Official Program Released for 2023 LGBTIQ+ Women’s Health Conference

The official program for the sixth national LGBTIQ+ Women’s Health Conference has been released today. Presented by Thorne Harbour Health and ACON, the two-day national conference focusing on the health and wellbeing of LGBTIQ+ women returns to Melbourne from 24-25 October 2023.

Among this year’s presenters is keynote speaker Dr Autumn Asher BlackDeer. Dr BlackDeer centres Indigenous voices throughout her research as both a queer decolonial scholar-activist from the Southern Cheyenne Nation and an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver.

This year’s program features over thirty presentations, discussion panels, and workshops. Program highlights include:

• Emerging trends and community-led responses to tech-facilitated gender-based violence against LGBTIQ+ women
• Prioritising Queer Pleasure Workshop
• Rainbow Mob Health Panel
• Trauma-Informed Kickboxing for Everybody
• Disability Discussion Panel
• Inhabiting Two Worlds at Once: experiences of LGBTIQ refugee & migrant women in Australia

“We hope that this year’s conference reinvigorates the conversation about the mental, physical, sexual, and social health of LGBTIQ+ women across Australia as well as creates a space to celebrate our diversity,” said Rachel Cook, Women’s Health Lead at Thorne Harbour Health and one of the conference organisers.

This year’s conference aims to support the wellbeing of attendees with morning yoga and meditation sessions complemented by social events featuring the fabulous Sarah Ward (aka Yana Alana) and Kitty Obsidian.

“The LGBTIQ+ Women’s Health Conference offers our communities an important and much-needed forum to come together and put the spotlight on significant issues that impact LGBTIQ+ women’s lives. These conferences are always rich and inspiring, covering a range of content, health issues, bodies and lived experiences,” said ACON Deputy CEO, Karen Price.

“There is a unique and powerful energy created when those engaged in improving the health of LGBTIQ+ women come together. The conference will harness our expertise, research, lived experience and importantly, we will explore opportunities to strengthen efforts to influence LGBTIQ+ policy, programs and services,” she added.

“We look forward to putting diverse LGBTIQ+ women at the centre of this national conference, hosted with and for our communities by ACON and Thorne Harbour Health.”

Co-hosted by Thorne Harbour Health and ACON, the 2023 LGBTIQ+ Women’s Health Conference will take place on Tuesday 24 October and Wednesday 25 October at the Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne.

For the conference program, head to: lbq.org.au/program