Remembering Rainbows: LGBTIQA+ Memorial for World Suicide Prevention Day

World Suicide Prevention Day is an opportunity for LGBTIQA+ communities and our supporters to unite in action toward preventing suicide, show our support for LGBTIQA+ people who experience suicidality and to remember those in our communities who have sadly died by suicide.

Ceremony and ritual are woven into the fabric of LGBTIQA+ histories. At Switchboard, we know the power of collective spaces to come together in the face of loss and pain to generate hope through action.

This year, we are inviting our community to pay tribute and remember the lives of our LGBTIQA+ loved ones we have lost to suicide by participating in a Remembering Rainbow Memorial.

Event information

When: Saturday September 9th, 3pm – 5pm.

Who can attend: Anyone who is part of LGBTQIA+ communities. You may bring along anyone you would like to have with you to be part of this activity.

Register here: via eventbrite

Event activities

3pm - 4pm

Share in space with other LGBTIQA+ people who are bereaved through suicide and those who are supporting our communities take action toward preventing suicide.

We will have activities available on the day, including embroidering / sewing the names of LGBTIQA+ people who have suicided on colourful ribbons for the Remembering Rainbow. We will have volunteers guiding craft activities and offering help - no prior craft experience is required.

You may wish to attend simply to be in a LGBTIQA+ space, drink tea and coffee, eat afternoon tea and connect with community. You are welcome to use our community space as you need.

4pm - 5pm

Hear from LGBTIQA+ lived experience speakers share their reflections on loss after a suicide. A memorial ceremony will be held where we tie the ribbons on the Remembering Rainbow, pausing to read each name.

Supporting you to be there

These occasions are tremendously significant and can bring up difficult thoughts and emotions. Switchboard volunteer peer supporters will be present on the day.

Can't attend in person?

We know some folks are interstate or unable to make it and would to tie a ribbon, please write to us at bereavement@switchboard.org.au and we will tie one on for you and send you a photo.

---

About the Remembering Rainbow

Our Remebering Rainbow is a physical tribute memorialising the names of LGBTIQA+ people across Australia who have taken their own lives on colourful ribbons. By tying ribbons on the Remembering Rainbow, we tell the world that the countless people in our communities who experience suicidality and those who we have lost to suicide will not be forgotten, their lives and stories live on because we are taking action together.

We hope the Remembering Rainbow can offer us a way to hold memory, space and commemorate LGBTIQA+ loved ones.

About LGBTIQA+ loss after a suicide

Sadly, many of us who identify as part of LGBTIQA+ communities have experienced the heartache of loss after a suicide. You can read more about suicide loss on our online suicide prevention hub, CHARLEE.

Visit: https://www.charlee.org.au/lgbtiqa-experiences-of-grief

About suicide prevention at Switchboard

Switchboard is a LGBTIQA+ community organisation and the national leading organisation providing suicide prevention, intervention and postvention programs to LGBTIQA+ people. Established in 2019, our dedicated LGBTIQA+ suicide prevention program is centered on research and building community resilience through peer-led lived experience activities.