On Friday 5 February, Rodney Chiang-Cruise participated in The Future of LGBTIQ Families Panel Discussion. The Panel session was one of the events run as part of the 2016 Midsumma Festival, Melbourne’s annual LGBTIQ celebration of arts and cultural events.
The discussion was hosted at the University of Melbourne, with a panel of expert speakers, including Senator the Honourable Penny Wong, and leading activists Dr Ruth McNair, Jacqui Tomlins and Rodney Chiang-Cruise. The panellists considered current and future LGBTIQ family issues from political, legal, health and community perspectives.
Rodney is a long-time activist and campaigner for LGBTIQ parenting. Rodney is a parent himself to three children, with his husband, Jeff. In 2006, Rodney co-founded the national Gay Dads Australia group, supporting gay men who are interested in or intend on becoming parents. Over the years, Rodney has presented at numerous national and international seminars on the topic of surrogacy and rainbow parenting. He has worked with organisations such as Beyond Blue, as well as the State Government on issues related to the gay parenting community.
Rodney has been practicing as a registered Trade Marks attorney since 1995. As the Manager of IP Organisers Pty Ltd, which forms part of the POF Group, Rodneyâs technical speciality is in the areas of IP Research, Expert witness, IP Investigations and Non-use Investigations. He is also a Partner of Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick.
We congratulate Rodney on this significant recognition and we look forward to seeing more on this important topic.