The Informer

– A petition calling for gender-affirming surgery to be covered amassed over 100,000 in a matter of days. Currently, the surgery isn’t covered and is extremely expensive. We speak with Sally Goldner from Transgender Victoria about what impact Medicare coverage could have.

– The EU has been applying pressure to Polish province governments over ‘LGBT-Free Zone’ ordinances that have been passed by many provinces since 2019. With th...

– Despite Victoria leading the country with many LGBTQIA+ reforms, the parliament has one of the lowest numbers of out LGBTQIA+ people. A new campaign launched by the Vic Pride Lobby seeks to change that. We speak to Vic’s first and only elected out lesbian Harriet Shing about what needs to be done to increase representation.

– Covid has led to lengthy delays in gender-affirming surgery. We find out what impact the delays ...

– Vic Gov announces it will follow through on its promise to ban workplace discrimination of LGBTQI teachers in independent religious schools. We speak to the Vic Pride Lobby, Independent Education Union, and a queer teacher in a religious school about discrimination allowed under current laws.

– The Federal Government is considering introducing a community sponsorship refugee program, similar to programs in Canada and New Zeala...

– NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham headed a parliamentary committee to assess the anti-trans education bill that he had introduced into parliament himself. We speak with Greens MP David Shoebridge, Equality Australia and Teddy Cook about these concerning developments.

– Manchester Pride has come under significant community criticism for corporatisation and ceasing funding for LGBT support services. We speak to the organisers of a...

– Vic Gov to broaden anti-vilification laws to include sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and HIV status. We speak with Vic Pride Lobby about how the reforms came about and what their impact will be.

– Prominent trans-woman in Cameroon violently attacked after being sentenced to five years jail under draconian anti-homosexuality laws. We speak to human rights advocates in Cameroon about the situation for sexual ...

– Drug trials for a HIV cure are about to begin in Victoria. We speak with a lead researcher of the trial, along with Thorne Harbour Health and Living Positive Victoria about the impact a cure could have on affected people.

– Grindr has revolutionised how many queer people meet globally, allowing people to explore their sexuality discreetly, easily meet queer locals while traveling, make new friends, and of course, find sex. But i...

– With Afghanistan under Taliban control once more, we hear from the Afghan Australian Women’s Association & Prof. Sha-ahram Akifahrzadeh about what it could mean for human rights in the country.

– Dennis Altman gives his views on the Australian Government’s refusal to take in extra refugees, given the humanitarian crisis and Australia’s involvement in the war.

– OnlyFans, an online platform popular with independent sex worker...

– Victoria is set to decriminalise sex work after years of campaigning by advocates. We speak to Fiona Patten MP who led the legislative review about why it’s taken so long for progress on law reform, and Jules Kim, CEO of Aus. Sex Workers Assoc. Scarlett Alliance, about what impact decriminalisation will have for sex workers.

– Covid stay-at-home orders keep the community safe from Covid, but what if home isn’t a safe place? New ...

– Germany has some of the toughest anti-hate speech laws in the world and they were tested for the first time in the country’s highest court after Facebook removed several posts deemed hateful. While the laws make it easier to challenge and remove online hate speech, the laws have caused some concern for civil rights observers, with potential for them to be misused to stifle political dissent.

– Indonesia has one of the fastest gr...