CoastOut Conference

CoastOut Conference: Gender and Sexuality in Rural and Regional Australia Southern Cross University Friday 28th October 9am-5pm Room: D350 @ SCU, Coffs Harbour. Click here for Conference tickets: http://www.coastout.com.au/tickets.cfm CoastOut is thrilled to present the first community education conference in partnership with the Southern Cross University Coffs Harbour. The conference will draw together academics from the disciplines of health, psychology and law, to engage with the community on the latest research on “Gender and Sexuality in Rural and Regional Australia”. The full day conference will hope to provide the latest information to the Mid North Coast in the area's of gender, sexuality and transgender issues including isolation, best health practice and law reform and move regional Australia to a world class understanding of gender and sexuality. The afternoon is open to the floor with Vanessa Wagner at the helm of the Q & A session with 10 panelists including the presenters from the day. The CoasOut organisers thank the Southern Cross University & Slater and Gordon for supporting their endeavours to bring innovative and current research to regional NSW.
Rodney Croome Keynote Presenter Rodney Croome will be known to many LGBT Australians as a spokesperson for the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group. In that capacity he fronted the long, bitter and ultimately successful campaign to decriminalise homosexuality in Tasmania. That campaign saw Tasmanian activists take their case for equality not only to the parliament and people of Tasmania, but to the United Nations, the Federal Government and the High Court. Less well known is Rodney's other LGBT community and human rights work. He was the founding president and long-term board member of the Tasmanian LGBT support organisation, Working It Out, project officer of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's rural LGBT youth network, Outlink, and Co-convenor of the Australia Council for Lesbian and Gay Rights. In this latter capacity in 1993 Rodney became the first gay advocate to speak at a United Nations forum. Currently, Rodney is a board member of the International Lesbian and Gay Law Association, the Australian Coalition for Equality, and the Australian Human Rights Group. As a member of Tasmania's four LGBT community / government liaison committees, Rodney has played a leading role in establishing challenging-homophobia education in Tasmanian state schools and in the Tasmania Police Service. As a researcher and legal advisor, Rodney has played a pivotal role in several ground-breaking Tasmanian anti-discrimination cases on issues such as transgender vilification and gay blood donation. Rodney is also the Campaign Co-ordinator of Australian Marriage Equality. His advocacy for marriage equality includes being the co-author of the first book on the issue published in Australia. His comments on LGBT issues are frequently sought by the media. His columns appear regularly in the LGBT and mainstream publications, as do his essays on cultural and historical themes.
Daniel Witthaus Presenter For almost 15 years Daniel Witthaus has challenged homophobia in Australian schools. He developed the Pride and Prejudice educational package and trains young people, teachers and health professionals. In 2006 Daniel joined the International Advisory Committee of the Global Alliance for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) Education. His work has included locations such as Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and the United States. In 2010 Daniel completed a 38-week Beyond 'That's So Gay' national challenging homophobia tour of regional, rural and remote Australia www.thatssogay.com.au and launched his first book, Beyond ‘That’s So Gay’: Challenging Homophobia in Australian Schools. Both Beyond 'That's So Gay' and Pride and Prejudice are available through Hawker Brownlow Education - www.hbe.com.au
Dr Baden Offord Presenter 'The LGBTQI Movement: Global and Local Trends' Dr Baden Offord is Associate Professor in Cultural Studies, School of Arts and Social Sciences and Co-Director of the Centre for Peace and Social Justice at Southern Cross University, Australia. He was the 2010-2011 Chair (Visiting Professor) in Australian Studies in the Centre for Pacific and American Studies at the University of Tokyo. He has published widely in human rights, student equity, pedagogy and cultural studies, with work focused in queer studies. This has included his award-winning book Homosexual Rights as Human Rights: Activism in Indonesia, Singapore and Australia (2003), which won the national George Duncan Award; and chapters in the books Multicultural Queer: Australian Narratives (1999), Gay and Lesbian Asia: Culture, Identity, Community (2001), Mobile Cultures: New Media and Queer Asia (2003) and Queer Paradigms II (2011). His most recent work appears in the book: The Lesbian and Gay Movement and the State: Comparative Insights into Transformed Relationships (Ashgate Press, London, 2011) with his chapter on ‘Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia: Arrested Development.’ His research in human rights and sexuality has been described by Michael Kirby as ‘trailblazing’. Dr Offord is a nationally awarded teacher and is a continuing Visiting Professor at the University of Barcelona since 2003. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sexuality, Gender and Reproduction (2008) and at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society, La Trobe University (2008). He has provided expert testimony for lesbian, gay and transgender Indonesians, Malaysians and Singaporeans in more than 40 successful asylum applications to United States courts and has been a consultant on sexual orientation and asylum to the Canadian government and CNN.
