LGBTIQ+ people in Australia

More inclusive terms such as LGBTQ or LGBTI are increasingly used in Australia, rather than just LGBT, with the Q denoting queer people and the I denoting intersex people. Organisations that include intersex people as well as LGBT people include the National LGBTI Health Alliance and community media. Also used are the terms LGBTQI and LGBTQIA, with the A denoting asexual people. ==Demographics==

In 2014, over half a million people or 3.0% of the adult population identified as gay, lesbian, or "other". This included 268,000 people who identified as gay or lesbian and 255,000 people who identified as having an "other" sexual orientation. Same-sex couples In 2011, same-sex couples accounted for 0.7% of the total number of couples. It increased to 0.9% in the 2016 Census. In 2016, there were 23,700 male same-sex couples and 23,000 female same-sex couples. The pattern of more male than female same-sex couples has been consistent since 1996, although the degree of difference has decreased in each census, more significantly in the 2016 Census. In 2016, same-sex couples accounted for 1.4% of all couples in the Australian Capital Territory, the highest proportion of any state or territory. However, only 2.6% of all same-sex couples in Australia lived in the Australian Capital Territory. The next highest proportions were in New South Wales and Victoria, where same-sex couples accounted for 1.0% of all couples. Almost two-thirds (63%) of same-sex couples lived in New South Wales (35.8%) or Victoria (27.1%), whereas only 0.8% lived in the Northern Territory and 1.8% in Tasmania. In 2016, it increased to 10,500 children, accounting for 0.2% of all children in families. According to the 2016 Census, LGBTQ people were most likely to report they had no religion (57%). However, 32% said they were Christian. This was in contrast to heterosexual people, for whom Christianity was the leading affiliation (59%) followed by not having a religion (28%). Same-sex partners were more likely to be affiliated with Buddhism than those in opposite-sex relationships (3.9% compared to 2.7%) and less likely to be affiliated with Hinduism (0.5% compared with 2.4%) or Islam (0.7% compared with 2.4%). ==History==

Queer Indigenous Australian history is little-known, with limited evidence of formal structures or roles except in the Tiwi Islands. ==Rights==

As a federation, Australia's states and territories are responsible for many laws affecting LGBTQ and intersex rights. Between 1975 and 1997, the states and territories progressively repealed anti-homosexuality laws that dated back to the colonial era. Since 2016, each jurisdiction has an equal age of consent for all sexual acts. All jurisdictions offer expungement schemes to clear the criminal records of people charged or convicted for consensual sexual acts that are no longer illegal. Beginning on 12 September 2017, a national plebiscite titled "Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?" was commenced. 61.6% of total votes were in support of the legalisation of same-sex marriage, leading to Australia recognising same-sex marriage on 9 December 2017. States and territories began granting domestic partnership benefits and relationship recognition to same-sex couples from 2003 onwards, with federal law recognising same-sex couples since 2009 as de facto relationships. Alongside marriage, same-sex relationships may be recognised by states or territories in various ways, including through civil unions, domestic partnerships, registered relationships and/or as unregistered de facto relationships. LGBTQ adoption and parenting in Australia is legal nationwide, with the Northern Territory the last jurisdiction to pass an adoption equality law in March 2018. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression is prohibited in every state and territory, with concurrent federal protections for sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status since 1 August 2013. Transgender rights in Australia and intersex rights in Australia vary between jurisdictions, with only NSW since 1996 legally still requiring a person to undergo sex reassignment surgery before changing the legal sex on birth certificates Non-binary Australians can legally register a "non-specific" sex on federal legal documents and in the records of some states and territories. Despite these developments, reports highlighted persistent barriers to accessing gender-affirming healthcare for sistergirls and brotherboys living in remote and regional areas. Several individuals described moving to cities such as Sydney to obtain hormone treatment that was unavailable in their home communities. Summary table ==Social conditions==

in 2012 rally in 2013 Public attitudes A 2005 paper by the Australia Institute, Mapping Homophobia in Australia, found that 35% of people aged 14 or above considered homosexuality to be immoral, with Queensland and Tasmania having the highest levels of anti-gay sentiment and Victoria the lowest. Overall the most anti-LGBT areas in the study were the Moreton area of country Queensland (excluding the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast), Central and South-West Queensland and the Burnie/Western district of Tasmania, where 50% considered homosexuality to be immoral, while the least homophobic were inner-city Melbourne (14%), central Perth (21%) and central Melbourne (26%). Indigenous LGBTI community Gender diverse and transgender Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders are often referred to as sistergirls and brotherboys. The level of acceptance varies with each community and its elders. In 2019, SBS News reported on how gender-diverse Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people help keep cultural traditions alive while also advocating for greater acceptance. In the Tiwi Islands, sistergirls were reported to have gained recognition through participation in traditionally gender-specific cultural practices, including women's ceremonial dances. Following the deaths of 15 sistergirls by suicide in the early 2000s, a community meeting was held in which sistergirls sought and received permission from Tiwi Elders to perform traditional women's dances. A ceremonial event was held in remembrance of those who had died, marking a turning point in community relations, later they performed also in a competition held in the Sydney Opera House. According to later accounts, no further sistergirl suicides were reported in the community after the ceremony, and the event is described as having significantly improved acceptance and support for sistergirls' gender identity and sexuality among families and community members. ==See also==