In an Australian-first, the Victorian Government has launched a new campaign aiming to combat the discrimination of trans and gender-diverse people. The campaign, titled ‘The Unsaid Says a Lot’ highlights the microaggressions and non-verbal cues that contribute to feelings of exclusion within the trans and gender-diverse community.

Think HQ was the agency behind the campaign, which includes a 60-second film, print and OOH assets. The positive change agency was appointed by the government for its expertise in working with the LGBTIQA+ community on sensitive issues and community engagement. 

“Our aim was to deliver a state-wide campaign that celebrated and raised awareness of the community’s experiences, supporting greater inclusion and addressing trans and gender-diverse discrimination,” Think HQ chief creative officer Andy Lima said. 

“With that in mind, we worked with the community through a series of workshops to first define the issues and vision for the campaign and come up with creative solutions together.”

The Unsaid Says a Lot

One of Think HQ’s major collaborators from the trans and gender-diverse community was prominent transgender director, actor, writer and producer Harvey Zielinski. Zielinski drew upon his own lived experience to help create the thought-provoking campaign.

“I think this campaign is really important and powerful and I’m really pleased to be involved, especially in light of the vitriol we’ve witnessed towards the trans and gender-diverse community over the past year,” Zielinski said.

“I wish we didn’t need to campaign for respect. I believe acceptance and inclusion should be a given, a bare minimum societally. I hope campaigns like this help work towards this goal and improve the day-to-day lives of trans and gender-diverse people.”

The film was directed by Zielinski and shot by award-winning cinematographer Alexander Naughton. To emphasise the campaign tagline ‘The unsaid says a lot. So, think about what you’re really saying’, no words are spoken within it. Instead, the film relies on on-screen text to illustrate how subtle, everyday interactions can lead trans and gender-diverse people to feel accepted or excluded by those around them.

Minister for Equality Harriet Shing said the campaign was designed to foster empathy by showing the everyday discrimination experienced by the trans and gender-diverse community.

“​​This campaign is all about encouraging people to stop and think about how their actions towards trans and gender-diverse people can make a huge difference – for better or for worse,” Shing said.

“We know that our interactions with others really matter, and this campaign is part of our ongoing work to reduce discrimination and stigma, and to contribute to more inclusive connections for trans and gender-diverse people.”

Development of the campaign was supported by a study from La Trobe University that found more than three in four trans and gender-diverse people were treated unfairly because of their gender identity. This inequality was found to be a major contributing factor to the higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicide in LGBTIQA+ people than in the general population.

Photography attributed to Alexander Naughton

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