NAIDOC Week: Yes, Commissioner, Todd Fernando
The second Victorian Commissioner for LGBTIQ+ Communities, Todd Fernando, is a proud gay man who also just happens to be a proud Indigenous man. He spoke with Matthew Myers.
To celebrate #NAIDOCWeek 2024 we’re posting articles from our First Nations issues.
DNA: Firstly, how does it feel to have an ABBA song as your name?
One of the coolest memories that I have from high school was the way my English teacher would never say my name during roll call. She’d say, “Can we hear the drums?” I would just look and give her a nod.
What does the Victorian Commissioner For LGBTIQ+ Communities do?
There are two functions. In one, I’m the face of government into community, and in the other I’m the face of community into government. Part of that is providing high level strategic advice to the Victorian Government on the implications of the decisions they’re making about LGBTIQ+ people, their organisations and services, negotiating on where these communities are heading, and what it is that governments are responding to. Sometimes the two don’t match up, and I need to figure out a safe strategy on how to meet the LGBTIQ+ community’s needs.
What are the biggest challenges you face?
Part of the roll out has been working with local governments on the ground. I’ve visited 70 of the 79 Victorian local Governments and the range of understanding, compassion and education towards LGBTIQ+ people and their issues are very diverse. For instance, what needs to happen in Sale compared to Mildura or even Metro Melbourne, are all very different. Aone-size-fits-all concept is no longer appropriate.
Pride looks different for different communities, which we’ve recognised, and part of that challenge is to work with elected officials on the ground and bring them up to scratch on where LGBTIQ+ communities are going. That negotiation is probably the most challenging because not all local councils want to do this work and have a different way of thinking about it. That means LGBTIQ+ people have to bear the brunt of progress, and often face setbacks while looking at other communities who are excelling in their celebration of pride.
I have a challenge keeping community members safe while waiting for their local council to make a decision on flying the rainbow flag on IDAHOBIT Day. This is while watching other councils like Daylesford and Hepburn make plans for The Big Rainbow project. So, there’s a diversity of responses.
Daylesford winning The Big Rainbow is, pardon the expression, huge!
Yes, I was speaking to one of the judicial community members who fought the fight for Hepburn Shire Council to fly the rainbow flag a decade ago. He fought tooth and nail for that council to fly that flag and remarked on the journey the area has gone through. They now have the Chill Out Festival, which brings $10 million into the local community. Now that Daylesford is to have The Big Rainbow, that community member was particularly overwhelmed.
But Daylesford is just one community. There are others, like West Wimmera, who’s mantra is to stop flying the flag, and they’re only separated by 141 kilometres.
The city of Melbourne now boasts the Victorian Pride Centre – can you tell us about that and what makes it so significant?
Technically, it’s the second largest Pride Centre in the world. The technicality here is that the Pride Centre in San Francisco is spread across a number of different buildings, but ours is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, and the only one in Australia. It’s located in Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, and is a fit-for-purpose building housing all of the peak LGBTIQ+ bodies and organisations.
People often think it’s just a little hole in the wall, but it’s an incredible $15 million building with co-working spaces, rooftop area, bar, theatrette, health service, JOY 94.9 FM and so on. We’re now seeing services partnering with each other because they’re in the same building and talk to each other. It has a sense of pride and joy, and you see people walk in, and their shoulders relax as they feel at home. You can feel the queerness in the building!
Can you explain about the Aboriginal rainbow community and the creation of Koorie Pride Victoria?
It came about from a weird sense of pain. Many Aboriginal LGBTIQ+ people, or Rainbow Mob as they’re often called, didn’t feel at home with the local Aboriginal Health Service. Not that their queerness was a hindrance or that there was homophobia, but they similarly felt out of place at queer services, too. Whether that’s through forms of racism or discrimination, but what ti meant for a section of our community was that they didn’t feel at home anywhere. They felt they were fighting a solo fight, so we created Koorie Pride Victoria, which is the only Aboriginal queer adversary body in Victoria and it works both with Aboriginal community controlled organisations and LGBTIQ+ led organisations, to build social connections and a sense of belonging and pride.
How does it feel as an Indigenous gay man to be in this role?
It’s crazy. I could never have dreamt it. I feel very lucky and honoured to be in this position and I’m not only one of Australia’s youngest commissioners ever, but I am the first openly gay Aboriginal commissioner. I’m also the first Aboriginal commissioner to hold a non-Aboriginal commission. I’m only 33 and it’s overwhelming in some sense, but at the same time I think this is where we’re going as a state and nation.
