A National Roadmap for Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQIA+ Young People

The Walkern Katatdjin Roadmap is a co-designed, national roadmap to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQIA+ young people (14–25 years) to be safe, healthy, and thriving. It was developed through yarning groups, interviews, surveys, and co-design forums led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQIA+ young people, Elders, community organisations, services, and researchers from The Kids Research Institute Australia and partner institutions.

While the Roadmap does not use the language of stigma explicitly, it directly addresses the structural, cultural, and service-level conditions that produce exclusion, harm, and unequal access to care.

What the Roadmap does

• Sets out a shared plan for action across family and community, services, government, and the wider community

• Is grounded in Aboriginal principles of kinship, care, and collective responsibility

• Focuses on safety, inclusion, visibility, and culturally affirming support

• Prioritises co-design, accountability, and long-term systems change

Why this matters for stigma

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQIA+ young people often experience intersecting stigmas

• Stigma is embedded in systems, policies, and everyday interactions, not just attitudes

• The Roadmap shifts responsibility from individuals to services, institutions, and governments

• Cultural safety and affirmation are positioned as foundational, not optional

Key action areas

• Family and community: visibility, education, safe places, and advocacy

• Services: inclusive care embedded into everyday practice from first contact

• Government: policy reform, targeted funding, workforce inclusion, and accountability

• Wider community: allyship and shaping broader social norms