LGBT in Australia

In 2011, same-sex couples accounted for 0.7% of the total number of couples. It increased to 0.9% in the 2016 Census. In 2016, there were 23,700 male same-sex couples and 23,000 female same-sex couples. The pattern of more male than female same-sex couples has been consistent since 1996, although the degree of difference has decreased in each census, more significantly in the 2016 Census.[10]

In 2016, same-sex couples accounted for 1.4% of all couples in the Australian Capital Territory, the highest proportion of any state or territory. However, only 2.6% of all same-sex couples in Australia lived in the Australian Capital Territory. The next highest proportions were in New South Wales and Victoria, where same-sex couples accounted for 1.0% of all couples. Almost two-thirds (63%) of same-sex couples lived in New South Wales (35.8%) or Victoria (27.1%), whereas only 0.8% lived in the Northern Territory and 1.8% in Tasmania.[10]

The 2016 Census noted that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are more likely to live with a same-sex partner than non-Indigenous people. About 1.2% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lived with a same-sex partner, while that of non-Indigenous people was 0.9%.[10]

The 2011 Australian Census counted 6,300 children living in same-sex families, up from 3,400 in 2001, making up one in a thousand of all children in couple families (0.1%).[11] In 2016, it increased to 10,500 children, accounting for 0.2% of all children in families.[10]

Individuals in same-sex relationships were more likely to have higher personal incomes than those in opposite-sex relationships. In 2016, 23% of men in same-sex relationships earned $2,000 or more a week, compared with 18% of men in opposite-sex relationships. For women, the difference was greater. Women in same-sex relationships were twice as likely to be earning $2,000 or more a week as women in opposite-sex relationships (14% compared with 6%).[10]

According to the 2016 Census, LGBT people were most likely to report they had no religion (57%), however, 32% said they were Christian. This was in contrast to heterosexual people, for whom Christianity was the leading affiliation (59%), followed by not having a religion (28%). Same-sex partners were more likely to be affiliated with Buddhism than those in opposite-sex relationships (3.9% compared to 2.7%) and less likely to be affiliated with Hinduism (0.5% compared with 2.4%) or Islam (0.7% compared with 2.4%).[10]

A 2005 paper by the Australia Institute, Mapping Homophobia in Australia, found that 35% of people aged 14 or above considered homosexuality to be immoral, with Queensland and Tasmania having the highest levels of anti-gay sentiment and Victoria the lowest.[12] Overall the most anti-LGBT areas in the study were the Moreton area of country Queensland (excluding the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast), Central and South-West Queensland and the Burnie/Western district of Tasmania, where 50% considered homosexuality to be immoral, while the least homophobic were inner-city Melbourne (14%), central Perth (21%) and central Melbourne (26%).[12]

A 2018 Ipsos survey of the attitudes towards transgender people in several countries found 71% of Australian respondents thought that the country was becoming more tolerant of transgender people.[13]

Gender diverse and transgender indigenous Australians are often referred to as sistergirls and brotherboys.[14][15] The level of acceptance varies with each community and its elders.[14][15] In 2015, Dameyon Bonson established Black Rainbow as a mental health support and suicide prevention service for LGBTI indigenous Australians, given that they often suffer dual discrimination through both racism and homophobia/transphobia, and are 45 times more likely to commit suicide than the general population.[16]