Community activist Michael West tells Jennifer Pittorino about his work in a range of fields.
Can you tell us your name and job title?
My name is Michael West, my pronouns are he-they and I’m the director of equality at the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.
Tell us a bit about you and what you do?
I’m a mid 50s queer man, a father and husband. I’ve been a bee-keeper, I’m prone to self-doubt and love reading, I meditate and like jogging. I’ve worked in the fields of HIV, public health, LGBTIQA+ youth homelessness, drug and alcohol policy for about 30 years.
Tell us about your most recent work?
The Equality portfolio has the whole of government responsibility for implementation of the 10 year LGBTIQA+ strategy, Pride in our future 2022-2032. Victoria is the only Australian jurisdiction to have a commissioner for LGBTIQA+ communities, minister for equality and LGBTIQA+ Taskforce that all work together to improve outcomes for LGBTIQA+ Victorians.
What do you hope to achieve in the future?
To make the world a gentler, kinder place for LGBTIQA+ people and others who face discrimination be that racism, transphobia, ableism and misogyny.
What’s your connection to Maribyrnong or Hobsons Bay?
I’m a member of Maribyrnong council’s LGBTIQA+ community advisory committee. I think Maribyrnong council is the only council to employee a full time LGBTIQA+ worker. To have my local council putting resources into including LGBTIQA+ people, working with their services and local police to make sure spaces are safe is wonderful and as it should be.
What do you like about where you live?
We’ve lived here for 15 years and I love that sometimes it takes a half an hour to leave the street as we stop and chat with our neighbours. The street has a WhatsApp group and an annual Christmas party with barbecues on verges and kids running up and down the street.
What, if anything, would you change about where you live?
Plant more trees, create as much shade as possible as the world is heating up and change the rules for what can be done with verges so people can plant veggies or fruit trees to attract pollinators and birds and swap produce locally.
Where is your favourite local place to spend time?
Migrant Café in West Footscray, how great is this place? It is run and owned by smart, kind, strong Filipino women and women of colour and you can bring your dog. If I had to describe a community equivalent of a big smile, it’s Migrant Café.
Tell us something people would be surprised to know about you.
My husband, Francisco and I have been together over 25 years and he has changed my life for the better. We met in Sydney when he was running the Mardi Gras gallery. Ten years later we began co-parenting with two women and had a beautiful son, Eddie. Unfortunately, the mothers changed their minds and we spent close on ten years in five different court cases in two countries fighting for our son’s right to be part of our lives. We were successful every time. We established case law for gay men to be recognised as fathers, and not merely as sperm donors, as is the case under section 60h of the Australian Family Law Act. Despite all of this we haven’t seen him for eight years now. He will be 16 soon. It feels almost impossible as a father with no parental rights to talk about the daily grief of your missing child.
