Controversy over police insistence on wearing their uniforms led to their withdrawal from today’s Pride Festival march. So imagine Emilie Rākete’s surprise to see officers deployed in casual clothes just three days ago at Waitangi. By now most of us have likely heard about the public debate around police involvement in the Auckland Pride festival. … Read more
In only a few decades, the depiction of LGBTQ characters on television has gone from chaste ambiguity to frank explorations of queer identities of all kinds. But how far have we come, really, asks RNZ’s Melody Thomas. In 1991, a show called LA Law aired the first same-sex pash on primetime US television. The kiss between … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Medulla Oblongata following their shock elimination from House of Drag. Medulla Oblongata is the name of the stem that connects the spinal cord to the brain. It’s also the part that controls the gag reflex. It’s also the name of the recently-eliminated contestant from House of Drag, a non-binary former refugee … Read more
Stacey Kerapa has bitter first-hand experience of how brutal police are capable of being to Māori trans people, but the progress made over the years means that the decision to ban uniformed cops is a huge mistake, she says. Julie Hill reports. Last year, I interviewed a group of trans women who were sex workers … Read more
As the debate surrounding the Auckland Pride parade continues to gather steam and rumours spread in all directions, here’s a guide to the issues, the history and the decisions that led to the fallout, by Sarah Murphy for RNZ. The LGBTQI community is not one community, but is many communities made up of people with diverse … Read more
Amid the misinformation and anger, Kylie Parry, parent of two beloved transgender children, serves up the important facts. And her kids pitch in, too. As a parent of two transgender children I try really hard not to read the opinions of people who have issues with transgender youth (and with transgender adults). I couldn’t avoid … Read more
Emilie Rākete on the issue that many of the Pride sponsors and participants have overlooked – it’s not just about a history of transphobia and homophobia, it’s also about racism. In 2015, People Against Prisons Aotearoa (then No Pride in Prisons) disrupted the Auckland Pride Parade to call attention to the brutal, racist, homophobic, and … Read more
While police in uniform have been banned from the Auckland Pride Parade, organisers of the Wellington Pride Parade have said that uniformed police officers will still be welcome. Below, a statement from members of the Wellington LGBTQi community denouncing that decision. We are a collective of queer people who live around Te-Whanganui-a-Tara. We are disappointed … Read more
A decision to ban uniformed police officers from marching in the Auckland Pride Parade has proven controversial. In a column first published on RNZ, activist Laura O’Connell Rapira explains why the thinking behind the decision matters so much. The Auckland Pride Board have banned police from marching in uniform next year because police uniforms represent oppression and … Read more
A Wellington sexual abuse support group invited a survivor and scientist, who is transgender, to speak at their AGM this week. Almost immediately came a barrage of attacks from all around the world. Wellington Sexual Abuse HELP does exactly what our name suggests. We exist to support survivors of sexual abuse, their families and whānau, … Read more
Inexplicable blockbuster sitcom Mrs. Brown’s Boys returns to TVNZ tonight. Jean Sergent writes about the show’s transphobia and how we as a culture need to do better. A show that hinges on a man in a dress making broadly sexual jokes shouldn’t be a multi-award winner with sell-out live shows, but it is. The Radio … Read more
Aotearoa must follow the lead of Britain and legally prohibit this pernicious practice, writes Toni Duder of RainbowYouth “Do you have anyone we could talk to who has gone through conversion therapy at RainbowYouth?” As the Communications Manager at RainbowYouth, part of my job is to make sure that we have people from queer, intersex … Read more
A Warkworth baker who spurned a lesbian couple’s wedding cake request has highlighted the simmering tension in some parts of society between gay rights and religious freedom. But for Aaron Hendry, the question is simple. After going all the way to the US Supreme Court, it was only a matter of time before the Cake … Read more
Could this be the gayest video game guide ever? Kermath shares his definitive guide to the games coming up over the next 12 months – and which Grindr tribe they belong to. The main game announcements for 2018/early 2019 have pretty much all been made. Outside it’s cold, work is shit, and you have nothing … Read more
