# PRESS RELEASE

**For immediate release, October 2026**

---

# RMIT TOPS NEW INDEX OF LGBTIQA+ INCLUSION AT AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES, WITH MELBOURNE TAKING SIX OF THE TOP TEN PLACES

## Only six of Australia's 41 universities employ someone whose job is LGBTIQA+ support. And where a university is matters almost as much as what it does: state law alone puts 12 points between Victoria and Western Australia.

Australia has no national index of how welcoming its universities are to LGBTIQA+ students. So Erobella's Data & Research team built one.

**Out on Campus: Down Under** scores all 41 universities registered in Australia. It looks at what each one publishes for LGBTIQA+ students, what its student union runs, the law in its state or territory and the community around its main campus. Every point links to the page it came from. The full index, with a search for every university, a map and a breakdown of each score, is at [erobella.com/research/out-on-campus-australia](https://erobella.com/research/out-on-campus-australia/).

**RMIT University comes first with 80.0 out of 100**, just ahead of the University of Melbourne (79.0) and Victoria University (77.9). Six of the top ten are in Melbourne. The leaders get the basics right: a queer space on campus, a gender affirmation guide for students, chosen names and pronouns in their systems, and an ally network.

The index comes out as Year 12 students head into their final exams and think about where to study next year.

## Key findings

- **RMIT is first, the University of Melbourne second and Victoria University third.** Monash, the University of Sydney and La Trobe complete the six universities scoring 70 or more.
- **Melbourne has six of the top ten.** Sydney has three (the University of Sydney, UTS and UNSW) and Brisbane one (the University of Queensland).
- **Only six of the 41 universities employ someone whose job is specifically LGBTIQA+ support or inclusion.** Everywhere else the day-to-day work falls to general diversity teams, student unions and volunteers.
- **Most have the basics.** 36 let students use a chosen name in university systems, 33 run an ally network and 28 have a dedicated queer space on campus. And since January, every university has had to offer non-binary and "different term" gender options when it records a student's gender.
- **But 17 publish no gender affirmation policy or guide for students**, and 13 don't say where their all-gender toilets are. In the largest national survey of young LGBTQA+ people, only half (51.1%) of trans and gender diverse students felt they could safely use the bathroom that matched their gender.
- **Only eight have a current LGBTIQA+ action plan**, eight offer an LGBTIQA+ scholarship and three document gender-inclusive student accommodation.
- **State law makes a big difference.** Victoria and the ACT score 15 out of 15 on LGBTIQA+ law. Queensland scores 11, New South Wales 6.75 and Western Australia 3.
- **Edith Cowan University scores higher than RMIT on campus policy but ranks 16th.** ECU scores 33 out of 40 for what it offers students, against RMIT's 27. It's held back by Western Australian law, which protects gender identity only for people with a recognition certificate, has broad religious exemptions and has no ban on conversion practices.
- **In New South Wales, any private education provider, religious or not, can still lawfully refuse or expel a student for being gay or trans.** NSW is home to 12 of the 41 universities.
- **Queensland and the Northern Territory both stop new patients under 18 from starting puberty blockers or hormones in the public system.** They lose two points each.
- **Federal law still lets religious universities discriminate against LGBTIQA+ students and staff.** The Australian Law Reform Commission recommended removing the exemption in a report tabled in March 2024. The government hasn't responded.
- **None of the four religious universities loses points.** We read the published policies, codes and inquiry submissions of Australian Catholic University, Notre Dame, Avondale and the University of Divinity. None relies on a religious exemption against LGBTIQA+ students in its own published words. They score low because they publish little of the support the others do.
- **11 universities hold a 2026 tier in the Australian Workplace Equality Index**, the national LGBTQ+ inclusion benchmark run by Pride in Diversity. Five are Platinum: RMIT, the University of Sydney, the University of Queensland, UNSW and Macquarie.

