The Informer is back for 2021! In the first episode, we cover Mark Latham’s anti-trans bill before NSW parliament, and what it could mean for trans-kids; how the findings of the Royal Commission into Aged Care impact LGBTQIA+ elders; the reduction in waiting time for blood donations from men who have sex with men; and we ask Midsumma organisers why uniformed police are allowed to march in Pride.    Support the Informer Daily, Donate to JOY    

Emily Johnson investigates why gay asylum seeker has spent the last eight years in an Australian detention centre. #freeali The LGBT community faces one of the highest suicide rates in Australia, Switchboard Australia is urging the Australian Government for a response to these devastating statistics. 29 openly LGBT council members have been elected into 20 councils across Victoria. Yuan Zhong reports why this is a monumental step forward for our community. Beau Driscoll speaks to Martha...

Biden is in and Trump is out. Joe Biden is the new president of America.  Celebrate the history, culture and achievements of the traditional landowners of Australia with us for NAIDOC Week. Beau Driscoll speaks to some special guests as to why this week is special for all of us Australians and addresses some of the amazing work contributed by the queer black community. For more information, to volunteer or to donate go to BlaQ.  

Gavin Height provides a live report from the Saturday protests in Perth over the transphobic comments made by the Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas. Voting has now closed for the US Election and America is fearfully waiting for the results. We give you a follow up on one of our previous stories on Poland’s rising religious conservatism that has lead to vilification and discrimination towards the LGBT community. The boys at World Wide Wave talk about homophobic and transphobic hate crime in the UK....

On the 21st of October, the NSW Parliament unanimously passed a motion in support of trans people, put together by Independent member of Sydney Alex Greenwich. This motion is to provide more support services for the trans community as well as support on trans’ issues. Keep up to date with us as the US election is only six days away, Emily Johnson provides us with a breakdown of everything you need to know with one of the most intense second debates in American history. Beau Driscoll brings...

RMIT University is paving the way for more authenticity when it comes to their trans students. In an unprecedented new move, trans students are now able to go by their chosen name instead of the name assigned to them on Births, Deaths and Marriages. In this week’s podcast, The Informer reporter Beau Driscoll speaks to a university trans student in what this change will mean to the trans community. During COVID, many have been inundated with extra free time and with the local council election...

With the hearings for the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with a Disability continuing, in this week’s podcast, we give you some information about the Royal Commissions and what the latest findings from them are.  We also look at the first Presidential Debate, which was full of fury but lacking in substance. Listen to our podcast for a summary of it.  You will hear about the LGBTIQ people in China and what societal attitudes towards them are like....

Elderly LGBT+ people are experiencing isolation during #COVID. How can we ensure that this community feel less isolated during the pandemic? We spoke with Switchboard Victoria CEO Joe Ball about their program working to fix this problem.   In this podcast, we also take a look into legislation in QLD and the ACT to ban LGBTI+ conversion practices.  To find out how this legislation is travelling, we spoke to Mark Spencer, the Director of Public Policy for Christian Schools Australia and Nathan...

In this week’s podcast, we speak to Kate Eastman from The Royal Commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation towards people with a disability, about the unfair treatment of disabled people. Rising religious conservatism and right-wing populism have led to a third of Poland being declared “LGBT Free Zones.” The Informer reporter Gavin Height investigates what these LGBT Free Zones are and what do they mean for sexual and gender minorities in Poland. The transgender community has...

In recent years, HIV has become a growing concern in Indonesia, making it one of the countries with the highest cases in infection rates in Asia and the Pacific region. The Informer reporter Gavin Height speaks to Indonesian NGO caseworker Dr Sandeep Nanwani as to why this is and what the future holds for those infected, especially when it comes to treatment and the stigma behind the disease in a conservative Asian country. The Informer reporter Beau Driscoll, and just.equal spokesperson...

