Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli (PhD) is an academic-activist-author at Deakin University, sitting on the committees of the Gender and Sexuality Studies Network and the LGBTIQ Network. She is also an independent researcher and consultant; a founding member of the AGMC; sits on two Victoria Police Priorities Communities Reference Groups, the LGBTIQ Reference Group and the Multicultural Reference Group; and is a member of the DHHS LGBTIQ Working Group. Author and editor of 14 academic and non-academic books, Maria has won two Lambda (LGBTIQ) Literary Awards in the USA and been shortlisted for a third. She has also won an Australian Book Design Award and been shortlisted for a NSW Ethnic Affairs Commission Award.