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I'm Avery. I work for I for ir and my pronouns are she her. Um, thank you all for being here today. And today we'll be talking about, um, inclusive language in the rainbow context, um, with Brody and Morgan here who are also from IR with me. We're officers in the IR Rainbow network. Um, so just as a note in this presentation, you'll hear the terms, uh, rainbow Queer and [00:00:30] LGBTQIA plus. And these are all terms that, um, describe the umbrella of people with diverse, uh, sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression or sex characteristics. Um, as a content warning, we'll also be mentioning, uh, mental health, suicide and, um, homophobic slurs in anecdotes. So what do we mean when we say, um, when we say inclusive language, it's really about being really. Conscious and intentional with the words that we use, um, [00:01:00] so that we don't make assumptions about people's gender identity or sexual orientation. Um, it's really about choosing words that acknowledge and respect and celebrate diversity. Um, so why does inclusive language matter? It's really about. Basic respect. And when we use inclusive language, we show that we see and respect others' identities. It recognizes the diversity of family, relationships, people, and identities. Um, [00:01:30] and we want to make sure that the language we use doesn't devalue or erase people's identities or experiences. The aim is really to be more, uh, more gender fair to mitigate our inherent biases. Um, we all hold inherent biases, and by choosing our words more carefully, we can help share, shape the narrative in the future. Um, another aim is to create safer and more inclusive spaces for rainbow people. So, um, it also helps people feel more comfortable to be themselves in their lives and [00:02:00] especially at work. Uh, so language shapes our realities and our culture. It's important in driving change and shifting societal and political attitudes. Um, and it also helps to support, uh, minority cultures as well. Um, not just rainbow, as Morgan will mention later on. Um, rainbow identities have also always been around. We just have the language now to describe what these identities are, and we can give them visibility and power and respect by using those words.[00:02:30] Um, exclusive language can also reinforce inequalities. Um, one example is that by age six children start. Eliminating occupations, um, that contrast with their gender self-concept. Um, so for example, young girls will see like policemen versus police officer. If you see policemen, they'll start, uh, eliminating those occupations as ones that they might want to take up in the future. Um. Yeah, by age six. And women are also significantly less likely to [00:03:00] apply for jobs, say policemen versus police officer or firemen versus firefighter and firefighters. Way cooler people, firefighters, so much cooler. Um, another example is, um, uh, aside from employment is using terms like pregnant person rather than women, because not all pregnant people are women. Um, this is called language neutralization. Um, and it helps promote gender equality, not just for rainbow genders or rainbow um, identities, [00:03:30] but also for women as well. Um, inclusive language is also really important when you're working with others and everybody works with people. Um, but it's also really important for our customers as well. Um, so we think about at ir, we think about our customers and how can we shape our interactions so that we have. Um, so that we are creating safe, inclusive spaces for our customers so that they actually feel more comfortable talking to us. Um, and I suppose one example in my own [00:04:00] life is I've had a doctor ask me about my boyfriend. I'm like, oh, I didn't even tell you I had a partner, but they assumed I had a partner. Um, and they assumed my partner was a man. Um, but what if I had been asexual or a romantic? Because not everybody wants a sexual or romantic partner. Um. And I think that experience made me feel kind of invisible, kind of unseen as a queer person. Um, but also I feel a lot less likely to ask my doctor for [00:04:30] things that I need, um, if I feel sort of uncomfortable or like, oh, they've already made this assumption about me and I don't want to correct them. 'cause I really. Need a good relationship with my doctor so that I can get quality healthcare, um, and we'll move on to everyday inclusive language. Um, so it's really something that we'd love to see become the default everyday language, just with a few easy swaps here and there, and being more conscious and intentional with the words that we do choose. Um. So there are lots [00:05:00] of easy swaps and there are a couple on here, um, such as using partner or spouse versus husband or wife, um, and people power versus manpower, um, or ancestors versus forefathers, things like that. Um, so alternatives can make a real difference to creating more inclusive spaces for rainbow people. Um, and another really important thing to remember is that if a, uh, a friend or a FAU member, somebody comes to you and says, oh, hey, like, um, I have. A rainbow identity. I'm X, Y, [00:05:30] Z. Um, you can say, okay, look, what are the terms that you use to describe yourself and what are