Cordelia Attenborough, 21
Queer leader and sociology student at Monash University
Queer
She/her, they/them
By the time Cordelia graduated from high school, she was well and truly out. Sporting short hair and being public with her girlfriend, she was getting comfortable with her queer identity and ready to explore “queerdom”, as she puts it. Except there wasn’t really much of anything queer in Launceston.
Instead of complaining, Cordelia took a gap year after Year 12 and helped start a not-for-profit that created safe spaces for the queer folks of Launceston, running peer support groups and organising a myriad of events. While her visibility was growing within the small queer community through her work, Cordelia also became a target for the local homophobes.
“I was speaking at an event on the night of Marriage Equality vote where I commented about how far we have come to get to this stage, and five minutes later I was egged and called all kind of obscenities by a drive-by group as I was leaving the event. I was so annoyed!,” Cordelia remembers vividly.
The incident further fueled Cordelia’s passion to be more visible. Within months of arriving as a student at Monash University, Cordelia dived right into Melbourne’s queerdom, embracing every opportunity that came her way, from an internship with Minus 18 to now being the Central Diversity & Inclusion Advisor and a residential hall advisor on campus.
“I’ve always been one of those queer queers, it’s my livelihood. I think I’m really lucky in my role on campus that I’ve had countless opportunities to talk to people and be sought out for advice or mentorship. There is one particular student who is probably one of the most homophobic person I’ve ever met, not that she hated it but she just lacked understanding. Over the course of several months I’ve had many conversations with her and she’s done a complete 180 degree change… it’s made me feel really good that someone is now going into the world and being more mindful of the fact that queer people aren’t inherently crap, and you don’t have to treat people badly just because they are different,” says Cordelia glowingly.