Beyond Blue has recently updated its website to be LGBTI-inclusive.
Screenshot, Beyond Blue GLBTI page, 15th july 2009.
As we attested to in our submission paper to the federal Department of Health & Ageing’s New National Women’s Health Policy, intersex people have very high rates of social exclusion and depression, other mental health issues and suicide, resulting from the way we are mistreated. Empirical evidence puts the suicide rate of intersex youth at 30%.
These deaths may well significantly decrease if we were to be granted social inclusion, human rights, protection against discrimination and vilification, patient-centred health care, and if non-consensual surgery were to be banned.
Beyond Blue adding LGBTI people to its remit is a good start to intersex inclusion in all Australian government-funded health initiatives. Now we need those health organisation CEOs who “believe[s] that there needs to be a mix of depression programs delivered by GLBT health organisations” to begin talking about LGBTI and not just LGBT.
