Melinda was Victoria Police’s inaugural Gay & Lesbian Liaison Officer from 2000 to 2005 where she established a program that now has a legacy of over 450 LGBTIQ+ liaison officers throughout the state. In this role Melinda created many firsts, including seeking the Chief Commissioner’s support for Victoria Police to march in the annual Pride March, the development of an inaugural LGBTIQ+ liaison officer training program, and the development of policy and procedure to address LGBTIQ+ community needs.
In 2002 Melinda received the Victoria Pride Award for most outstanding achievement by an individual, as well as the Australasian Council of Women in Policing Bravery Award for challenging homophobia within Victoria Police, and in 2008 was named 1 of 25 Most Influential Gay and Lesbian Australians along with His Honour Michael Kirby, Penny Wong, Ruby Rose, Matt Mitcham, and Portia De Rossi.
Melinda has advocated on an international stage as a guest speaker at the inaugural Gay & Lesbian Law Enforcement Conference in Amsterdam, 2003 and the International Association of Women Police Conference in San Francisco 2003. For the past 20 years Melinda continued her advocacy work across LGBTIQ+ issues in Victoria, Northern Territory and NSW by sitting on committees and boards within the LGBTIQ+ community, as well as promoting and being guest speaker at Wear it Purple and IDAHOBIT Days. After 15 years away, Melinda recently returned to Victoria and is now taking an active role in her government agency’s Pride Network, advocating for prevention of family violence through her board position on the Centre Against Violence and supporting the mentoring of young people through her committee membership of a local Big Brother Big Sister community partnership.
Melinda was also a member of the 1993 East Brunswick Scorpions Women’s Football club and premiership team and with fond memories of her footy playing days is proud to be supporting the inaugural Pride Round for the Westmeadows Football Club in 2022.
We asked Melinda, sister of our current Female Vice President Debra Williams, to share her story with us ahead of our special day. -
As a kid, in the 1970’s and 1980’s I played football, but I never had the opportunity to play in a competition. We lived down the street from the local footy oval and I kicked the ball around the park most days. There just wasn’t a competition for young girls, or even women for that matter. It wasn’t until 1981 that the Victorian Women’s Football League was formed. By then I was living in country Victoria and playing a lot of sport, but football was never available to me. In 1993 I finally found a home in football with the East Brunswick Scorpions. Here I played with the custodians and legends of our game such as Bernie Marantelli, Lisa Hardeman and Debbie Lee.
As a young woman growing up in country Victoria I didn’t even know lesbianism existed, I certainly didn’t know anything about non-binary and there was only ever male and female. Yet I knew I wasn’t a traditional girl. In fact, in grade 2 I asked my mum for $3000 and she asked why, my response, I want to be a boy. Somewhere I had heard you could get a sex change operation for $3000!! Now I have never truly questioned my gender but what I did want to do was play footy, and as a girl I wasn’t allowed to.
Growing up I never quite fitted in, I didn’t belong. I was a tom-boy and enjoyed traditional male sports, footy and cricket, yet all I could play was netball, basketball and softball. As a young woman I came to understand the difference I really had from everyone else was with my sexuality. Yet I could never have come out as a teenager. It was a struggle to come out when I did, in my early twenties in the late 80’s early 90’s. There were so many fears including a fear of loosing my job. But I did come out and I have advocated for equality and acceptance ever since. - Which is why I am speaking today.
Sporting clubs have such a huge part to play in any community. They are a microcosmos of your community. They are a place that people come to belong. They are a place that people come to enjoy sport and be a part of a team, be a part of something bigger than themselves. Yet imagine there is a whole group of people that feel excluded just because of who they are. We have all seen and heard it. Homophobia, Transphobia, and other discrimination against members of the LGBTQIA+ community littered throughout the history of sport by players and fans alike. From ostracising to verbal abuse, and to physical abuse, it has all happened on and off the field. Sport is supposed to unite us, to bring us all together, and to cheer for our team together.
Pride rounds are a way to help correct this. It is a way to help show members of the LGBTQIA+ community who have experienced years of abuse just wanting to be part of something they love that they are accepted by the team they love and that they can attend sporting events and be their genuine authentic selves. Pride rounds are about celebrating diversity and inclusion, reminding people that everyone is welcome in this safe environment. It’s a chance to celebrate who we are and break down barriers previously seen in football. Pride rounds allow people in the community to be visible and celebrated. They show me I am welcome at the football and I’m able to come and be my authentic self. They allow others to be non-binary, be open about their pronouns, and not have to worry about being thrown out by an angry crowd or being heckled by a supporter behind them. They show the LGBTIQA+ community they can go to the footy and feel safe with people in their community.
I came out at a time when being gay was still not widely accepted and you were judged. - To see the AFLW players comfortable and confident with who they are is a testament to how far we’ve come but also how much support is out there that players don’t feel the need to hide who they truly are anymore. Unlike where some leagues and clubs today still don’t want to be seen as the ‘lesbian club’. The AFLW comes from a long history of years of work done and still pursued by the trailblazers of our game to create inclusivity, visibility and awareness for the LGBTIQ+ communities. The AFLW gives our girls and young women role models. I know so many young LGBTIQA+ people who have struggled to be open about who they are and their ability to come out just because they haven’t had role models in their lives. I was one of them way back when! There was no one on TV or in the media who were people like me. To now have two openly non-binary athletes, to have a myriad of openly different queer athletes in the AFLW, for me, it makes me so proud to be an AFLW fan. And for young LGBTIQA+ people today, it’s great to see role models like that. But there is a fine line to manage between a pride round being a genuine event of importance and not having it come off as a tokenistic event.
On the surface, many teams and organisations claim to be supportive of the LGBTQIA+ community, and some genuinely are and have a lot of evidence to back that up, through holding things like pride nights and getting out into the community to do charity work with LGBTQIA+ organisations. But there are also teams and sporting bodies that contradict those actions, and this is where the tokenism comes in. It is fine to have rainbow and pride-themed jumper designs, and wear rainbow laces and socks and express support once a year, but long-term commitments and support needs to back that up, which is something that is lacking from certain teams and organisations across the sport. Pride Rounds reflect the football’s commitment to being a sport for all, a celebration of diversity and inclusivity within the game and community. It’s about taking the steps to make sure that LGBTIQA+ fans, staff, and players feel welcome in your club and the wider AFL community.
So I challenge all of those who are reading this. - What are you doing to ensure your local LGBTIQA+ community feels welcome and a part of your club all day every day?
Melinda Edwards, Senior leader in the Victorian Public Service Sector.
