatively, the ACT has 16 per cent of MPs and 33 per cent of ministers identifying as LGBTIQ+. Western Australia has 11 per cent of the Cabinet. Abroad, the UK House of Lords has five times more lesbians in their Chamber than in both houses of the Victorian Parliament combined, and New Zealand has 10 per cent LGBTIQ+ MPs.
In Victoria, there are currently no openly LGBTIQ+ people in the Ministry or Shadow Ministry. There has never been a trans, non-binary or intersex person elected to the Victorian Parliament. There has never been an openly lesbian, bisexual, or queer woman elected to the Legislative Assembly, and only two ever elected to the Legislative Council.
In 2022, the Lobby is hoping to change this. Last year, the Lobby found great success in its Rainbow Local Government campaign, which saw a record number of LGBTIQ+ people elected to councils across the state, as well as a record number of allies.
Visit the It Takes More website.
Source: Media Release
You can support our work by subscribing to our Patreon
or contributing to our GoFundMe campaign.