## The ten highest scores

| Rank | University | State | Score out of 100 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RMIT University | VIC | 80.0 |
| 2 | The University of Melbourne | VIC | 79.0 |
| 3 | Victoria University | VIC | 77.9 |
| 4 | Monash University | VIC | 77.2 |
| 5 | The University of Sydney | NSW | 71.8 |
| 6 | La Trobe University | VIC | 70.1 |
| 7 | Swinburne University of Technology | VIC | 69.5 |
| 8 | The University of Queensland | QLD | 69.1 |
| 9 | University of Technology Sydney | NSW | 67.8 |
| 10 | UNSW Sydney | NSW | 67.7 |

## The ten lowest scores

| Rank | University | State | Score out of 100 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 32 | Australian Catholic University | NSW | 37.5 |
| 33 | Charles Sturt University | NSW | 36.3 |
| 34 | Southern Cross University | NSW | 36.2 |
| 35 | University of New England | NSW | 35.5 |
| 36 | Charles Darwin University | NT | 32.6 |
| 37 | Bond University | QLD | 31.5 |
| 38 | University of Southern Queensland | QLD | 31.4 |
| 39 | CQUniversity | QLD | 29.9 |
| 40 | The University of Notre Dame Australia | WA | 24.0 |
| 41 | Avondale University | NSW | 15.2 |

*A low score mostly means we couldn't find the published support that other universities offer, such as a queer space, a gender affirmation guide or an ally network. It doesn't mean staff or students there are unwelcoming. All 41 universities, with every point explained, are at [erobella.com/research/out-on-campus-australia](https://erobella.com/research/out-on-campus-australia/).*

## State by state

| State or territory | Universities | Middle score | LGBTIQA+ law, out of 15 | Highest ranked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria | 9 | 70.1 | 15 | RMIT University (1st) |
| ACT | 2 | 59.0 | 15 | University of Canberra (13th) |
| Western Australia | 5 | 54.2 | 3 | Edith Cowan University (16th) |
| Tasmania | 1 | 51.5 | 12.5 | University of Tasmania (22nd) |
| South Australia | 3 | 47.9 | 9.5 | Adelaide University (15th) |
| Queensland | 8 | 47.8 | 11 | The University of Queensland (8th) |
| New South Wales | 12 | 46.5 | 6.75 | The University of Sydney (5th) |
| Northern Territory | 1 | 32.6 | 8.5 | Charles Darwin University (36th) |

*The middle score is the median for each state's universities. Law is scored on eleven checks of the legislation in force on 5 October 2026.*

## Comment

Brenda Jensen, Head of Data & Research at Erobella, said:

> "If you're 17 and queer, picking a university isn't only about the course. You want to know there's somewhere on campus you can just be yourself, and that the name on the class list will be the right one. The good news is that most Australian universities now get those basics right, and the best are excellent.
>
> "What surprised us was how few pay anyone to look out for LGBTIQA+ students. Six out of 41. Most of that work is being done by student unions and volunteers, many of them students themselves.
>
> "The other surprise was how much the state matters. Edith Cowan does more on campus than RMIT by our measures, but a trans student in Perth has far fewer legal protections than one in Melbourne. No university can fix that on its own. If we've missed something a university does, we want to hear about it, and we'll update the index."

