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Lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and asexual (LGBTQA+) Australians are vulnerable to religion-based attempts to change or suppress their sexuality and/or gender identity, including conversion ideology messaging in school-based sex education. Conversion bans are currently being debated across the country. This paper reports on a critical survivor-driven study which retrospectively explored Australian LGBTQA+ youth exposure to conversion practices both within and outside of education settings. It privileges the perspectives of self-titled 'survivors' of conversion ideology and practices through the use of a reference group and constructivist grounded theory. Qualitative data were collected 20 from Australian LGBTQA+ conversion ideology and/or practice survivors aged 18 years and over, using focus groups and 35 individual interviews between 2016 and 2020. In conversion-promoting religious contexts including education institutions and groups, messages concerning sexuality and gender changed as individuals grew older and were drawn into more/enclosed settings in which core conversion messages of LGBTQA+ 'brokenness' were prevalent. While individuals progressed through the conversion experience in different ways, their experience was characterised by the absence of any form of affirming LGBTQA+ education--enabling conversion itself to become their LGBTQA+ (mis)information source. School policy addressing conversion, alongside enhanced provision of affirmative age-appropriate gender and sexuality education, may mediate this issue.

The aims of this study were to identify Australian mental health practitioners' knowledge of what LGBTQA+ conversion practices are and their perceptions of impacts on survivors. We interviewed 18 mental health workers from a range of clinical modalities who were practicing in Australia. We used reflexive thematic analytic techniques to identify themes that characterized Australian mental health practitioners' knowledge of LGBTQA+ conversion practices and perceptions of the impacts of such practices on survivors. Practitioners' understandings of what constitutes LGBTQA+ conversion practices were varied and derived from a range of sources, and practitioners' perceptions of the impacts that conversion practices had on survivors ranged from undeveloped to nuanced. Generalist and specialist practitioners provided vastly different responses. We identified the following four themes: (1) inexperienced practitioners' understandings were limited and reliant on stereotypes about conversion practices; (2) specialist practitioners' understandings were refined and match experiences reported by survivors; (3) generalist practitioners emphasized specific and undeveloped negative impacts; (4) specialist practitioners were aware of deeper harms and the need for sustained support. These themes may be translated into strategies to facilitate improved services offered by practitioners, which may assist survivors in managing and coping with the trauma associated with exposure to these practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parent-child communication about gender and sexuality has received increasing attention since the late 1990s, in response to growing awareness that open dialogue plays a vital role in sex and relationships education, and improving sexual health outcomes for families and young people. However, the insights gained from this literature have been under-researched in Multicultural and Multifaith communities. Research of this kind is vital because such families often face 'intergenerational' conflicts that emerge through the process of migration, and which largely result from differing sex and gender norms in the country of origin and country of resettlement. In this paper, we argue that current research on migration and 'intergenerational conflict' has particular import for progressing research on parent-child communication that attends to the diverse range of cultures and communities living in Australia. We draw on pilot research in South Australia with parents and children from various African countries, which offers insights for the production of culturally appropriate knowledge and support material. We also provide suggestions on how to address parent-child communication that is alive to the nuances and complexities that emerge across race, sexuality and migration.

This paper reports on accidental ethnographic research. It arose unexpectedly out of the everyday teaching of first-year pre-service primary teachers at an Australian university. Via narrative, self-reflexivity, and student responses, we explore the interwoven workings of heteronormative, gendernormative and misogynist discourses when a chapter from "Queering Elementary Education" in the Course Reader created controversy, moral panic and resistance among students. The paper then charts the implementation of various strategies and interventions by the three authors of the paper: Greg, the lecturer; Maria, the Reading's author; and Steph, the Reading's protagonist. While outlining the subsequent shifts in student responses and discourses, we also problematise particular aspects of the processes of intervention where they still point to the insidious power and overarching framework of heteronormativity and gendernormativity that require ongoing challenges.

This qualitative study explored the mental health of Australian bisexual-identifying and/or behaving adolescents and young people. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 adolescents and young adults, and 15 youth health/community service providers. The health implications of misrepresentation, marginalization, and exclusion from a heteronormative society, including adolescent health research and health services, along with homonormative gay and lesbian communities are addressed. Recommendations by counselors/community workers who work with bisexual youth are discussed. The researchers document the need for bi-specific youth research and health promotion resources, as well as more inclusive organizational policies, programs and practices in order to address the issues of invisibilization and inadequate representation that lead to a range of mental, social, and sexual health concerns. (Contains 1 note.)

As D'Augelli and Grossman point out, there is an underrepresentation in LGB research of "youth who have had sexual experiences with both males and females." Most of the information on bisexuality has been obtained from studies with adult samples, and it is "unclear to what extent a separate bisexual cultural identity is consolidated during adolescence." Accessing bisexual-identifying or bisexual-behaving young people may be difficult for two reasons. First, the label itself is stigmatized. Second, the figures vary depending upon whether the research has been conducted using sexual identity and/or sexual behaviour as the defining criteria. Thus, much more research is required with bisexual-identifying and bisexual-behaving youth to explore questions such as: (1) What impact does having access, no access or minimal access to bi-specific and bi-specifying youth groups and information have on young people identifying as bisexual?; (2) Given that friendships and peer group relations are of high significance to most adolescents, what are the experiences and impacts on bisexual young people in their interactions with heterosexual and homosexual peers at school?; and (3) To what extent do bisexual young people feel invalidated and Websites with relevant information by families, health services and educational systems, particularly health services provided within schools? Researchers, health providers, and educators need to ask how school policies and programmes reflect the dominant discourses of hierarchical sexual dualisms, and how these may be increasingly out of step with the shifting contexts and discourses of sexual diversity that today's young people are immersed within, engaging with, and negotiating.

Argues for the use of student voice as pedagogical text in the English classroom. Produces texts written for young people as a means of placing on the agenda issues which matter to them. Suggests that such voices can be used productively and powerfully in the English classroom to articulate other ways of seeing and being in the world. (SG)

Study of 18 girls taking their senior year at Australian Catholic boys' day school of 700 students. The theoretical framework was derived from Schutz's theory of the stranger. Responses to a questionnaire concerning gender issues and differentiation in education demonstrated that the girls had a high level of awareness of gender differentiation. The girls' ambitions reflected liberal feminist principles. (DM)