Practitioners looking to add some sparkle to their CPD have snapped up tickets to the LGBTI Legal Service’s innovative new offering.
The service’s sold-out CPD Doesn’t Have To Be a Drag event on Friday will present a legal seminar and drag trivia night at Brisbane’s Wickham Hotel.
It will be the first of a monthly seminar series for legal professionals and law students which will also raise funds for the Brisbane-based service.
Two human rights lawyers will discuss expanded protections for LGBTIQA+ people coming into effect on 29 April and proposed reforms to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld) to protect drag performers.
Benedict Coyne, barrister and pro bono counsel on the “Drag Queen Storytime” vilification case (Valkyrie & Hill v Shelton); and Heather Corkhill, Principal Policy Officer and LGBTIQ+ liaison officer at the Queensland Human Rights Commission, will speak before a lively drag trivia session.
Benedict said it was an honour to be involved in the service’s work.
“The LGBTI Legal Service is an excellent and courageous organisation that punches well above its weight and is not afraid to pursue truth and justice for its clients,” he said.
Heather said the updates to the protections offered to trans, gender diverse and intersex people under the Act were long overdue, and very welcome.
“If the law is to prevent the considerable harm discrimination causes, it has to keep pace with the changing needs of contemporary society,” she said.
“These updates will make the law clearer and more inclusive, and the Commission will be working with the legal and community sectors as well as the LGBTIQ+ community to communicate what the changes will mean.”
Event MCs will be comedian and LGBTI Legal Service communications and engagement advisor MJ O’Neill; and Brisbane drag queen and comic Roxanne Redacted.
MJ said professional development should not be a drag.
“It’s a tragic state of affairs when even just saying the words ‘professional development’ is enough to elicit an involuntary groan from most professionals,” she said.
“I’m genuinely delighted to be a part of an event designed to change that.
“As a trans woman, I’m directly affected by many of the legislative changes we’ll be looking at in the session.
“In a time where the rights of queer people of all kinds are increasingly under attack, it’s heartening that Queensland’s legal community is instead taking a meaningful step in the other direction.”
To join the waitlist for Friday’s event, and for details of the service’s next event in the series, register here.
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