Cleo Woolf with Laura Sweeney and Daniel Van Sluys Erlich

Diversity Day at Emanuel School

Our annual Diversity Day Assembly was held on Tuesday 7 March, in the Lehrer Family MPH.

Diversity Day supports Emanuel School’s ethos where we value egalitarianism, co-existence and acceptance of diversity.

Our guest speaker was Laura Sweeney, Specialist LGBTI Adviser from the Human Rights Commission. In her role, Laura provides advice to the Commission about the human rights issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender diverse and intersex (LGBTI) people in Australia.

Laura holds a First Class Honours degree in Law and a Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) from the Australian National University. She is especially interested in discrimination law and the intersection of the rights to equality, non-discrimination and religious freedom.

A Year 11 student wrote: ‘We celebrated Diversity Day at Emanuel School during our High School Assembly. Diversity Day acknowledges that every individual has the right to be themselves. Our guest speaker spoke about the acronym LGBTI. She told us that every person that falls under this acronym is unique. One message from Laura’s presentation was that people who identify as LGBTI should have equal rights as everyone else in our community.’  

After the assembly Laura spoke with Year 10 students about changes in the law over their lifetime (up to 18 years), that have made a difference for the LGBTI people, as well as the areas of the law that still represent inequality. Laura also spoke about influential people in the LGBTI Community and their impact on those who identify with the Community. The students were engaged in the presentation, they asked excellent questions and responded with maturity to Laura’s questions.

A Year 10 student commented: ‘We were all enlightened and had the privilege to be spoken to by Laura Sweeney, a Human Rights Activist, about the history of LGBTI community. We learnt a great deal about past laws regarding the LGBTI community and the laws that still need to be changed. There is still a long way to go but it is also amazing how far we have come.’

Another Year 10 students wrote: ‘Laura Sweeney spoke to Year 10 about issues that members of the LGBTI community face in Australia. It was interesting to hear about the problems that people in the LGBTI Community face besides same sex marriage, including issues around adoption and being unable to undergo gender reassignment surgery if you are under 18. I really enjoyed her presentation and thought it was important to hear about the laws affecting LGBTI people.’

This presentation complemented the Year 10 Tutor Program topics on Personality and Maturity, Values and Purpose, Relationships and Conflict Resolution.

Emanuel School is a Safe School and supports the LGBTI Community here and Australia wide.

‘Safe Schools Coalition Australia is a national network of organisations working with schools to create safer and more inclusive environments for same sex attracted, intersex and gender diverse students, staff and families.’

For more information on the Safe Schools Coalition Australia, click on the link below.

www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/who-we-are