Brenda Appleton OAM has been heavily involved volunteering with a wide range of community groups, including the LGBTI communities in Melbourne for more than 20 years.  She was the Chair or co-chair of TGV for 17 years, co-chair of the Victorian LGBTI Taskforce, a member of the Victorian Mental Health Taskforce and the Senior Victorians Advisory Group. 

Brenda has worked with Corrections Victoria over 8 years to improve the treatment and experience of TGD people in the Victoria prison system and coauthored ‘Criminalising Gender Diversity: Trans and Gender Diverse People’s experiences with the Victorian Criminal Legal System’. 

She was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2017, received a Victorian Senior of the Year award in 2018, was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2019 and the 2022 Voltaire Human Rights Award.