the pronouns that you use? And then they'll, they'll tell you, um, and then you should use those terms because that's hugely affirming for queer people. And that makes a big difference. And you can get it wrong, but you just keep practicing and you keep trying to get it right and it will mean a lot to them. Um, and gender neutral language is also a good go-to when you're unsure about how somebody identifies, you can use they them. We do that all the time in the rainbow space. If we [00:06:00] don't, we know we what pronouns that person uses. We use they them. And that's actually a really good segue into our next topic, which is pronouns. So pronouns are ways that people refer to each other and themselves. It replaces proper pronouns in a sentence. So you would say they them, she, her, he, him. There's also neo pronouns like, uh, Z zzi. Those are less common, but you might see them from time to time and people, real people do actually use them. [00:06:30] Um. Um, oh. A really important thing to remember is that pronouns are not preferred because it makes them seem optional and they're really not. Um, so if somebody says, my pronouns are they them, um, they're like, oh, okay, good. Like, thank you for letting me know what pronouns you prefer. It's not a preference. Um, those are just their pronouns. Um, they also might be context specific, so. If somebody says, Hey, my pronouns are she her, now you can say, um, [00:07:00] do you want me to use that in all situations, in all contexts or just in some, 'cause not everybody has come out to all their circles at any point. You know, you don't wanna maybe say, oh, and she her in front of a room of people. If that person hasn't talked to everybody in that room individually. Um. Or if those people dunno the situation yet. Um, so just talk, just talk to the person that's disclosing that to you and, um, don't assume anything about somebody's gender identity or sexual orientation. You can just ask them privately and respectfully. [00:07:30] So to sum up what I've talked about. Language changes really quickly, and rainbow language in particular changes even faster. And, um, we just have to keep up to date and keep trying to do better. So it's really about staying open-minded, being willing to learn and being committed to. Keep trying to get it right. Um, so I'll hand you over to Brody now to continue the Brody ua. My pronouns are they, they them. [00:08:00] Uh, so I wanna talk more on the why we use inclusive language, what's in it for us and our cultures. Um. Now a big one is we hear a lot in any organization's, really a lot about inclusive workplaces, inclusive culture. To me, inclusive language is paramount for us to get inclusive culture. We can't have a culture that includes and makes everyone welcome when we're using the wrong referential terms to refer to them by. We need [00:08:30] to first get the grammatical basics right before we can actually. Focus on making sure that everybody's included. It's just part of the parcel. Uh, so you can kind of see this slide here, but if you can't, I've got a visual here as well. Um, this is from tacos. We count survey done in 2019. So this is a public servant and it had a rainbow focus, uh, and the blue little people, uh, [00:09:00] represent, uh. Those that have experienced, um, discomfort at work and feel uncomfortable at work. So the top one, three out of 10 or 30% or lesbian, gay, or bisexual participants felt uncomfortable at their workplaces. The middle one. Is 55% of trans or gender diverse people felt uncomfortable at their workplaces, and the bottom figure is 60% of intersex people felt uncomfortable at their [00:09:30] workplaces. So clearly this is an issue. Uh, next slide. Mm-hmm. Now, um, gender minorities, Oura, uh, did a We count account in our serve survey, which studied those that are gender diverse and trans within Oura and their experiences. Within that survey, they found that 57% of participants. Didn't disclose their trans or non-binary identity at work for fear of discrimination. We counts finding, [00:10:00] support. This. So basically their conclusion was that a common theme was that those who didn't disclose their identity at work did so outta fear of discrimination or professional limitation, uh, for doing so. These figures are supported, um, by employment figures and income inequality as well. So when you're getting all these trans and gender diverse and other people within the rainbow umbrella feeling uncomfortable in their workspaces, it means that what we are seeing is income inequality [00:10:30] for queer people. So, uh, while the median income for the general population is the bottom figure here, 35 to $40,000 median per year for trans and gender diverse people, the median income is just 15,000 to 20,000 per year. So we can see that while we are aiming for these inclusive workplaces, we're a bit way off. Another big thing that is disproportionately [00:11:00] affecting our queer people, uh, is mental health statistics, and in particular our gender diverse and trans communities. So we've got another visual representation here. So the blue faces here represent those who have reported high psych psychological distress. The right represents the general population with 92% of the general population not reporting high psychological distress, but the left represents gender diverse and trans population with [00:11:30] 71% reporting high psychological distress. So those figures are obviously pretty disproportionate and showed the mental health outcomes for our trans and gender diverse and. Which comes down to a really heavy topic, and I know it's pride and I know that this is a really heavy discussion when we wanna be celebratory, but particularly on trans visibility today, um, it's good to note. So when mental health outcomes are poor, so, uh, the. Uh, so are [00:12:00] the, um, big outcomes, which is suicide statistics. So there are actually no, um, statistics on measure at the moment on actual successful suicides, um, for trans and gender diverse people. 