Gender and Women's Studies at Victoria University

Book review - Mates & Lovers: A History of Gay New Zealand by Chris Brickell

Work, Love and Play in Diverse Family Life in Australia and New Zealand

AGM May 2008 Chair’s Report

Treasurers Report 2008

The Homophones - Wellington Gay Men’s Chorus

Rural Blokes Christmas Function

Michael Shale has come to the party and made an offer to host a Christmas Rural Blokes function at the Marquis of Normanby Hotel - 63

High Street North in Carterton.

He is completely refurbishing the dining room and has offered the Rural Blokes the chance to christen it on Sunday December 21. Drinks will start from 5pm and we aim to eat from 7pm.

We have graciously agreed to this and have further agreed that Dilip will prepare an Indian feast (well it is Christmas after all!) for which there will be a $25 charge per head.

To help keep costs down Michael has very kindly agreed that we can BYO drinks.

If required there are 25 bedrooms available at a flat rate of $45 single or $65 double. To book, please phone 06 379 7960

If you are going to attend please reply to this email by December 14^th to let us know numbers.

Alternatively you could ring Grant on 06 379 6662 or Derek on 04 970 9793 by the same date.

Launch of new Wellington GLBTTFI Gardening Group

At 11am on Sunday 7 December (wet or fine), a new GLBTTFI Gardening Group is being launched with a garden tour and barbeque in a large secluded garden just north of Wellington.

The group is for Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Takataapui, Transgender, Fa'afafine and Intersex people of all ages who have an interest in gardening, and their friends and partners.

Apart from a programme of social events and providing an opportunity for GLBTTFI gardeners to meet each other, other ideas for the group are that it could provide a forum for exchanging knowledge, ideas, plants, cuttings and energy.

Some activities already identified include visits to members’ gardens, participation in other events of interest to gardeners, a stall at the Wellington Gay and Lesbian Fair and visits to public gardens and garden centres.

It is also proposed that a future challenge is considered to the gardening hegemony of our northern brothers and sisters – the Hero garden tour.

If you’d like to come, please RSVP to rawiri@gardener.com and bring gumboots and food to share. If it’s hot and you like swimming in cold creeks, bring togs too.

Please note that this group will build on the great work that Greg, Des and John did in establishing the 3Gs group, and has their support as its successor.

David Mulholland

Research opportunity - quantitative data collection

We are looking for a junior researcher to work on a project relating to sexual orientation data collection in probability surveys. I would appreciate your help finding suitable candidates.

Key tasks are to prepare an annotated bibliography of selected research literature, contribute to the analysis of statistical data and write up findings. The person will be provided with support and guidance, and will have the opportunity to participate in conferences and contribute to publications. Ideal would be an emerging researcher who is interested in pursuing work in this area, eg a postgraduate student.

There is some flexibility with time commitments (number of hours and when work done); we envisage at least 100 hours work by completion of the project in July 2009.

We are looking for someone with:

· a LGB or queer perspective, with a good understanding of issues relating to sexual orientation

· at least a basic understanding of statistics/quantitative research

· interest in methodological research on sexual orientation data collection

· writing skills

- The project is based in Wellington, but applicants in other areas will be considered, as we have some flexibility in our arrangements. At least a week will need to be spent in Wellington, probably sometime between 26 January and 22 February 2009.

Please ask any potentially appropriate person to get in touch with me by November 23rd, with their CV and a brief covering letter addressing the points above.

Gabi Rosenstreich

Senior Analyst, Social Inclusion & Participation

Ministry of Social Development - Te Manatu Whakahiato Ora

PO Box 1556, Wellington

Phone +64 -(0)4- 978 41 73

Email: Gabi.Rosenstreich002@msd.govt.nz

RED RIBBON STREET COLLECTION – FRIDAY, 28 NOV, 2008

As part of World AIDS Day, the Awhina Centre will be holding their annual street collection in Wellington on Friday, the 28th of November.

If you are able to help with collecting, could you please let me know what time you are available, in what area you would like to collect, also please notify us if you would like to be placed with another collector. (Even half an hour of your time would be appreciated).

Collecting times are 7am – 3pm. There is also a “pub run” in the early evening where teams of collectors go in to the pubs in central Wellington (5.30pm – 7pm).

In the past, Wellington has collected the most money in the country, apparently our Auckland office is looking at doing better than us this year; that is not allowed to happen so it will be “all hands on deck” for the 28th!

I look forward to hearing from you by either phone or email don.barclay@nzaf.org.nz.