David Farrier loves a good awards ceremony, especially one for which he’s nominated. But what are the New Zealand LGBTI Awards? On April 30, I was nominated for an LGBTI award. I learned this via a tweet from The New Zealand LGBTI Awards’ Twitter account, which described the awards as “Rewarding those who make a … Read more
The Bingham Cup, known as the ‘gay rugby World Cup’, took place in Amsterdam earlier this month. Aucklander Jack Cottrell was there as a referee – until a devastating injury reminded him that rugby can be as cruel as it is beautiful. On an unseasonably hot afternoon in Amsterdam, the Southern Barbarians are practicing for … Read more
This year’s E3 was quite possibly the gayest E3 ever. Of course, Sony’s naughty kiss was one of the main head-turners, but there was a lot more simmering under the surface during the 2018 expo. E3 takes place in Los Angeles, home of the first ever Pride Parade. Now in its 48th year, the parade … Read more
The bullying and suicide rates among queer youth are dramatically higher than than for non-queer youth. Joel Bateman and Henry Yuen on how NZ schools can provide targeted support for LGBTQ+ students. The years of growing up and stepping through adolescence are a turbulent time for young people wrestling with issues of identity and self-esteem. … Read more
The Australian rugby star has triggered controversy by saying on social media gay people are headed to ‘HELL … Unless they repent of their sins and turn to God’. Such misuse of Bible scripture is the biggest impediment to Pasifika Rainbow people being able to live our lives without fear, backlash and hatred, writes Tuiloma … Read more
Chaz Harris shares the impact Love, Simon had on him as a gay man and how important representation in film and literature is. It was the weekend of the Big Gay Out during Auckland Pride and I’d travelled from Wellington with my Promised Land co-author Adam Reynolds to hold a stall for our book. Unfortunately, … Read more
News that Pharmac is to fund the HIV drug Truvada for an estimated 4000 at-risk New Zealanders has been widely welcomed by the LGBTQi community. But with the plan set to cost the taxpayer millions in subsidies, there’s got to be a better way, argues Act’s Stephen Berry. As a gay man, HIV Aids has … Read more
Brendaniel Weir backgrounds his novel of a gay affair between Pākehā and Māori lovers. My first love was a Māori man. Let’s call him Wiremu. I was 16. He was several years older than me and a whole world more experienced. I can hear the knee-jerk reaction of people reaching for the paedophile/abuser label but … Read more
Sam Rutledge is a die hard McLeod’s Daughters fan. Here she posits her (entirely canon and correct) theory that all the characters in the show are, in fact, gay. If you somehow managed to miss every single episode of McLeod’s Daughters when it aired, because you didn’t have a television or you had better taste than me, … Read more
Trans academic Lexie Matheson on her community’s complex relationship with the police. It seems cop cars seem have always played a part in my life, and, since my coming out, even more so. As a young, middle class, white male professional, I seemed to be treated quite well – even though I was a criminal. … Read more
Opinion: New Zealand’s LGBTIQ community deserves more than rainbow cars and empty gestures, write Aaliyah Zionov and Emilie Rākete. Last week, the New Zealand Police unveiled the latest in a long series of publicity stunts aimed at courting the LGBTIQ community. To prepare us for their fourth year in a row marching in the Pride … Read more
A glance at the news, and the wider abuse members of the rainbow community receive, shows how important events like the Auckland Pride festival remain, says councillor Richard Hills. Recently, Aussie sportsman Anthony Mundine said publicly that he thinks gay people should get the death penalty. That isn’t OK, especially when you think of the … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Georgina Beyer, the world’s first transgender mayor and MP, about her extraordinary life. This interview contains references to sexual assault and suicide, please take care. Sex work and politics are pretty much the same trade, according to Georgina Beyer at least. During her time as an MP, she would strut through … Read more
For decades romance was full of complications for Lexie Matheson. But one Valentine’s Day she learned that to love herself required accepting who she was. It’s hard to separate the idea of Valentine’s Day from martyrdom in one form or another because martyrdom is locked into the history of the day and the people after which … Read more
We’re back for the fifth installment of Congratulations, She’s a Boy, following Wellington writer Felix Desmarais’ female-to-male transition. This month: the secret lives of guys. Bro bro bro. Mate mate mate. Buddy. Champ. Pal. Cobber. Okay, maybe not ‘cobber’ in this century (though I think the word is due for a revival). I ‘pass’ now. … Read more