'cause those numbers just don't exist. Um, but what counting ourselves, the gender minorities, our survey did find was that 56% of their participants had contemplated, uh. Seriously thought about attempting suicide in the previous 12 months and 37%. [00:12:30] Uh, so over a third had actually made an attempt at some point in their life. That's all withholding the information we don't have, which is obviously the numbers of the, those we'd already lost to suicide. Looking at healthcare in particular, mental health is just one facet of we are gender diverse and trans people in particular have unequal health access in New Zealand. So from the counting our self survey, uh, again, at the time of the [00:13:00] survey, 13% of the participants in the last month had been asked unnecessary or invasive questions about being trans or non-binary that were unrelated to their healthcare visit. More than a six. So 17% of participants reported they'd experience reparative therapy, which means a professional trying to actually stop them or convert them from being trans or non-binary. And over a third of participants, 36% had actually reported avoiding seeing [00:13:30] a doctor or healthcare professional for fear about disrespect or mistreatment as a trans or non-binary person. So obviously the healthcare outcomes are gonna be unequal when you're not actually feeling like you can be respected enough just to go to the doctor in the first place. Human Rights Commission did a prism report on rainbow identities as well, and they found that, um, for people with a diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or sex characteristics, [00:14:00] healthcare professionals are often not the trusted authorities that are supposed to be for other people, but a source of anxiety, stress, and trauma. Now, when we look at those figures and these findings from these surveys. Uh, in correlation with the Ministry of Health's official guidance on working with transgender and gender diverse patients, which states all health providers, both in community and hospital settings have a duty to deliver services that are respectful of our transgender community. Use the patient's correct [00:14:30] pronouns and preferred name. If you are not sure how your patient wishes to be addressed, politely ask. So when we look at those two figures together, we see that that doesn't match up. So the, the healthcare outcomes we want for our transgender diverse and extended rainbow whanau are not what they are right now. And we can see that supported by statistics which are shockingly recent and obviously disproportionately, uh, unfair. So how does this all relate to inclusive language, all these really kind of dire and [00:15:00] heavy outcomes? I guess we saw before that over a third of the trans and gender diverse participants had avoided seeing a healthcare professional in the first place because of fear of disrespect or mistreatment. So what and what we're seeing there is that it's the, the preliminary meeting, it's the, it's the respect used in language used that is actually affecting these people. It's how they're framing their relation. In order for our public health system to support the way these people, the way that we [00:15:30] want to support them, uh, language and respect needs to come first and foremost. And there is clearly from these figures, so many important conversations that we all should be having on trans and gender diverse. Healthcare and other issues. Um, but we can't have those conversations. We're simply just not getting the right referential terms, right. That needs to come first and foremost, inclusive language needs to be front and center in, in any kind of inclusion initiative. Uh, and we need to front inclusive [00:16:00] language as everyday citizens in order to, uh, achieve inclusive cultures and normalize queer identities and hopefully achieve better outcomes and potentially save lives through our people. Now I wanna go back a bit and um. So Avery Morgan and I have kind of worked, um, in this mahi for a little bit. Um, we fronted a resource on pronouns in the public service last year, and so obviously we've kind of seen a fair share of resistances and I'd like to, um, debunk a [00:16:30] few of those. Now, the first is my favorite. Um, it's that they then is grammatically incorrect. So no one told me when I bloody came out as non-binary. I'd have to have a linguistics degree to back it up. Um. Like everyone wants to get into a little argument about the grammatic legitimacy of my preferred, not preferred correct pronouns. Now, first