Being an effective Ally with Hannah Venn-Brown

Hannah’s Pride story begins as a teenager. When she was just 13 years old her parents separated after 17 years together. Hannah’s dad, Anthony, was a well-known Pentecostal minister, which at the time felt like a forward thinking stream of Christianity for Hannah. Hannah’s mum later sat her down to tell her that Anthony was gay.?

‘As a teen, it was tough to hear, understand and process because it went against everything I had learnt in the church community. If it wasn’t for Dad coming out, I’m not sure how quickly I would have become an active advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community. My sister and I were still involved in his life and my mum was incredible in saying he is still your father, she was so supportive and my mum was the catalyst for this on-going and supportive relationship,’ says Hannah.?

After coming out, Hannah watched her father navigate his relationship with faith and sexuality in 1990’s Australia.?

‘When we were older, we found out a lot more about his history and found out he was one of the first people to participate in conversion therapy in Australia. He essentially went to a place where you “pray the gay away” and have other awful experiences in a residential ex-gay program in southern Sydney,’ says Hannah.?‘When we were young, Dad never spoke about it, so we just never knew.’?

Hannah grew up on the Central Coast, which at the time felt less accepting of the gay community and Hannah, being a strong supporter of her father, felt responsible to be an active ally and use this opportunity to educate, answer those tricky questions and ultimately demystify and combat the prejudice and bigotry that she and her father experienced.?

‘I was unapologetic about the fact that I had a gay dad, without caring about what people’s response would be, whether I was at church, or school, or in the workplace, and that was met with mixed responses.’?Hannah says,?‘A lot of the responses to [Anthony being gay] were deeply offensive and not nice.’

Hannah supported her dad and the gay community by using her voice and becoming a safe space as an ally and a conduit between the LGBTQIA+ community and people who may be uninformed or curious.?‘If I am talking about [Dad being gay], then no one else can. If people are talking about it behind my back, then I may as well say it to their face and not hide it. My friends really remember that I was an advocate and such a strong voice for saying he was gay and that I supported him. Who knows, it may have helped some of the gay teens in my community, seeing someone standing up and supporting their gay dad,’ says Hannah.

Hannah’s vocality was admirable, and something she wanted to carry into her working life as she joined the APS, specifically in the Central Coast office for Services Australia.?‘I never hid the fact I had a gay dad. I recall sitting in a training room and the subject of the gay community came up, and someone made a horrible remark and I was just in shock at such a disgusting and abhorrent comment.’ Hannah says, ‘Ordinarily, I am vocal and will comment respectfully, but I was just silent in shock.’?

It can be intimidating to be your true self when you join the workforce or a new workplace, but Hannah’s experience in that training room helped her understand the importance of her consistent advocacy for the LGBTQIA+ community. Hannah joined the facilitation team, which helped with inducting and training new employees. This gave Hannah the opportunity to learn about new employees and have a platform to be an unapologetic ally, and let new starters know they had a safe space with her.?‘I was able to dispel myths, answer questions and be that safe space. But good was not enough, I was seeing changes in the world but we needed change in our organisation,’ says Hannah.?

On Wear it Purple Day 2011, Hannah decided to wear as much purple as possible,?‘Purple hair ties, socks, ribbons, nails, and a purple shirt, so that if people asked why I was wearing purple I could tell them it was to celebrate diversity, inclusion and the younger members of the LGBTQIA+ community,’?says Hannah,?‘This was well before we celebrated Wear it Purple day as an organisation or even had a diversity team. However, by 2014, Wear it Purple Day became a celebration for us.’?

During her time at Services Australia, Hannah has been a strong contributor to creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace. Hannah is now the co-chair of the Services Australia Rainbow Roundtable, which meets regularly to better understand the workplace culture and involve staff in the development of LGBTQIA+ inclusion initiatives. She is proud of the growth and change that she has seen in Services Australia over the past 20 years that has helped it become an inclusive and supportive workplace.

‘I have established myself as all things rainbow,’ says Hannah.?‘People would come up to my desk and talk to me to try and understand things, and that is such a privilege. People want to finally understand and learn rather than make assumptions. People trust me to ask challenging questions, but they also trust me to not make fun of them or put them down or make them feel inferior, but can have that non-judgemental curiosity.’

Hannah lives and breathes ally-ship, through true inclusivity and unconditional support. Wearing a rainbow pin is an important first step, but Hannah’s active steps in cultivating a safe space for people is evident in her pride and love for the LGBTQIA+ community and Services Australia. ‘I love my organisation and I love what we have done, we are getting there. Services Australia is now a Gold Employer for inclusion and diversity.’?Hannah says, ‘We don’t just have an inclusive culture but we now celebrate diversity.’?

Hannah’s support, advocacy and love for her father is admirable and shows what it means to be an effective ally. Hannah is the change she wants to see the world and her actions help educate others on what they can do to be an effective ally. Hannah says, ‘My Dad has started two not-for-profits for LGBT people of faith. He struggled with reconciling his faith and his sexuality. There was nothing like that in the 90’s, just shame and discrimination. He is now considered an expert on the topic of faith and sexuality and uses this to help so many people and in 2020 was honoured with an Order of Australia Medal for his work and I am so proud of him for that.’?

Hannah’s ally-ship flows into her everyday life, with rainbows filtering through everything she does to ensure that she can create a safe space for people and be the conduit between people who may not know much about the LGBTQIA+ community, and the rainbow community.?‘This year I have had a lot to reflect on. Sydney hosted World Pride and I walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge holding the big pride flag. Being able to now live in a world where they want to shut down the harbour bridge for the gay community, I cried like a baby walking alongside the LGBTQIA+ community and allies. It felt like things were going so slowly for so long, so to see these things like this happen makes me feel so proud to be an Aussie, a public servant and Services Australia employee,’ says Hannah.

We thank Hannah for her wonderful APS Story about being an impactful and effective ally. If you have an APS Story you would like to share please reach out to?[email protected]