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Kia ora. People are still rolling in. So it's lovely. And please keep introducing yourselves. We'll scroll through those. So I think it's time to open up our hui. And yes, just ngā kua tāi mai nei ki tēnei pōa ki tēnei webinar. Ah, ki te tautoko tēnei kaupapa i pāna ki a mātou ngā hunga takatāpui, ah, me ngā hunga kahukura. I'm going to pass over, I'm Elizabeth Kerekere. I'm [00:00:30] the spokesperson for Rainbow Communities for the Green Party. And, uh, we've got an amazing line up for you today, but I'm going to hand it to, uh, My Youth MP, this is Rihari to open with a mihi to you, kia koe, and a karakia. Kia ora. Nā tēnā rā tātou, me karakia mātou, kia u, kia tau, kia tuturu. Ka tākina te kawa, ko te kura nui, ko te [00:01:00] kura roa. Ka tākina te kawa, ko te rongo takitake, ko te rongo marua, ko te rongo marua, ka tākina. Tēnā rā tātou. Ka tākina tēnā rā tātou.[00:01:30] I just wanna thank everybody for coming tonight and for us just to be together talking. About our [00:02:00] experiences, um, what this day means towards us, the Airohapa, and yeah, tēnā rā tātou. Ngā mihi, thank you so much for that. This is a way to open up and create safety in this space. So it's a way, too, of acknowledging all of the cultures who are here, all of the spiritualities, the language that we bring to this space, and who we are in the [00:02:30] world. Today we celebrate Ida Hobbit, but also last week was Youth Week, and so this is a platform for our youth MPs to talk to you here today. But we have the privilege of co hosting with the Rainbow Greens, and so I'm going to pass over to Rosemary to kick our kōrero off, and then we'll be going to tame our pōkenhorn from the Human Rights Commission, and then to our youth MPs. So kia ora, Rosemary. Kia ora. Thanks Elizabeth. Kia ora koutou. I'm [00:03:00] Rosemary. Um, I use they them pronouns. I'm here repping the Rainbow Greens. I'm one of the Rainbow Greens social media co coordinators and um, yeah, I'll be here on behalf of the network tonight. Um, I'm been in the Green Party for a while now and I'm, um, a keen green bean as I like to say and I like to put my hands up for lots of different things because I just love helping my community and Um, I've said before in one of my little bios, so I'm going to say it now, um, they say home is where the heart is and my home is [00:03:30] with Aotearoa's queer community, so I feel at home here with y'all tonight, um, and, oh, another thing, what's another thing about me? I, um, I'm also running for, um, I'm a candidate for Wachimata Local Board this year, so I'm all over the place doing lots of things, but yeah, excited to be here tonight. Um, and in terms of housekeeping, um, we are on live streaming on Facebook and we're also on Zoom as well. We'll be doing a Q& A a little bit later on, and if [00:04:00] you're on Zoom, you'll see that Q& A function down the bottom, so you can. put your questions in there. If you put them in the chat, we might not see them, but if you put them in the Q& A function, that's where we will see them. So that would be great. Um, and after this little bit from me, then you'll hear from Tane and hear from the youth MPs as well. So we've got lots of really awesome guests here tonight. Um, I wanted to, Say a little bit of information about the day. Um, IDAHOBIT, as we've said, stands for [00:04:30] International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia. Um, I did my little research beforehand and that told me that the day, May 17th, was chosen to commemorate the decision to remove homosexuality from the international classification of diseases. of the World Health Organization in 1990. So that was when they chose to remove it. Um, and the day itself started in 2004. Transphobia was added to the name of the day, um, in 2009. Originally, it was just International Day Against [00:05:00] Homophobia. Biphobia was added on there in 2015. Interphobia is still not added. So that already speaks to what, how much more we still need to do to protect and represent and care for and learn about our intersex fauna. Um, yes. So we'll be hearing about, um, how we can challenge these phobias in our lives and also just about some, you know, some queer joy as well. Um, and about our youth MPs. And, um, I guess it's wonderful [00:05:30] experiences and maybe not so wonderful experiences, but that's okay. Cause we're here in a safe space together, um, without any further ado, unless I've missed anything, Elizabeth, I'm just wondering if maybe you'd like to just give a quick overview of some of the work that. Um, and I'm just wondering if you could talk a little bit about the work that Rainbow Greens have done over the last little while. Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Um, I had that in my little plug section, but I will move it on up. Um, yeah, Rainbow Greens have been really busy over the last [00:06:00] year or so. I was fortunate to join the exec last year. I think it's just been just under a year. And in that time, it was unusually busy. Um, we had, we had, um, the BDMRR bill, um, In action at the same time as the conversion practices prohibition bill. So we were doing lots of submission workshops at that time. Um, the rainbow greens network worked on submissions for both of those bills as well.