What I’ve found since being in the role is that queer communities of colour are coming out more. They feel comfortable being in queer spaces much more so now because they see themselves reflected in queer leadership, and that’s been my biggest silent legacy. We’ve been working with organisations like PacifiqueX, which is the Pacific Island LGBTIQ+ community who have their own organisation like Koorie Pride.
They now feel a sense of belonging within the entire rainbow community, simply because someone who looked or sounded like them is now in leadership. That gives me a sense of pride but, at the same time, it’s a legacy win for all of us.
Growing up, did you face both racism and homophobia together? And how did you push through those barriers to the place you are in today?
I’m still pushing through those barriers. I looked for a sense of community, and I made the move that so many queer and gender-diverse people do, which was to move from my country town into the city to find my chosen family. Surely within 20 years we can have our first gay or queer gender-diverse Prime Minister!
Not only did I find amazing queer people, but I found them at the intersection of culture and race. That allowed me to understand that my experiences of homophobia and racism wasn’t a solo thing. I had other people to unpack it with, but it also meant we had strategies for figuring out how to respond.
Not all our communities have been welcoming at times, but I think we’re getting better at understanding people’s needs. As gay men we are still kind of privileged and it’s time we reminded ourselves about other people within the rainbow community who need our continued support.
I struggled with the racism and homophobia, and my mental health suffered because of it, but now I’m on the other side and able to help lead the charge.
Do you hang out with the other State Commissioners?
I do! I share office space with most of the Victorian State Commissioners, which is great fun. Being the youngest is interesting because most of the others have another couple of decades of work on me. That’s my way of saying they’re older! Nonetheless, they are incredibly excited about the work we all do. We all get to share our resources, ideas, and strategies. In fact, we’ve been trying to figure out what our collective name is, and we’re settling on the Commission Of Commissioners!
Your predecessor in the role was Ro Allen, who is now Victorian Equal Opportunity And Human Rights Commissioner; do you have a good relationship with her?
Ro and I go for very early morning walks together, twice a month. Ro is one of my closest mentors and she left big shoes to fill. It’s quite rewarding to have people like her continue to guide and shape me in the role. We are both leading the charge in Victoria to ensure that all our human rights are upheld.
Who else have been great influences and mentors?
When I did my PhD in medical anthropology, my supervisor was Professor Marcia Langton. She’s one of those Indigenous thinkers who shaped a lot of Australia’s response to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policies. Ilearned quite a lot from her on how to walk and navigate in the world we live in.
I also have a keen observation for people who don’t know they are mentors to me, but I look up to them in secret. They are often community members on the ground who are doing the most incredible things, such as Maree Dixon who’s one of the social workers at Headspace in Bendigo, and Daniel Witthaus, the CEO of Rural Pride Australia.
Where do you think the LGBTQIA+ community will be in 20 years from now? Do you think we will continue to find leadership roles in public life?
Surely we’ll have our first gay or queer gender diverse Prime Minister! It’s time, especially as now we have the Victorian Minister For Equality, Harriet Shing, who is an out-and- loud lesbian Asian-Australian woman. It’s taken so long to get someone like her in that position. I imagine over the next 20 years we’ll see much greater representation of queer and gender diverse people in positions of political leadership, as well as our organisations being able to have secured funding. Some may even have disappeared by then because we will no longer need those types of services. But a gay PM; why not?
Do you have a favourite quote?
“Sometimes we just have to bear the brunt.” We all do that in our own different ways. We bear the brunt of progress and of being who we are. Bearing the brunt is not always a bad thing, because it makes us great. It can turn us into better and stronger people. That phrase comes out of my mouth most days!
Outside of your role, what are your favourite past times?
I like being out in nature, so I’ll often pack up the ute and drive out to a state park and camp.
I love fishing and I’ll turn off the phone and disconnect. I try to switch off from being gay, but these Brokeback Mountain things happen while camping. [Laughs]
What music are you into?
I’m a secret country music lover, but I’m also very eclectic and can go from country to house and techno. There was a recent TikTok’er who did a house and electro version of Shania Twain’s Man I Feel Like A Woman. That’s everything I love in music! Every gay man loves a bit of Donna Summer pumping out over the dancefloor, but I also loved the late Aaliyah [Queen Of The Damned] from the ’90s.
