Maintaining accurate and comprehensive patient records is essential to providing high quality and effective healthcare.

Understanding gender identity, sex, variations of sex characteristics and sexual orientations is crucial to providing safe and inclusive services.

Dr Megan Ross, chair of the APA LGBTQIA+ Advisory Panel

This year, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras will be the host of over 200 pride events as part of the broader WorldPride Festival, expected to be attended and celebrated by more than 500,000 people. 

What is Mardi Gras?

Mardi Gras has significant cultural and historical importance for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and other (LGBTQIA+) communities.

What is inclusivity and why does it matter?

LGBTQIA+ inclusivity means acknowledging and respecting that diversity in sexual orientation, gender identity and innate sex characteristics is a normal part of life.

Some decades ago, those within the LGBTQIA+ community began using ‘LGB’ as a shorthand way to describe diverse sexual identities and gender expressions.

What is binding and why do people do it?

Binding is a process of using garments to compress chest tissue to create a flatter appearance.

It is typically practised by transgender men and non-binary individuals assigned female at birth (also known as AFAB), but may be practised by anyone who wants to bind.

Binding can serve a number of purposes, including: 

The APA lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and other related identities (LGBTQIA+) advisory panel was formed in 2022.