OUR Name

TIME FOR A CHANGE

The Board of GALFA has renamed the organisation Pride Foundation Australia to more adequately reflect our commitment to focus on the whole lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, asexual and other (LGBTQIA+) community. This decision was carefully considered over several months in 2018 and was in response to repeated feedback in recent years that ‘Gay and Lesbian’ does not represent the wider LGBTQIA+ community.  

Our community is growing and diversifying rapidly, with emerging sexual and gender identities.  We have seen that other LGBTQIA+ organisations have changed their name to reflect these changes, and it is time for us to do the same. 

We judiciously chose our new name, and here is some of our thinking:

National agenda

We have retained ‘Australia’ within the name to indicate our national agenda.

Pride Foundation Australia is unique

We are a philanthropic Foundation, which is reflected in our company Constitution, the deeds of the public and the charitable Trusts and Government endorsement of our public fund as a tax-deductible charity. We are established to operate in perpetuity, be a sound and stable organisation, with one of our roles being to promote knowledge of philanthropy and philanthropic giving in Australia’s LGBTIQA+ communities.

Pride is associated with a few other LGBTIQA+ causes in Australia, including Pride marches, and the Victorian Pride Centre (VPC) and their Pride Fund. Consultation with various Victorian LGBTIQA+ organisations indicates that the name of VPC differs enough from PFA and so we do not expect it will cause any confusion.

Internationally, there is a Pride Foundation in Seattle for LGBT issues, Rainbow Pride in Fiji, and Pride Foundation Malaysia for breast cancer fundraising.  However, we believe that signifying Australia in our name prevents any confusion with these and other international organisations.

Pride as a term for LGBTQIA+

The term ‘Pride’ has long been associated with LGBTQIA+ causes, going back to the Stonewall riot in USA in 1969.  LGBT Pride month in USA commemorates this turning point for gay liberation. Pride signifies dignity, human rights, social inclusion and visibility, and continues to be associated with many international LGBT organisations, foundations and events. We consider that this word will continue to represent these issues for LGBTQIA+ Australians into the future.