Regards,

Don Barclay

Administration Assistant

New Zealand AIDS Foundation

Te Tuuaapapa Mate Aaraikore o Aotearoa

Awhina Centre

Level 1, 187 Willis Street

Wellington 6141

Ph: (04) 381 6640

Fax: (04) 381 6641

OUT TAKES 2008

Queer films have the power to remind us of who we are, to inform and transform people both in and outside of our communities, to bring people together to celebrate queer culture and to advance the movement for equal rights.

Reel Queer Inc has been organising New Zealand's annual queer film festival - Out Takes - for the past thirteen years. The all-volunteer Reel Queer team is now working on the Out Takes 2009 film festival - sourcing films, applying for funding, and organising sponsorship and programme advertising.

Audience Survey
The Reel Queer team invites our supporters to take part in an on-line, anonymous survey to help us find out what you'd like to see more, or less, of at the Out Takes film festivals. Your input will help us to create a relevant and vibrant queer film festival, and also enable us to put together demographic information about our audiences which will help us better meet the needs of our diverse community.

You can find more information about our survey here, along with a link to the survey itself.

2009 Festival Sponsorship and Advertising
If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of the 2009 Out Takes film festival, or advertising in our 2009 programmes, now is the time to contact the sponsorship team at Reel Queer Inc. at sponsorship@outtakes.org.nz.

Fundraising Events in 2008
Reel Queer was pleased to present - on Tuesday, 16 September in Wellington and Auckland - fundraising screenings of Through Rainbow Coloured Glasses, an entertaining documentary by Christchurch filmmakers Toni Keevil and Meshell Edgecombe that focuses on the local queer community’s development, celebrations and struggle for rights over the last 50 years. More details

Thanks to everyone who came along to our fundraising film events in Wellington and Auckland this year, and to our sponsors for their generous support.

Make sure you and your friends are signed up on the Out Takes mailing list so you keep up to date with future Out Takes events. If you have previously been on our email list and haven't heard from us lately, use the sign-up button to check that your details are correct in our database.

News and Updates
Check out the latest Out Takes news here plus regular updates on our generous sponsors and supporters.

Submissions for Out Takes 2009 Film Festival
Film submission details are available here.

The law and sexual orientation / Gender Indentity

GLBTI Policy has worked in conjunction with Whitireia Community Law Centre to produce an online legal resource for lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, takataapui, fa'afafine, transsexual, transgender and intersex people (and anyone else who doesn't fit into heterosexual or gender norms!).

The resource is housed on the Community Law Centre website - currently on its front page at http://www.communitylaw.org.nz/

You will see that the resource covers a broad range of legislation and drills down into some of the areas that are more specific to the target audience, such as legal parenting and guardianship issues, and legal identity documents.

The resource will be updated to incorporate changes to legislation and hopefully new areas will be developed. It would be great to receive your feedback to know what you find useful and where you would like to see further work. Please send all content feedback to the email address in the resource introduction, ie commlaw@wnc.quik.co.nz.

If you have any technical problems accessing the resource, please let me know at this email address mailto:sue.russ005@msd.govt.nzso that we can work on that as soon as possible.

Sue Russ
Senior Analyst - GLBTI Policy - Social Inclusion and Participation - Ministry of Social Development - Te Manatu Whakahiato Ora - DDI 04 978 4103 - email sue.russ005@msd.govt.nz

Downstage Theatre - Seasons Change |
Spring Showcase 08 - The Little Dog Laughed

Mitchell Green has a problem. He's the beloved Hollywood hero all the ladies want to be with and all the men want to be (and maybe be with as well). But he isn't who he says he is ... and by falling in love he could bring his whole show world crashing down. Luckily for him, his hard-case

The hottest ticket in town, The Little Dog Laughed is a highly articulate, deeply funny look between-the-sheets at image making, sexual politics, celebrity hype and the age-old question of who really deals the cards when it comes to love.

Book your grown-ups only Christmas party now for this smash-hit Broadway comedy, starring four of Wellington's hottest young actors, directed by Willem Wassenaar and designed by Daniel Williams (Angels in America).

Contains nudity, adult themes. Discretion advised.

From 7 November
Book at Downstage Theatre on 04 801 6946

Directed by Willem WassenaarDesigned by Daniel Williams

Starring Kip Chapman, Sophie Hambleton, Richard Knowles, Renée Sheridan

Performance Times

Post Show Talk Back & Members Night Monday 10 Nov

Early Bird Ticket Prices
Full Price: $39

Concession: $30 (incl. seniors 65+, Super Gold Card Holders, Community
Services Card Holders, Students, Groups 10+)

Members: $29
Student Rush: $20

Early Bird pricing available until Thu 30 October.