of all, uh, I've got good news. Even if it weren't grammatically correct, which they did them [00:17:00] is, um, we still can use it. Grammar is a mutually kind of shared, unspoken contract of. Agree, we agree upon on signifier and signified and it's ever changing, but first and foremost, they, them is grammatically correct. Merriam Webster have reported that we've actually been using it, um, in the English lexicon since the late 13 hundreds. And even better than that, we literally use it as a singular pronoun every day. So. In examples, who thinks they can solve the problem? [00:17:30] The patient should be told at the outset how much they'll be required to pay. No one put their hand up. So we, we use this and we don't even realize it. So when people put up those walls of resistance, like, I'm not sure my tongue can get around that. You, you are already doing it and you're not realizing you're more clever than you think. But like I said, language evolves. So having, oh, well that's not the correct term as an excuse to deli delegitimize. Someone's identity is just not, not really, um, it's, [00:18:00] it's not really that right anymore. I mean, a thousand new words are supposed to be added to the dictionary every day. Language evolves with our times. I can guarantee that everyone in this room doesn't use the same words that they used 20 years ago. 'cause we learn better and we do better. Another, um, one that does come up a little bit is the fear that in normalizing and promoting inclusive language, we are cornering people that are not ready to come out yet. And people that have pronouns that might not [00:18:30] seem obvious when you look at them, um, but aren't ready to be. Outed at work and that promoting this could out them. Um, I hear that, but no, this isn't, we've never really forced, or this is not about forcing or cornering or shaming anyone into promoting pronouns, promoting inclusive language, sharing their pronouns. This is actually contrarily about creating work cultures where when those people are ready to come out, they're walking into cultures. That have [00:19:00] less misinformation and their identities are more normalized so they're less alienated and have to carry less of a burden of having to educate the minority burden of having to educate everyone. I think you'll find that uninclusive language closets people. So it's, yeah, so it can be a bit of a chicken in the egg situation. Another one that, um, you know, a lot of people might think, but not necessarily say. Is that, well, I'm not trans and no one I know is I know that no one in my teams [00:19:30] is trans, so it doesn't affect me. So all well to you. But I, I'm fine. I don't need to do that. I don't need to share inclusive language. And I think, um, the thing there is that it affects everyone. So, I mean, um, non-inclusive language, like I said, it closets people. I remember when I was, you know, revealing prior to revealing my non-binary, uh, that I liked men in high school to peers. And that was so fronting because I was revealing myself to be the word we used as a synonym for shitty, you know, that's gay. Um, [00:20:00] that was very confronting. So. Well, no, everyone plays a part in creating these cultures where one feels like their identity's more normalized and valid. Uh, and you don't know the kind of positive trickle effect down effect it might actually have. So, um, you know, you might see, you know, one of your colleagues working at home. And their non-binary kid who's discovering their identity sees their parents, uh, colleague user, they them and their signature, um, overlooking their shoulder, you know, on the computer screen, and they might think, oh, actually I don't have to [00:20:30] limit myself in what I could do professionally. Maybe I could see myself in these kind of positions that other trans and gender diverse youth before us have not been able to. Mm-hmm. You know, we really create the cultures with our words, and there's a lot that we can do as allies and even members within the rainbow communities. Um, and that's so exciting to me, and Morgan is gonna talk more on that, on how to be an ally and what allyship actually means. Wello, uh, [00:21:00] co. Morgan Kelly, uh, I am also, uh, at Inland Revenue at the moment. Uh. I use he, him pronouns. And I'm gonna talk to you all about allyship today. So, um, when reflecting on allyship, it became really obvious that we need to just say it really clearly that you can be an ally beyond just the queer community. You can be an ally to anyone who has a different lived experience to you as a says. White queer man, I can be an ally to [00:21:30] woman. I can be an ally to Maori, I can be an ally to Pacifica. I can be an ally to anyone who has that different experience to me. And I think committing to being an ally is committing to learning and committing to getting things wrong, uh, and committing to just like a lot of listening. Um, so yeah, I think, um, yeah, the main thing is, is just. Realizing that you're not always going to [00:22:00] get it right, but it's a really a one foot in front of the other kind of situation of like trying to do better. Um, so if we go onto the next slide about, oh wait, no, actually if we go back to this other slide. So sorry. Uh, in terms of what this looks