{"id":1976,"date":"2023-12-26T12:27:28","date_gmt":"2023-12-26T12:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intertwine.org.au\/w\/?page_id=1976"},"modified":"2026-09-05T16:57:48","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T06:57:48","slug":"our-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/intertwine.org.au\/w\/about\/our-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Our history"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our history<\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div>

intertwine was founded in 2017 by three friends with living experience of intersecting marginalisation. It was incorporated in July 2019 and registered as a charity in October 2019.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"ro<\/div>

ro bersten<\/h4>
\n

\u201cI've always been committed to intersectional social justice. I wrote my Masters thesis on the intersections of disability, ethnicity and sexuality because of my experiences trying to find a place for all of me in my communities.\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Ro Bersten is a queer Jewish person with autism and ADHD. Xe has been an activist and communications strategist for more than 20 years. Xyr most recent publication was the Pride in Prevention Messaging Guide in collaboration with Rainbow Health Australia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"claudine<\/div>

claudine chionh<\/h4>

\u201cI\u2019m interested in capturing the many dimensions of our lives \u2014 the places where our cultural backgrounds, our faith and our sexuality inform who we are in unique ways. intertwine creates more spaces in the world where we don\u2019t have to compartmentalise and can be who we are in all our complexity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Claudine is a queer feminist woman of colour, living on Wurundjeri land and interested in questions at the intersections of multifaith, culture, ethnicity and sexuality. She is a lover of cats and coffee and is an information practitioner, working at the Australian Queer Archives.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"jay<\/div>

jay chamings<\/h4>

Jay is a trans, queer, disabled activist who is passionate about class and structural socioeconomic impacts on community participation.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

co-creating a purpose<\/h1>\n

The first events run by the new organisation were two open co-design sessions held in Gadigal\/Eora (Sydney) and Naarm (Melbourne). Participants were invited from across a variety of activist advocates, not-for-profits, community organisations and progressive politics, and included Irene Hoh (AGMC), Jax Jacki Brown (disability and queer activist), Sally Goldner (TGV), Dominic Wy Kanak (First Nations Councillor, Waverley Council), Mehreen Faruqi (then a NSW Senator), Kane Race and Anna Hickey-Moody (Sydney University), Jackson Fairchild (then-VAC), and Viv Smythe (feminist disability activist).<\/p>\n

We aimed for intersectionality<\/a> and diversity<\/a> in the workshops. People of colour, first nations people and disabled people were under-represented.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>