Category: Opinion

Aug 14
Lesbian In The Wild: What My Rugby Coach Taught Me About Staying ‘Safe’ in Women’s Bathrooms 

Jessie Lewthwaite reflects on her lesbian rugby coach and why today’s transgender bathroom debate echoes a longer history of LGBTQ+ suspicion and exclusion. My high school girls’ rugby team was very bad at the sport. We were from a poor school; most of our players had to drive over an hour to get to practice, and […]

Jul 15
Lesbian In The Wild: Where Are Our Lesbian Bars? 

Jessie Lewthwaite wants a drink, as she reflects on NZ’s history of lesbian watering holes and why we still need them  It’s 2010, and a 21-year-old Jessie had just graduated from university as a high school teacher. Having grown up in central Queensland and been to uni in north Queensland, my first priority was to get the fuck out of Queensland. With […]

Jun 09
Lesbian In The Wild: A Guide to Sapphic Dating 

Jessie Lewthwaite welcomes baby gays to the world of queer women’s dating and offers some tips on behaviours to leave in the straight world  I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been out in a queer space and run into a baby gay who is very new to this whole queer thing. Whether she is bisexual in […]

May 29
Judy O’Brien: Gender Bill Risks Harming All New Zealanders

If NZ First’s bill passes into law, InsideOUT Kōaro’s CEO, Judy O’Brien, believes it is not only rainbow New Zealanders who will be hurt by it, but all of us Vibrant, resilient rainbow rangatahi packed into the iconic queer youth balls hosted across Aotearoa this summer. The Wellington event, a collaboration between Wellington Pride, Massey […]

May 06
Why I Chose to Come Out at 76

For most of his life, Bill Costello lived behind what he calls a mask.  Born and raised in Whanganui, Bill knew he was gay as a teenager, but the world around him made that truth feel dangerous. When he was young, his mother noticed how close he and a male friend were becoming and threatened […]

May 05
Jessie Lewthwaite: Lesbian Excellence is Out of This World 

From Sally Ride to Billie Jean King, Jessie Lewthwaite celebrates the queer women whose brilliance, courage, and innovation changed history on Earth and beyond  Last month, the world held its breath as the astronauts of the Artemis mission safely returned to Earth. Seeing such an impressive feat of science in a world that, at the moment, seems to […]

Apr 11
Giapo Is Serving Gluten Free Comfort Food That Actually Delivers

Matt Fistonich dives into Giapo’s new savoury range, and for coeliacs, it feels like more than just a meal. It feels like access, abundance, and the kind of pleasure gluten-free diners are still too rarely invited to expect. Giapo’s 100 percent gluten free store is not simply a novelty. It feels like a real shift […]

Apr 10
A Pop Musical With a Queer Pulse: Why & Juliet Works So Well

A glitter-drenched, Shakespeare-inspired pop musical has arrived in Aotearoa, built around one irresistible question: what if Juliet never died for Romeo? That premise gives & Juliet its spark, but what begins as a smart feminist reworking of one of literature’s most overdone straight love stories soon opens into something broader, warmer and, at times, beautifully […]