The Victorian Tertiary Admission Centre (VTAC) has its list of "difficult circumstances" that may prevent students from achieving their full academic potential.
Under its Special Entry Access Schemes (SEAS), the list includes "discrimination on the basis of one's own sexualities, sexual orientations, gender identities, sex characteristics, and/or romantic identities", along with "bullying, harassment or negative treatment" due to "race, religion, sexual characteristics, gender identity or sexual orientation".
Lauren Foy from the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby said it was important to give people an opportunity to talk about when they had experienced homophobia or transphobia.
"Statistics show us that LGBTI people have amongst the highest rates of poor mental health of any demographic in Australia," she said. "Pretending that isn't a factor in a person's learning capacity or in their education is unreasonable.
"Hopefully it will be a deterrent going forward, and people actually have the freedom and the space to be able to speak up about when they are being bullied."
The VTAC website says applications must be accompanied by a personal impact statement and a supporting statement from an unrelated third party. In some cases a medical certificate will also be needed.
ReachOut Australia CEO Jono Nicholas dismissed concerns that the inclusion further encouraged a "labeling and victimhood" culture.
"This is about recognising that certain people experience different things in their life," he said. "This is a group of people who face some significantly tough times.
"The evidence shows very clearly the suicide attempt rate is four to six times that of their heterosexual peers.
"So I think this is recognising reality rather that creating victims."
Students must submit the application in October - two months before the release of Year 12 results.
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