like, um, so. Obviously there's some small things that we've been talking about. While they seem quite small, right, but they have larger impacts, like putting your pronouns in your email signature. Um, like Brady [00:22:30] said, uh, that can seem like kind of why bother if you know you're someone that. You know cis Yeah. As someone who's cis or someone who you know, people look at you and they, they know your pronouns immediately. It's actually goes beyond just even the queer community, putting your e your pronouns in your email scripture. As someone with a unisex name, I get Ms. Kelly all the time. Just makes things easier. But also if you're someone who you know, has a non-Western name and people just aren't familiar with it, and you could be misgendered [00:23:00] all the time, and I know it happens all the time to people. Um, and so. It's actually a good habit that has an impact on so many other communities beyond just the queer community and something that also happens in, um, the queer space. Obviously, we run a lot of meetings with, um, queer people and the Inland Revenue Rainbow Network, cross Agency, rainbow Network. Um, we, as we introduce ourselves, we'll introduce ourselves and our pronouns. Maybe something fun, like what fruit do you feel like today? But you know, like just [00:23:30] quickly saying, hi, I'm Morgan Kelly. I use he him pronouns. That's signaling to the group of people that you are around that this is a safe space to sit outside the binary or you know, just like take that burden off, off you, that you're going to misgendered during this meeting. Um. And just setting the tone for a meeting where you're saying that this is a safe space is actually really important for a lot of people. Um, I think another thing that we have here is saying, being really mindful about the language that you [00:24:00] use. I know in my career, when I first started in government, um, I was an intern, uh, at a Crown agency and a Bria gave me his number. That day was a really big day for me. And, um. I was talking to my little intern mates about it and my supervisor came over and someone was like, oh, this guy gave Morgan a stuper. And he was like, oh, I'm so sorry. That's so gross that it happened to you. And I was just like, oh, oh dear. Like that signaled to me that it wasn't a safe space to be out it. And you know, this [00:24:30] person was actually probably an ally as well, but he just didn't realize the language that he was using was really exclusionary. And it put up some walls in front of me between my experience of like starting there and eventually coming out. So just being really conscious and not shaming anything and not putting things down or putting people's experiences down is, I think really important if you're going to try and be an ally in, in any space. Um, the last thing that we have here is not assuming that you're out in all [00:25:00] contexts. In all situations. Um, Avery touched on this around pronouns, and I think it really speaks to all, uh, queer identities. If someone has come out to you that's. Great, and you should feel very privileged for that, but you shouldn't assume that your, that that person is going to be out with that identity in all situations. It could be that they're just up to you, a lucky one individual, or it could be in just your team. It could be that you have a really safe, awesome team. Um, or it could just be in your organization. You know, you don't really know what level they're comfortable with, so it's always just really good to [00:25:30] check in with that person. Um, I know when, uh, another job that I had, I had a, um, a manager who was just like, I know he's queer. And she talked about it all the time, and I was like, oh, I'm not a, I'm not comfortable yet. I don't know what's going on here. And so I had to come up against that all the time. I was just like, okay, in order to tell this person that I'm uncomfortable, I'm gonna have to come out properly to my entire team to have that conversation even about it. Um. Even though it was, that was probably a more positive experience, um, it was [00:26:00] still really nerve wracking as a little, you know, baby queer in the public service Anyway. So now if we go and yeah, how to gracely make mistakes. This is, I think, one of the most important things and one of the, uh, one of the amazing things that I learned from Brody is, uh, you're going to make mistakes. Just accept that. Um, especially if you meet someone and they have one identity, and then, you know, they might come out as non-binary or something later on and change their pronouns or trans and change their pronouns, and it is difficult to wrap your little head around that [00:26:30] sometimes. And so just accept that you're going to make mistakes. However, if you apologize too profusely, like I want to do. And say, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean that. I just, uh, that is putting the burden on the person who is using those different pronouns, who already has so many burdens, so many things going on in their day. It's not about you. So just say thank you, correct yourself, move on. That is the best thing to do in the situation. Um, yeah, I think, like I said, it is just really hard to wrap [00:27:00] your head around that sometimes even just with any, anything, anything