‘Remember Stonewall’ rally: A Worker’s Perspective on Trans Rights and NZ Healthcare
The below piece was given as a speech at the Remember Stonewall rally on 1 July 2023 in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington Kia ora koutou, ko Serah tōku ingoa. I use she/her pronouns. I’m a member of the International Socialist organisation, and of Queer Endurance / Defiance. I’m queer, and I’m proud of my identity as […]
Fight for Trans Rights Advancing the Working Class
On Saturday 11th of February 2023, three members of the International Socialist Organisation Te Whanagnui-a-Tara branch attended a rally for trans rights, focused on healthcare demands. The rally organiser, addressing a crowd of about 500 people, spoke passionately about her experiences as a young trans woman in Aotearoa and about how she had been forced […]
Fight Anti-Trans Attacks by Mobilisation, not Calls for Bans
British anti-trans far-right activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, who also goes by the name Posie Parker, is due to complete an Australasian ‘Let Women Speak’ tour with rallies in Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Whanganui-a-Tara this weekend, 25th and 26th March. Both rallies are due to be met by counter protests. The last rally of the Australian leg […]
LGBT History: A Radical Movement
The below is a transcript of a talk given by the ISO as part of Dunedin Pride Month, sharing the radical history of queer liberation in Aotearoa. A couple of notes at the front: Firstly, we’ll be using the phrases queer and takatāpui as umbrellas for the rainbow community. We acknowledge that that the word […]
Submission on the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill
The piece below is the ISO’s submission in support of banning the torture known as “conversion therapy” To the Select Committee, We support the general intent of this bill, which is to protect queer people from the harms associated with conversion practices. We feel the bill is seriously lacking in the measures it proposes to […]
Queer Endurance/Defiance
Serah A is a member of the ISO in Wellington. This is a speech she gave at the recent rally in support of trans rights You’ve heard from some great speakers tonight. You’ve heard about trans awesomeness. You’ve heard about the TERFs, and where their hate leads. You’ve heard about the BMDRR bill that will […]
A Win for Trans Rights
We are winning. Yesterday’s rally in Wellington for trans rights was a victory, and holds important political lessons. And the numbers matter: on a cold, wet, dark winter’s night thousands came out to answer the call to show solidarity with a basic message: queer endurance, queer defiance, trans visibility, trans dignity. Cisgender and transgender, women, […]
Wellington Pride 2021
On Saturday morning 27 March 2021, as the Wellington clouds rolled back and the morning drizzle cleared, about 500 of Wellington’s LGBTQIA+ community gathered at Frank Kitts Park for the Pride Hīkoi. This community event was the culmination of a two-week Wellington Pride Festival, a community-led celebration of rainbow identity. According to the Festival website, […]
“All black lives matter”: In solidarity with the black transgender community
Some 200 people – including many from Wellington’s LGBTQI+ community – marched in solidarity with the Black transgender community in the US in Wellington over the weekend. The march was called after Merci Mack, a Black transgender woman, was murdered last week in the US. This brings the total number of reported transgender or gender-non-conforming […]
Our Bodies! Our Choice!
This rainy Tuesday, 250 people marched from Midland Park to Parliament to demand abortion be decriminalised. Around the country hundreds more rallied. Andrew Little’s Abortion Legislation Bill is approaching its second reading, and the pressure is on to get it passed. The bill removes abortion from the crimes act, and scraps the requirement for approval […]
