QUEER INTERNATIONAL STUDENT PEERS

AUSTRALIA

In the midst of Melbourne’s first long COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, Many Coloured Sky was approached via our work with Queer Refugee and Asylum Seeker Peers (QRASP) to provide some urgent material and social support to LGBTQI+ international students, who, along with everyone else in Australia on temporary visas at that time, were denied access to any form of welfare payments made available to Australian citizens who were temporarily unable to earn an income. From this, Queer International Student Peers (QISP) was formed, and has grown in to a peer-led network providing a range of supports to a growing number of students from around the world studying in Australia.

LGBTQI+ international students face both challenges and opportunities in Australia. For many, their time here is a chance to be more public regarding their sexuality and gender, to explore relationships and to build their queer identities, away from family and the social and legal restrictions on LGBTQI+ people in many countries. At the same time, and partly as a result of these opportunities, some students find themselves vulnerable to mental health challenges, isolation, emotional blackmail and other forms of extortion and sexual exploitation, while at the same time having little in the way of a support network or knowledge about services and supports available to them.

As QISP continues to grow, Many Coloured Sky has supported the group to undertake a planning day (in 2021), to participate in a range of supported social activities, to access material needs, referrals and relevant services, and to promote their existence via tertiary education networks and the queer and multicultural services within them.