or anyone changing the name. I know when, uh. Uh, what, what was Taaka Mata before? Oh, SC. Yeah, so commission, when they changed to Ta, Kawa Mata, I just froze every time I went to say their name and I was like, what was that name? Oh, when telecom went to Spark. Exactly. You know, it's really difficult regardless of whether it's a person or whether it's a corporate or anything. It is difficult. Change is difficult. Everyone will understand, but just commit to making that change and, you know, one step at a time. [00:27:30] So onto the next slide is ask, don't assume. So obviously this speaks to people's pronouns, but it also speaks to any queer experience. Um, so I know, you know, for example, uh, I have some family who, uh, expecting a little baby and they're going to antenatal classes. Mm-hmm. And. They're a queer couple, and you know, what they get all the time is, oh, it's so good that you could have a good [00:28:00] friend coming with you to these classes. And that is very invalidating for, uh, for, uh, a mother, uh, to hear that you're just the gal pal rather than the other mother. Um, and so it's always good to just ask and clarify these things. No one will worry about correcting you and telling you their experience. It's always just best to ask. Um. Because the thing is, as queer people, we are entering a world where everything is heteronormative, right? And [00:28:30] so it's just, as an ally, it's good to commit to just thinking about the setting that you're creating and, and whether it is going to be open to queer people. And if it isn't, just maybe making a few tweaks here or there. You know, uh, that example of my, uh, family in antenatal classes, everything is in a binary and. In terms of, um, maternity, uh, and everything is, I know maternity is binary. Yeah. Aternity maternity is, yeah, there we go. Maternity is binary as well. [00:29:00] Um, but it's, it's very like, you know, mom and dad and it's very like, oh, lazy dad will have to get around to learning how to change nappies, that sort of thing. And, you know, it's, it's really, it's quite intense, I think to come into a system like that as, um, system. Yeah, as a system, um, as a queer person, um, and feeling like it wasn't set up for you. You know, these people exist. They're here, they've been around for a while, but the systems don't [00:29:30] really change and adapt like they should necessarily. Um, the other thing that I have here is like, you, you really should be confident. In your decision to stand up for people you know you should be. And I go, actually go onto this on the next slide, if we move on to the next slide, is being an upstander, not a bystander. You should be confident in your decision to be an ally, right? I know people often get really concerned about saying the wrong thing or you know, representing the interests of all queer [00:30:00] people. 'cause we represent diverse communities. But it is always better to be an upstander versus a bystander. And what I mean by that is. When you see harmful language or behaviors or anything, say something because as queer people, we hear this all the time, we ha the burden is on us to correct people and educate people all the time on why language is maybe a little harmful or outdated. I mean, I've, uh, [00:30:30] I mean in the workplace I've been called like a, a theory. I've been called a puff. I've been called, oh, what else? Unnatural. That's another thing. But you know, these things sort of like come up and sometimes when they do come up you just go, whew. 'cause you don't expect it in your day-to-day life for the these things to come up in conversation. But they do. And in this situation, if you don't shut it down immediately, then sometimes it's quite difficult to, you know, go back and say, Hey, I've been processing that thing you said two weeks ago. And actually have the words to describe why it's bad now. [00:31:00] So if you are someone who overhears this, please step in, please say something. Um, it is just so wonderful for other people to step in and, and, um, explain why this is bad, because the burden is always on queer people. Um, and it is exhausting. We are tired. Can I add that if, um, if somebody uses the wrong pronouns for somebody that's not there mm-hmm. Correct them. Hmm. Absolutely. Yeah. Correcting, um, people on their pronouns isn't something [00:31:30] that you have to do in front of the person. No, no, no. You should. Yeah. Um, being an, uh, being an upstander is about, uh, supporting that person when they're not around as well. Ab I'm so glad you said that. I'm so glad you said that because, um, you know, it's also something where I, I. Often worry about what the conversations are like when I'm not in the room. Because obviously when you're in the room people are on the best behavior usually. But if you're wanting to get that sort of like system level change of inclusive language, you really need to be working on it all the time. And also, [00:32:00] like Brody said, you cannot assume that everyone in, in your area, in your room, in your team is. Uh, not queer, you know, uh, the journey of, um, identifying yourself, whether that be your sexual, uh, orientation or your gender identity. Those can be sometimes lifelong journeys. So never assume that someone is, you know, isn't part of the queer community. Um, because yeah, it can take a long, long time to unpack that and come to terms with that.