## Notes to editors

1. **Who's included.** All 41 universities in the "Australian University" category of the TEQSA National Register in 2026: 36 public and 5 private. Adelaide University, formed when the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia merged on 1 January 2026, counts once. University colleges, TAFEs and overseas branch campuses aren't included. Student numbers are all enrolments in 2024, from the Department of Education's Higher Education Statistics (Section 2, Table 2.9).
2. **How the score works.** Every university starts at zero and earns points out of 100.
   - **Campus policy and support, up to 40:** twelve checks, including a queer space, a paid LGBTIQA+ staff role, a student gender affirmation policy, chosen names, gender options and pronouns in university systems, an ally network, published all-gender toilet locations, a current action plan, a scholarship, inclusive accommodation and an elected queer officer in the student union.
   - **State and local environment, up to 25:** state and territory law (15), the 2017 marriage survey result in the federal division around the main campus (6), and the local council's LGBTIQA+ plan and advisory group (4).
   - **Community nearby, up to 20:** an annual Pride event in the town (8), the distance to the nearest LGBTIQA+ health or community organisation (7) and LGBTQ+ venues mapped on OpenStreetMap within 10 km (5).
   - **Independent benchmark, bonus up to 10:** the 2026 Australian Workplace Equality Index (Platinum 10, Gold 7.5, Silver 5, Bronze 2.5).
   - **Documented records, up to 25 points off,** only for a university's own published words, never for missing data. No university triggered a deduction.
3. **Every point has a receipt.** Each campus check that scores is backed by a quote from the university's own website or its student union's, captured on 5 and 6 October 2026, and every one is linked on the page. Where a site blocked our capture tools we used its Internet Archive copy from 2025 or 2026. If we couldn't find something on public pages, it scores as not offered, the same for every university.
4. **Partly checked.** At three universities, 6 items in all couldn't be confirmed either way, because the answer sits behind a student login or a form that isn't public. They score zero until confirmed and are marked on the page. They are Australian Catholic University (3 items), QUT (2) and the University of Canberra (1).
5. **Gender options.** Since 1 January 2026 every Australian university has had to record student gender using the ABS options (woman or female, man or male, non-binary, different term, prefer not to answer), under the Department of Education's 2026 TCSI data requirements (element 315). All 41 universities get the 2 points for gender options.
6. **State law.** Eleven checks of the legislation in force on 5 October 2026: protections for sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics; religious exemptions for students and staff at schools and universities; vilification; birth certificate changes; conversion practices; restrictions on gender-affirming care; relationship registers; and a whole-of-government strategy or commissioner. Every cell is sourced on the page. Federal law sits underneath: section 38 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth). See also Australian Law Reform Commission, Report 142 (2024).
7. **Other sources.** Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey 2017 (1800.0), with Australian Electoral Commission boundaries in force in August 2017. Pride in Diversity (ACON), Australian Workplace Equality Index results 2024, 2025 and 2026. Local council and ACT Government websites. Pride festival organisers. Member organisations of LGBTIQ+ Health Australia and state LGBTIQA+ youth services. OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
8. **The survey figures.** La Trobe University's Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, *Writing Themselves In 4* (2021). Of participants at university, 29.2% had felt unsafe or uncomfortable there in the past year because of their sexuality or gender identity, and 17.2% had missed university because of it.
9. **Limits.** The index measures what universities publish, not what every student experiences. A university can do good work it doesn't write down, and a policy on a website isn't the same as a welcoming campus. Location measures use each university's main campus. The full method is at [erobella.com/research/out-on-campus-australia/#methodology](https://erobella.com/research/out-on-campus-australia/#methodology).
10. **Corrections.** Universities can send corrections, with a link to the page that shows it, to dara@erobella.com. Any change after publication will be listed on the page.
11. **Data and reuse.** The full dataset, with every university, every indicator and every source link, is free to download as CSV and JSON at [erobella.com/research/out-on-campus-australia/#downloads](https://erobella.com/research/out-on-campus-australia/#downloads). All findings, tables and charts are free to publish in print or online with a credit to **Erobella** and, online, a link to [erobella.com/research/out-on-campus-australia](https://erobella.com/research/out-on-campus-australia/). Each university has its own link on the page. ABS and AEC data are used under CC BY 4.0.
12. **The US edition.** Out on Campus, Erobella's index of LGBTQ+ inclusion at more than 1,700 US colleges, is at [erobella.com/research/out-on-campus](https://erobella.com/research/out-on-campus/).
13. **Support.** If you're publishing this story, please consider including support details. QLife offers free LGBTIQA+ peer support on 1800 184 527 or webchat, 3pm to 9pm every day. Lifeline is on 13 11 14, any time. 13YARN, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, is on 13 92 76, any time.
14. **About Erobella.** Erobella is the UK's fastest growing adult website and a progressive brand. Its Data & Research team publishes original studies on sex, sexuality and sexual health, including its annual survey of sex-worker wellbeing, the Liberal Cities Index, Out on Campus (an index of LGBTQ+ inclusion at more than 1,700 US colleges) and the Sex Work Statistics series. All are free to read at [erobella.com/research](https://erobella.com/research/).

*Corrected on 8 October 2026: Edith Cowan University now gets the points for a paid LGBTIQA+ staff role, and every university gets the points for gender options, which have been required nationally since January. The staffing figure is now six of 41, not five, and some rankings have moved. The changes are listed on the page.*

**Press contact:** Dara Weston, PR Manager, Erobella: [dara@erobella.com](mailto:dara@erobella.com)

---
*ENDS*