Hero photograph
Jade Upton (she/her), Grant Godino (he/him), Anthony Mayer (he/him). Rotarians and Rotaractors showing Rotary as a welcoming organisation at Melbourne’s annual LGBTIQ+ Pride festival, Midsumma Festival 2022.
 

ROTARY CLUB LGBT+ INCLUSION ASSESSMENT TOOL

Grant Godino, President Rotary LGBT+ Fellowship —

Bringing your whole self to Rotary means feeling safe to bring all components of what makes “you”. For an LGBT+ person, that means being able to be open about their sexuality and gender identity.

Article by Grant Godino, President Rotary LGBT+ Fellowship

Providing an environment that is inclusive for LGBT+ people is not only important to achieve Rotary’s strategic objectives around increasing our reach, increasing membership and creating more diverse clubs, but will also ensure existing members have the space to bring their whole selves to Rotary.

Bringing your whole self to Rotary means feeling safe to bring all components of what makes “you”. For an LGBT+ person, that means being able to be open about their sexuality and gender identity. When a person doesn’t feel that they are able to be open about who they are they spend about 30% of their energy on ‘self-editing’; that’s not telling you the gender of their partner, not telling you the name of the nightclub they went to on the weekend, not correcting you when you misgender them.

Making our clubs inclusive for LGBT+ people mean they can spend that 30% on doing good in Rotary instead. Taking action to build an inclusive club can also show LGBT+ people that they don’t need to use that extra energy self-editing when they do come to visit or join your club.

Even myself, as an openly gay person and advocate for inclusion in Rotary, have found situations recently where I felt the need to self-edit in Rotary. I know what mannerisms and language I need to be careful of if I don’t feel safe in a space. Once I feel I need to do that, you don’t get 100% of my attention and I will be less likely to engage or come back into that space.

Jade Upton (she/her), Grant Godino (he/him), Anthony Mayer (he/him). Rotarians and Rotaractors showing Rotary as a welcoming organisation at Melbourne’s annual LGBTIQ+ Pride festival, Midsumma Festival 2022.

To help clubs build this safe space, the Rotary LGBT+ Fellowship has collaborated with a RYLA Oceania project team to develop a LGBT+ inclusion assessment tool for clubs. Using the assessment tool is simple, start at the top and work through actioning each item with your club. The items in the assessment are suggestions, some like inclusive bathrooms, make a big impact and are trickier to implement and others we can do just by quickly hitting edit on a form. Every little thing you do adds up and just may make the next person feel more welcome in your club or project.

I’m excited about our recent progress in DEI and encourage people to reach out to the LGBT+ Fellowship via our website to continue the discussion or ask any questions about building an inclusive culture in your club.