Hernandez Pledges Increased Support to the Rainbow Community
19 August 2013
Council Candidate Francisco
Hernandez Pledges Increased Support to the Rainbow
Community
Council candidate Francisco Hernandez applauds the coming into effect of the Marriage Equality Legislation today as a ‘positive step for the rainbow and wider community towards creating a climate of acceptance and support for the queer community.’
However, Hernandez
says that ‘There are still a lot of issues that the
rainbow community, particularly rainbow youth face today.
According to the Youth’07 Report, same/both-sex attracted
young people faced higher rates of mental ill-health; were
five times as likely to have attempted suicide and were
nearly six times as likely to be bullied at school. These
dire statistics highlights the need for more
support.’
‘That’s why I’m proposing that the
Dunedin City Council should create a Rainbow Support
Coordinator in Dunedin. There’s been a lot of success with
the support position on campus and I think that we should
build on the success of the Support Coordinator on Campus in
order to maintain and enhance a supportive environment for
the rainbow community. ’
‘This Rainbow Support
Coordinator would facilitate regular engagement with
Dunedin’s rainbow community, undertake local research,
facilitate rainbow networking and run support programmes
with the overall objective of creating a supportive and
affirming environment in order to enhance the wellbeing of
the rainbow community.’
Francisco Hernandez has
consulted with OUSA’s Queer Support coordinator Neill
Ballantyne who has commented: “It’s often frustrating in
my role, seeing the gap in the Dunedin sector for support
for the rainbow communities, I can only do so much in my
campus based role. I really appreciate that a council
candidate is taking this issue seriously”
The OUSA
Queer Representative Jonnie Prentice has also been consulted
and has said: “I think it's a really great idea because a
city wide queer support system would be a hugely important
resource for a lot of LGBTQ youth that don't go to uni or
polytechnic. It would break down a lot of barriers to
getting support a lot of young people
need.”
Francisco Hernandez also views this as a way
to enhance Dunedin’s brand as a progressive,
forward-thinking city to attract rainbow community visitors
and potential citizens. ‘With the ‘pink-dollar’
(spending by the rainbow community) worth an estimated six
billion pounds in the United Kingdom and up to $600 billion
in the United States, there is a lot of potential to attract
this market. This is a massive opportunity for Dunedin to
not only alleviate the very real problems that the rainbow
community, particularly rainbow youth, face today but also
to attract visitors and potential citizens to the
city.’
ENDS