Heather Mckinnon Presenter Heather is a Law Society NSW Accredited Specialist in Family Law and is currently the Practice Group Leader, Family Law, Slater & Gordon Coffs Harbour. Heather's qualifications include: Arbitrator under Family Law Act Regulations (2001); Qualified Independent Children’s Lawyer; NSW Department of Community Services legal representative. Heather’s expertise in all aspects of Family Law include: Primary Dispute Resolution (Mediation & Arbitration); Property Settlements; Children’s Matters; De-facto Relationship Property matters; Divorce. Heather has an extensive profile in Family Law: 2005-2008 Partner with Crane Butcher McKinnon, Lawyers, Coffs Harbour 1995-2005 Partner with Fishburn Watson O'Brien, Coffs Harbour 1991-1995 Sole practice, Heather McKinnon Solicitor, Coffs Harbour 1985-1991 Partner with Watts McKinnon Miller, Coffs Harbour 1982-1985 Solicitor with Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Sydney 1989-1997 Visiting Lecturer in law at Southern Cross University, NSW Heather has a prominent interest and investment into the community: Director of Australian Institute of Family Law Arbitrators & Mediators; Member of the Institute of Arbitrators & Mediators Australia; Chairperson, Country Committee Family Law Section Law Council of Australia; Member NSW Women Lawyers Association since 1983; Member of the Association of Family & Conciliation Courts; President, Advisory Committee, Board of the National Marine Science Centre Heather was awarded: 1989 Law Society of New South Wales Lawyer of the Year
Jenny Heslop Presenter Jenny Heslop has been involved and worked in the field of HIV, Sexual Health, HCV & Harm Reduction for the past 22 years and poses tertiary qualifications in the field of Health Science. Jennyhas vast experience in the management, development, implementation and evaluation of complex health programs at both local and State levels. This has incorporated qualitative and quantitative research, planning, coordination, resource distribution, community consultation, population profiling, professional collaboration, congruity with National, State and Area Plans, monitoring and evaluation, and the establishment of achievable health outcomes. Some of the most challenging portfolios she has successfully achieved significant outcomes for are as follows; HIV positive women, Non-English Speaking Background people (NESB), sex workers, heterosexual men, transgender people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, injecting drug users and clinical sexual health services for the broader population. Jenny has been called upon as a consultant nationally and across the state for various specialised groups such as Indigenous populations, transgender people and sex workers. With 22 years working in the specialised HIV, Sexual Health and other Infectious Diseases field Jenny has seen many changes and advances.
Rick van der Zwan Presenter Rick van der Zwan BSc(Hons) PhD(USyd) Associate Professor Rick van der Zwan obtained a BSc from the University of Sydney. His majors were in Psychology and Anatomy and he went on to achieve First Class Honours in Psychology. Then, under the supervision of Professor Peter Wenderoth, Rick completed his PhD. He worked on Binocular Rivalry, examining the neural mechanisms by which information from both eyes are integrated to give coherent perceptions, led to his winning a postdoctoral appointment with Professor Esther Peterhans in the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital in Zurich. There Rick worked on monkey models of visual cortical processing with Professor Peterhans and Dr Rudi Baumann. In 1995 Rick was invited to take up a lectureship in the Department of Psychology at the University of Sydney. In 2001 he moved to James Cook University where he was campus coordinator and Head of Discipline on the Cairns campus. Rick moved to Southern Cross University (SCU) in 2003 to lead the development of the research programme of the Department of Psychology and has set up the University's first research labs in Coffs Harbour. At SCU Rick and Dr Anna Brooks have developed strong and internationally recognized research and teaching programmes in cognitive neuroscience. They have active collaborations with Professor Olaf Blanke, Head of the Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience at the Brain-Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne of the Eccole and with Professor Karl Verfaillie of the Department of Experimental Psychology, Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. As a result of that work, and other programmes of research, Rick was invited, in 2005, to be a Priority Area Leader of the Australian Research Council sponsored Human Communication Science Network Perception and Action Priority Area. He and his team are currently investigating the neural mechanisms by which humans recognise the actions of others.