Gender and Women's Studies at Victoria University is teaching GEND 213 -313

Queer sexualities, histories and politics as a block course over 3 weekends this summer trimester. Final assignments are due at the end of the trimester on 20 February 2009, and the course is 100% internally assessed. Students
may take the course at either 200 or 300-level.

The courses are an introduction to the development of sexual identities and communities from lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer theoretical perspectives with particular emphasis on social, historical and political lesbian, gay,
takat?pui, transgender and queer cultures in New Zealand.

There is also a post-graduate 400-level course available which is taught over 2 trimesters.

Timetable: Sat and Sun 22/23 Nov, 6/7Dec and 13/14 Dec 2008

If you would like more information about these courses, and how to enrol,
email Alison Laurie <alison.laurie@vuw.ac.nz>

Book review - Mates & Lovers: A History of Gay New Zealand by Chris Brickell

Chris Brickell’s Mates & Lovers is a survey of gay history in New Zealand from the early years of European settlement in the 1830s, through the liberation movement of the 1980s, to contemporary times. Especially as to the period prior to the Second World War, the book explores a hitherto largely hidden history. Stories of the lives and experiences of gay men in New Zealand emerge from the shadows, and can now be celebrated as an integral part of our nation’s social history.

In today’s “now” society, it is too easy for us all to be unmindful of history. This is the month of the 22^nd anniversary of the passage of Fran Wilde’s Homosexual Law Reform Act. As we approach a general election, we should all know, and reflect on, how our members of parliament and their parties have voted over the past 35 years since such reform was first attempted in our legislature. Any analysis of that history gives a very clear indication of the identity of our political allies. More importantly, it reveals those parties and politicians that have been quite happy to use homophobia and ignorance to further their own ends, and who would therefore be likely to do so again. This is knowledge that all gay men should have at their fingertips, particularly over the next 4 months.

Brickell’s narrative includes the stories of soldiers, labourers, shop assistants, actors, writers and others. Men of all classes and many races are included in the book. His sources are many and varied – they include personal reminiscences, the records of court cases and medical journals.

Complementing these accounts is a remarkable collection of images. Mates & Lovers is wonderfully illustrated and beautifully produced, using around 300 pictures, both suggestive and explicit. These images form a rich narrative of their own – together with the text they result in a powerful and moving product indeed.

The stories in the book are often poignant. Those gleaned from court records, especially those resulting in a conviction for indecency – or worse – are especially sad. But for every such account, there is any number of other tales that echo the overall mood of the work. That mood celebrates the irrepressibility of humanity, as people seek and make intimate contact with other people, according to their nature. In the end, the prudishness – even the viciousness - of Victorian and post-Victorian morality – do not trump nature. Joy, energy, hope and love prevail.

Another review of this book – undertaken by Craig Young recently for Gaynz.com - has spoken of the “magnificence of Mates and Lovers”, and referred to the book as “the benchmark against which all future NZ LGBT histories will be compared. I could not agree more with those comments. The book is a must-read, and a must-own, for every gay man in New Zealand.

Charles Chauvel MP

Vice-Patron, Rainbow Wellington

24 July 2008

Work, Love and Play in Diverse Family Life in Australia and New Zealand

Are you same sex attracted and parenting at least one child under the age of 18?

If so, we'd love to hear your stories.

The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University, is currently running a major study into the way in which lesbian and gay parents organise their household and parenting responsibilities and the impact of parenting on same-sex relationships. This study will extend our previous research as well as the work of our colleagues around Australia and New Zealand.

This is the first survey of its kind in Australia and New Zealand. It is an opportunity for you to contribute to a greater understanding of our families.

If you'd like to be part of this study, please click on the link below or visit our website and complete the online survey. More information about the project can also be found at the website below, including contact details for the researchers.

http://www.thissurvey.com/bouverie

Dr Jennifer Power

The Bouverie Centre: Victoria's Family Institute

8 Gardiner Street, Brunswick 3056

VIC Australia

Phone:+61 3 9385 5100 | Fax:+61 3 9381 0336 | email: jennifer.power@latrobe.edu.au

May 2008

Rainbow Wellington: Chairperson’s Report 2007/08

1 This has been a year of consolidation as we orient ourselves to our new name and future identity. Following the decision of the last general meeting to change our name to Rainbow Wellington, all of the administrative and technical requirement which go with that change have been implemented, and we have taken a number of steps to ensure that the change has been registered by those with whom we deal directly and with the broader communities in which we operate. We have a new and distinctive letterhead and we have followed through on this branding on our web site, in a new banner, and in our wider advertising both in print and electronically. I trust that our new identity has been clearly established; time will tell.

