Safety first over festive season

LGBTI Victorians should look out for each other and party responsibly this festive season, health and safety advocates have urged. Research published earlier this year found assaults and cases of acute drug and alcohol intoxication peaked in Melbourne during New Year’s Eve and Day.

VicHealth and Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre compiled ambulance attendances, hospital admissions and police reports from 2000-2009 for the ‘Drinking cultures and social occasions’ report and found incidents surged during public holidays with warm weather.

On New Year’s Eve, ambulance attendances tripled for alcohol intoxication and with similar results for hospital admissions.  New Year’s Day also topped the list for all cases of car accidents.

Last year, another study found one in 12 LGBTI people reported threats of physical violence, physical attack or assault without a weapon in the previous year. The Private Lives Two survey of almost 3,900 LGBTI Australians also found one in four percent of people were verbally abused. Anti Violence Project Victoria executive director Greg Adkins strongly urged LGBTI people not to react to verbal abuse.

“Try not to respond verbally because 70 percent of people that respond verbally to homophobic or transphobic assaults, 70 percent end up being harmed physically,” he told the Star Observer.
“When in danger, don’t respond, put distance between you and the perpetrator, call police and once you’re safe, contact the Anti Violence Project.”

He also said same-sex attracted and gender and sex diverse people should show a little more respect towards each other over the festive break.

“We need to start to embrace each other… the bad side of our community is that we tend not to display the same degree of tolerance to others that are part of the rainbow family of LGBTI,” he said. “We don’t show that respect all the time so this is a time we can respect the diversity within the GLBTI community.”

Adkins added people should travel with friends during the big events like New Year’s Eve and have a designated driver.

Turning Point director, Professor Dan Lubman, urged against excessive drinking during the same events. “For most people, it’s fine to have one or two drinks to celebrate the occasion,” he said.

“The problem is when people drink excessively, alcohol directly affects how their brain makes decisions, increasing the chances they will make risky choices and do something they may later regret,” he said.