[00:32:30] Um, and like Brody said as well. Non-inclusive language closets people. And you know, I mean we, we've been talking about pride at a revenue last week and what we kind of said around that is like pride is really rooted in like overcoming, um, a lot of obstacles and shame and that sort of thing. And when you're using non-inclusive language, you are trapping people in shame around their identity and you are telling them that it's not a safe place. Um, [00:33:00] yeah. So, uh, yeah, like we said, correct other people when you're hearing it, um, you know, you can't always expect queer people to stand up for themselves because sometimes it's not a safe environment for them. Sometimes they're exhausted and it's the like. 15, 15th thing that day that they've heard and tried to correct. Um, and always I would just say, always act as though there's someone in the room that's queer that you need to stand up for, even if you don't see them. You know? So if we talk about allyship in the health context, um, obviously queer [00:33:30] people have, uh, a lot of different needs, whether that be, uh, you know, in the health con, uh, context, whether that's, um, AIDS and HIV prevention, gender affirming care. Or just better understanding of the spectrum of queer identities, queer sexual health, anything like that. We know that a lot of, uh, queer people are avoiding going to primary care, um, uh, like setting up a GP and things like that. And [00:34:00] what that looks like is more than not, um, people coming into like a and e and things like that, getting that sort of help at the bottom of the cliff rather than the preventative care. So. How do we overcome that? Uh, how do we use allyship to overcome that? That might be that, um, where there are gps that are in the know, that are upskilled in these sorts of areas. They're promoted it as such, you know, um, I know even just as [00:34:30] a queer person in Wellington, I, I'm always just like. Who are the good queer doctors in Wellington, like searching, going on Reddit, just like, who are the people who are good with mental health, who are the people who are good with like queer sexual health? Um, all that sort of thing. People are looking for this information anyway, so, you know, what does that look like as Ministry of Health? Maybe it's looking at identifying, um, queer friendly health professionals. Um, the other thing is, again, like Brody said. Healthcare work is using inclusive [00:35:00] language because if you're not using inclusive language and you're not practicing that every day, you don't know who is queer unless they come out to you. And so you are potentially cutting off, you know, giving these people health advice and healthcare because of your exclusive language. Okay. And I mean, everyone should be trying their best to give the best care to everyone that's coming in the door. So by using inclusive language, you are allowing people and setting the tone that this is a safe space for you to talk about [00:35:30] your queer identities. And we all know that, you know, better and service, uh, level care to individuals lead to better health outcomes for these individuals. So it's just all about like setting that standard for the people coming in the door. So. Moving on to just concluding everything. I've done a bit of a recap of everyone else's points and talking about being, what being an ally actually looks like. Um, but I'll hand over to Avery to [00:36:00] start wrapping up the conclusion. Um, so just to conclude the first third of the presentation, inclusive language in the rainbow context is about choosing words intentionally that support the rainbow community. And, um, they don't erase people's identities, whether you know of those identities or not. Nice. And um. And why we want LGBTQA plus inclusive language. Why we need it is because queer people's mental health, general health outcomes are disproportionately affected by this and [00:36:30] even their incomes. And we claim to champion inclusive cultures in our workspaces a lot. We need inclusive language to actually be living. Testament to that. Hmm. And everyone has a role to play in inclusive language. Everyone has a role to play as allies or people in the queer community. Um, obviously, like I said, you can be in the queer community and be an ally to other people in the queer community, but the main takeaway that I think you should get from this is that words really matter and they have a huge impact and a huge role on effect to everything. Mm. And as, as someone [00:37:00] that is non-binary and uses, they, their them, which I'm aware to a lot of people, might seem like an alternative pronoun and not obvious. When you look at me, I can't tell you. Um. How empowered and dignified and visible it makes me feel when someone gets my pronoun right, even when they just make a mistake and then correct themselves and then get it right the second time. It makes me just feel seen and it makes me feel welcome here. So, um, the f the facts that we can do that with just the power of our words, [00:37:30] that boggles me. Why wouldn't we? Thank you everyone.
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