Category: Opinion
In her brand new express column, Jessie Lewthwaite navigates being a visibly queer butch lesbian; a life filled with privilege and misjudgements. I’m at a bar and I’m trying to drunkenly decide if it is safe for me to go to the bathroom. It’s a straight bar, so that’s already not a great start… and […]
Why should there only be a Transgender Awareness Week? With George Fowler’s guide, you can make 2023 your Transgender Awareness Year. Another Transgender Awareness Week has been and gone. November 13th marked the start of five days dedicated to raising awareness and celebrating queer visibility, and with it comes the glorious litany of pastel pink […]
Gay Samoan Popstar, Ezra Phoenix on race, religion and the realities of living as a gay Samoan man. Pacific Island communities are more likely to accept and celebrate Fa’afafine, or transgender men, than they are to accept and celebrate everyone else on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. ‘Image’ is everything. If you are a gay man, then […]
The gays and theys come out in force to support touring international pop acts, so why doesn’t Jason Parker see our communities at Kiwi music gigs? It’s 6 pm on a Wednesday in Auckland City. I run home from my 9 to 5 to throw on some sequins and knock back a glass of red. […]
Massey University’s Professor of Social Work, Mark Henrickson, rebuttals Richard O’Brien’s recent Express Magazine op-ed on homophobia’s religious roots. It looks like we’ve entered religion-bashing season again. I have often said that it is easier to be religious and gay than it is to be gay and religious. That is, in general, contemporary religious organisations […]
Michael Stevens questions, who are our allies, and how much space should we give them in our organisations and our world? It used to be fairly clear-cut, who belonged in our ‘community’ and who didn’t when it was pretty much just the Gay and Lesbian community. We always had friends and allies who didn’t identify […]
Concerned by the recent well-publicised displays of homophobia and transphobia in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty resident and Rocky Horror Picture Show writer Richard O’Brien takes aim at the frequently-used excuse for discrimination: faith. A belief in a supernatural being is something that most of us will tolerate as a little whacky but indulgently allowable. A […]
Wait – did you just misgender that person out loud? Don’t despair! George Fowler presents a step-by-step guide to saving the situation and making amends. I bet you’re a good ally. You think trans people are people, you know what pronouns are, and you do your best to address people by the names and words […]