Criminal Injustice at Corrections
Late last year a trans woman who had been forced into a men’s prison was allegedly raped by two members of staff at Whanganui Mens prison upon her transfer to the prison. This was not investigated. Again this year she alleged she was raped by two guards in a gymnasium stairwell. In a move that […]
Once again on Pride
There is an old retort amongst homphobic know-alls that “if we should have gay pride then it must follow that there should be room and acceptability for straight pride”. This claim is absurd and the reason for its absurdity is readily apparent and illustrates so well the failure of Pride 2016. Our pride in being […]
The Cruel Irony of Pride
I sat down to talk with a couple of No Pride In Prison (NPIP) members as they tried to get a respite from their scrum with the police. One of them tells me “pride has historically been a protest and to deny protest for the rights of queer and trans people where it began in […]
Review: Love’s Labour’s Lost
Love’s Labour’s Lost, directed by Ania Upstill. The Dell, Wellington Botanic Gardens until 27 February. Tickets here. The scene is set for a pitched battle at Ania Upstill’s Summer Shakespeare production of Loves’ Labours Lost. We sit along a thrust stage, or rather lawn. At one end sits the stuffy pomp of the Court of […]
No Pride in Prisons
Monday 11 January No Pride in Prisons hosted a public forum on the prison abolitionist kaupapa. Members of the group addressed a packed art gallery space on Tory Street with a series of short talks, presentations and poetry readings followed by public discussion. The topics of discussion ranged from the role and function of prisons, […]
Celebrating Marriage Equality
On Friday (US Time) the Supreme Court struck down bans to same sex marriage as unconstitutional. This is a huge win for queer couples across the US. For years, campaigns have been waged back and forth to allow or deny what many (including the majority of Americans) consider a perfectly obvious right. Historically, these have […]
Vale Dick Morrison
We were saddened to learn of the death earlier this month of Dick Morrison, a veteran of the socialist movement in Aotearoa and a pioneering leader in the Gay Liberation movement. Morrison was part of the generation radicalized by the movement against the Vietnam War, the struggle for black liberation in South Africa and the […]
No Pride in National
Last Sunday, the Auckland Pride Festival kicked off with the LYC Big Gay Out, a pride event attracting 15,000 people, as well as some politicians. While Gay Pride events have a history stretching back to the Stonewall Riots of 1969, and have been powerful protest actions fighting against homophobia, in recent years such events have […]
Marriage Equality: Aye, do!
We won. 77 – 44. The ayes have it. It feels wonderful. I’d shed a few tears even before the final vote came through. It was not the quality of the speeches in Parliament, necessarily, although some of them were brilliant, Kevin Hague’s especially. But the sense of living through history was what felt so […]
Wellington Rallies Against Homophobic Police Brutality at Mardi Gras
Cop violence requires a response: that was the call out from activists in Sydney this week after cop attacks on young LGBTI people enjoying themselves at Mardi Gras. One young man was thrown to the ground and then stood on. A Sydney activist reports being beaten as he crossed Oxford Street. The Queer Avengers answered […]