2 We have similarly sought to impress and extend our new identity with parallel organisations and have maintained our contacts with both GABA and ILGA. We are currently engaged in an initiative with UniQ to set up lines of communication and liaison so that there is a line of progression and continuing contact for those who have been engaged in the gay, lesbian and related communities during tertiary studies to continue that involvement following completion of those studies.

Membership

3 This year has seen a significant fall in our financial membership. This is a worrying trend and one we have been monitoring with some concern. Obviously we depend on our financial membership as the mainstay of our activities and a decline of some forty financial members has to alarm any voluntary organisation. A number of reasons might be adduced for this: our membership has fluctuated in the past; membership as might be expected climbed during the last few years because of a number of important public issues which are no longer as pressing; some dormant members might have taken the opportunity to not renew when we changed our name; and so forth.

4 Obviously this has an effect on our financial position, and although we have some reserves and can therefore continue to offer the same level of services to our members as in the past, it is clearly undesirable to do so on that basis. We will be continuing to monitor this and to redouble our efforts to ensure that we have a growing membership if we can achieve this. In particular, I continue to be personally perturbed by the significant numbers of those who attend the functions we organise and who receive our newsletters but who do not become financial members.

Public Initiatives

5 We have continued over the year to take up a range of issues which are of direct concern to our communities. In particular these have included the effective prohibition on blood donations by gay men, the intrusive and offensive questionnaires used by some insurance companies when they become aware that the applicant for health or life insurance is gay, and the steps which should be taken to implement the recommendations of the recently issued Human Rights Commission Report on transgender issues.

6 At the time of writing this report we are still awaiting the issue of the final report on the donation of blood. Rainbow Wellington made submissions to this review and responded to the invitation to attend public discussion of the draft report (which was unfavourable to our preferred outcome). In the latter context we led the critical discussion, and if, as we anticipate, the final report recommends the retention of the status quo, we will be looking at taking this matter further by way of the Human Rights Commission.

7 On the transgender report we have written to the four principal Ministers involved in implementing the recommendations and have sought to ascertain their views on this. The replies so far have been fairly anodyne (‘officials are studying these’). We will keep up the pressure.

8 The response by the Privacy Commission to our approaches on insurance questionnaires while initially encouraging has been disappointing in the event. They do not consider that the provisions of the Privacy Act have been breached and have declined to pursue the matter. We have the alternative but less hopeful route of the Human Rights Commission and we will be looking at that, as well as publicity options both among our membership and the broader public. In the meantime I would suggest that any member contemplating taking out or renewing insurance with the company ING should take into consideration their use of the offending questionnaire. As or if we encounter other companies doing likewise we will advise the membership accordingly.

9 We have maintained liaison with politicians of the major parties who are involved in issues of direct concern to our communities, having for example, fully briefed Tim Barnett on issues of concern to us earlier this year, and having recently met with Chris Finlayson for the same purpose and to hear what the National Party policies on issues of concern to us might be. We are presently organising our triennial political forum to hear from the parties in this year’s general election.

10 It is disappointing to note that after nine years in government by parties with policy commitments to same sex parent adoption that there is no progress in sight on this issue. To set against that there has been a major initiative undertaken on youth suicide including the very real problem of suicide among those trying to come out in the often hostile secondary school environment.

Social

11 The organisation of a comprehensive social programme for our members has always been a feature of our activities and it is pleasing to report that we have continued this tradition. Bi-monthly pub nights have seen the introduction of some new venues to the old faithfuls, and it is good to see the return of a gay bar to the Wellington scene after a regrettable hiatus. These have been supplemented by our bi-annual dinners, visits to out of town locales, and the perennially popular Lambda evening at Unity Books. We are always in the market for new ideas on how we might titillate your fancy so feel free to come forward with any so we can add them to our schedule as appropriate. ‘Party On’ remains our slogan in this area.

Technical

12 During the course of the year we encountered difficulties with the volunteer operating our website which culminated in his abrupt pulling of the plug. Happily we were able to find a new website host very quickly, this time on a professional and commercial basis. This host looks after our main email address list. This has entailed taking back our membership database and streamlining it into an Excel spreadsheet. We have also been able to put in place a new mass emailing system. Thanks to Howard Pond and Adrian Sainsbury in particular for undertaking this onerous task.

General

Grants Scheme

13 Our fledgling grants scheme has continued into a second year with a major grant to the Women’s Refuge to help them to hold a national conference on the issues arising from same sex parenting in their context. We intend to keep this scheme in play, as it is clear that there is a demand fo