'This is about dignity': University hopes to breakdown barriers for LGBTQI+ community

​Research on the rainbow community is being made available for free online.

In a world first, AUT University is launching a research e-portal on LGBTQI+-related issues​, collating academic material that usually costs money to view.

AUT Professor Welby Ings says they were receiving emails from students and communities looking for material that was locked up in expensive, subscription-only journals.

“This isn’t about waving rainbow flags and wearing sparkles, this is about dignity.”

Homosexual acts are still criminalised in six Pacific countries, although this is rarely enforced. ​Speaking to Levi Matutia-Morgan on 531pi's ​Pacific Mornings, ​Ings says the LGBTQI+ community still faces discrimination, and hopes the research brings greater understanding.

“In 66 countries in the world, it’s still illegal. Twelve countries in the world, they kill us. Fourteen countries in the world, if you present as other than the gender you were born with, you get arrested.”

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