On this week’s podcast, we speak to the Executive Director of Sudanese LGBT organisation Bedayaa, Noor Sultan, on the recent legal changes abolishing the death penalty for sodomy. We also feature suburban art space in inner-city Brisbane called  Side Gallery, where the owner and curator, Leesa Hickey, is passionate in supporting emerging LGBT artists. Lisa tells us how she’s found innovative ways to keep the business operating during Queensland’s lockdown in order to continue supporting the...

There is no lack of artists in LGBT+community but space for them to showcase their talent is in shortage. That’s why we are happy to see the Side Gallery emerges as such a space.

Television has made monumental strides internationally and in Australia. Star Trek’s newest recruits include its first non-binary and trans actors playing their rightful counterparts in the long-running franchise. The Informer reporter Emily Johnson speaks to Geeks Out trans host Miranda Sparks on why this is important for the queer community. Similarly, in Australia, the same goes, with one of the first trans roles played by trans actress Suzy Wrong in Hungry Ghosts. Suzy talks to The...

Independent gay author David Menon, who has written more than 20 novels in the crime genre, has a new book available for preorder. The novel, titled Uncle Dad is the story of a gay man living in Melbourne who tries to fulfill his sister’s dying wish to adopt her two children, but finds himself facing challenges both with his partner who doesn’t want to raise kids, and the law which says that a single gay man cannot adopt children except in exceptional circumstances. The Informer sat down...

A documentary on the furry fandom that focuses on its history starting in the 70s and its role today as a massive space for LGBTQIA+ people to be open and expressive about themselves is releasing soon on July 3rd. The project was led by independent filmmaker Ash Kries, otherwise known as Ash Coyote to her fans, and The Informer got the chance to sit down with her to discuss the fandom, the film, and why you should watch it.

New research from Headspace has shown that there’s been a significant impact on mental health in young people during the pandemic. Crucially, young people have less faith in themselves than they did previously. We spoke with Vikki Ryall, Executive Director of Clinical Practice at Headspace and Matthew King to find out more.

Support the Informer Daily, Donate to JOY This weekend saw a large Black Lives Matter protest outside State Parliament and throughout the CBD. Informer Reporter Nicholas Kameniar-Sandery was there to report on the protest, speeches and voices from the crowd.

Support the Informer Daily, Donate to JOY Legendary singer Mama Alto is taking part in a unique event Global Pride. Toby Halligan sat down with Mama Alto for the Star Observer to talk about their career, creativity and of course, Global Pride. You can read the full interview here.

Support the Informer Daily, Donate to JOY The death of George Floyd in the United States has been the catalyst from protests across the country. Where is the anger coming from? We talk to Leole Goshu, a communications consultant in the United States who has worked with a number of political and social causes about the situation.

Support the Informer Daily, Donate to JOY Today in an encore episode, we talk to Lauren Rosewarne about robots and sex toys!

Support the Informer Daily, Donate to JOY We talk to Anja Homburg about the need for public transport to be made more accessible. Surprisingly there are still some huge gaps in PT – still. And we continue our interview with Janet Rice about foreign policy and having hope in times of extreme stress.

Support the Informer Daily, Donate to JOY Today, we speak to Victorian Greens Senator Janet Rice about the Greens’ plan for the economy. And gay men are under attack in Morocco – some with nowhere to go.

Support the Informer Daily, Donate to JOY Continuing our chat with Jeremy O’Connor from UniSA about creative industries. And we have a weekend update from Frock Hudson!

Support the Informer Daily, Donate to JOY Yes, that’s true. Nearly every OECD country has an arts and creative industries policy. But Australia doesn’t. What does that mean? We speak to Justin O’Connor from UniSA about why it matters.

Support the Informer Daily, Donate to JOY A recent study published in PLOS ONE looked into the attitudes of 30,000 Australians living with HIV regarding clinical research into a cure for HIV and how willing they were to contribute to clinical trials. The Informer spoke with Dr Jennifer Powers, a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, who led the study to learn more about the findings. And how has the religious speech debate affected people of...