LOOKING THROUGH THE LENS OF GENDER AND DIVERSITY 2 SUPPORTING SAME-SEX ATTRACTE OF MULTICULTURAL AND MULTIFAITH maria.pallotta-chiarolli@deakin.edu.au CONTACT MARIA BY MARIA PALLOTTA-CHIAROLLI Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli, PhD, is Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Social Development at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. Her primary areas of interest are cultural diversity, gender diversity, sexual diversity and family diversity. Maria is also a Founding Member of AGMC Inc. (Australian GLBTIQ Multicultural Council), and a member of the Victoria Police LGBTIQ and Multicultural Priorities Communities Divisions. She is also a member of the Department of Health and Human Services LGBTI Working Group. Her most recent books include The Politics of Recognition and Social Justice: Transforming Subjectivities and New Forms of Resistance (co-edited with Bob Pease); Queerying Families of Origin (co-edited with Chiara Bertone); and Bisexuality in Education: Erasure, Exclusion by Inclusion and the Absence of Intersectionality (winner of a US Bisexual Book Award, 2016). ABOUT THE AUTHOR Introduction In 2016 I was commissioned to undertake research and provide a Full Report and Executive Summary of Recommendations to the Victorian Commissioner for Gender and Sexuality, Ro Allen, and the Advisory Group. The research project analysed the needs of same-sex attracted and gender diverse (SSAGD) young people of multicultural and multifaith (MCMF) backgrounds, and how these needs can be addressed by government, and by their cultural and religious communities. This article will focus on the experiences and perspectives of three SSA cis-gendered young women and two adult MCMF women who are community leaders from state organisations working within MCMF settings. All subheadings come from the words of research participants. The full report is available as Pallotta-Chiarolli (2016) at http://bit.ly/2iNWhGv [1]. School of Health and Social Diversity, Deakin University