Ms Collette O'Regan:

In general, we see greater inclusion in people coming into services. They feel more easily able to disclose who they are if they see diversity. Basically, workplace inclusion leads to inclusive practices, inclusive conversations and inclusive language, which makes it easier for people coming into the services to pick up on that and then to engage with that. I agree that it might be hard for a jury member to come out and say, as part of the preparation, "I have not been on a jury before and I do not know what kinds of conversation or preparation happen". It might be hard but it could happen. If it was me, for example, I might be strong and resilient enough to put it out there and say "This is part of who I am." I am sure that Mr. Joyce would know if there had been a Traveller on a jury, but I hear that it is easier for Travellers to come out as gay than it is to come out as Travellers. It is possible that Travellers have been on jury duty and simply remained in the closet as Travellers, as lesbian, gay, bi- and trans people would have done as well. This really speaks to how we create inclusive cultures in our workplaces and services. The people who come into those services pick that up and also say who they are. We can also get more familiar and make it a little bit more inclusive to ask questions of everyone around sexual orientation and gender identity issues; it should not be the case that you are just asking some people, you should be asking everybody. These are simple things we can do to normalise bringing these issues into everyday contexts.