New to the Rainbow - Queer Women

This is a group for people who are new to the rainbow. This means people who are coming out, have recently come out or are yet to come out; people who are questioning or are new to, or coming to terms with, being queer. You can be of any age, from any background and with any experience.

This is a peer discussion group focusing on aspects of queer community, identity and acceptance of self and others and focuses on friendship, connection and authentic sharing.

It is a safe and caring place you can ask questions, participate in discussions and work out what it means to be part of the queer community.

While I don’t have all the answers, you may find someone in this group has the right words to help you along the way.

HOW THE EVENT WILL RUN
I will be facilitating the event just to keep the discussion flowing and to make sure people get a chance to talk if they want to. First we will all introduce ourselves, then I will go through any of the questions submitted via people’s RSVPs (see below for further details) and we can discuss each one. Time permitting, you can ask other questions too.

MEETUP TIME: Doors will open at 7pm. This event will run until 8.30pm.

LOCATION: New Farm Library Meeting Room, Sydney Street.

Looking from the street:

Left: Dedicated library and meeting room car park.

Middle: The Meeting Room and a small lawn

Right: The Library.

The meeting room has a kitchenette and toilet and is air-conditioned. All spaces are wheelchair accessible.

We will be sitting around a large table for our discussions, however you are free to get up and move around the space if you need to stretch or you need movement.

PARKING
There is the library carpark however people use it to access New Farm Park, so parking is often limited. There is also street parking.

FOOD and DRINK
There will be some coffee and tea bags to choose from, milk and oat milk and a light snack (usually biscuits)

Feel free to bring your own non-alcoholic drink or snack for yourself (not to share) if there's something specific you want.

**Please don’t attend this event if you have ANY cold/flu/virus symptoms, even if you know it’s not Covid.

WHAT TO BRING
- A gold coin or your 10-event pass (see further details below)
- A jumper if you tend to get cold
- A comfort blanket/pillow if you want to be cosy.
- An open heart, friendship and some courage

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS
When you RSVP you will be prompted to enter a question or topic you would like the group to discuss. You don’t have to write anything if you don’t want to.

During the event we will go through these questions. You can talk more about your question and others will give you their thoughts and share their experiences.

You can also bring up any other questions or topics if we have time!

The questions/topics can be anything that will help you grow and know yourself better within the queer community. This may be to do with: relationships, identity, pronouns, acceptance, coming out, queer movies and books, dating, experience or lack of, success stories, labels etc.

GOLD COIN
To host a group on Meetup it costs about $300-$350 a year. As per most community groups, I collect a gold coin from people attending events to contribute to this.

You can get cash out at most supermarkets, service stations, ATMs, and places like McDonalds. I generally do not carry change - please try and get a gold coin.

If you prefer, I also have 10-Event passes. For $10 cash I will give you a card, and each time you attend an event I will stamp it. This means you are contributing $1 for each event you attend.

WHAT THIS GROUP IS NOT
- This is not a formal therapeutic space/mental health group and is not the space to discuss trauma, mental health issues or anything that may trigger other attendees.

- This group is not about sex therapy

- This is not a dating/hookup group

** Prejudice of any kind including racism or transphobia will not be tolerated. Neither will inappropriate behaviour. Also please don’t message other members of the group before you have met them in person. **