[00:06:30] And, um, so we're happy to see them both pass now, which is really great. Um, our rainbow greens BDMRR submission was also named in the report as, um, one that was influential and helpful for the committee making their. final decision. So that was really significant for us. Um, we've also got a petition that we will put a link to, um, either now or later on, a petition to create a ministry for rainbow communities, which would be really awesome in parliament. And I [00:07:00] know that Tain is going to speak a little bit about that. As well. Um, other things that the Rainbow Greens do we host awesome, um, panels and webinars like this. Um, so you can hear from us. And basically what Rainbow Greens is, is a network within the Green Party of Aotearoa and made up of our beautiful rainbow people and we fight for queer rights, Takataki rights, um, in the Green Party and in government and in our lives and in [00:07:30] the world. Um, anything I've missed off the top of my head? Um, no, that sounds, that seems like everything. Um, well, anything that I've missed, um, I'm sure. I will, people will fill me in on in the comments and I will also say later on as well. So you'll have no shortage of hearing from me and from all of us and all about the Rainbow Greens. Um, yeah, without any further ado, I'm gonna pass over to our first speaker who is Tain. Kia[00:08:00] ora Rosemary, how's my sound? My headphones died about two minutes into this. I thought, what could possibly go wrong tonight? And then that happened. So that was a great way to start. Um, kia ora tātou. Thank you very much for having me tonight. Greetings to everyone. I can see on the screen, everyone joining us from their motu. Um, and also just want to briefly acknowledge those [00:08:30] who aren't with us tonight, who couldn't make it, who Um, who, who aren't here and we are thinking of them as well. Uh, ko wai au, ko Tane Polkinghorne, tōku ingoa, ko ahau te kaitohu mātua takatāpui mō te Kahuitika tāngata. Um, so, uh, my name is Tane Polkinghorne. I work for the Human Rights Commission as their Senior Human Rights Advisor on sexual orientation, [00:09:00] gender identity and expression and sex characteristics. I've been in my role about four and a half years now, and I'm very, um, very lucky to be doing this work. Um, I, Rosemary's actually talked a little bit about the thought, the things that I thought I would cover. So, um, Kia Ora, thank you for, uh, for going through that [00:09:30] already, um, as they've said. Um, The 17th of May was the day that the World Health Organization chose to remove homosexuality from their international classification of diseases in 1990. And, uh, when I was talking about this with my dad earlier in the week, he said. 1990. And I said, yeah. And he said, not 1890. And I said, no, dad, it was only 32 years ago. And I said, for [00:10:00] trans people, uh, they only removed, uh, gender identity from the international classification of diseases and 20. 18, four years ago. So we have a long way to go, whānau, to depathologize and to bring our identities out of this kind of really narrow binary way of thinking, um, that has been as a large result of, uh, colonialism and colonization, especially [00:10:30] here in Aotearoa. Um, this morning in Parliament, Elizabeth has already alluded to this, the Human Rights Commission and the Cross Parliamentary Rainbow Network, um, we came together to hold an event where we raised five different flags on the forecourt of Parliament, the bisexual flag, the rainbow flag, the progress pride flag, Uh, the intersex flag and the trans [00:11:00] flag, and, um, that was important to do on this day to, uh, to speak to the, you know, the existing, the ongoing discrimination stigma of violence that we, uh, continue to be subject to. And Um, we have the most rainbow parliament in the world, and that's a really special thing, something to be celebrated and to have that kind of [00:11:30] representation in our House of Representatives is so important. And I think about what that might have meant for me in my younger years, uh, as well. For me, Idahobbit is about celebrating the wins that we have. Had so, um, Rosemary has already named a couple of them in the last 12 months. We passed the Births, Deaths, Marriages, Relationships Registration Act [00:12:00] or the BDMRR. Finally, in December, we passed the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Act in February. And we have many, many more things to do to improve the rights and the lives of our rainbow communities around Aotearoa. For us as the Human Rights Commission, I'm wearing a human rights [00:12:30] commission. T shirt tonight on brand. Um, you know, for us as the Human Rights Commission, this day is about raising that awareness of the discrimination that we face. Uh, I, I tell people that, you know, um, in my role at the commission, I'm very fortunate to have it, but I hear a lot about a lot of, uh, terrible stuff. I see a lot of the pointy end of the. discrimination that we face. No one has ever called me up and said, [00:13:00] Tain, my human rights were so respected today. So, uh, you know, I'd like a few more of those calls, but in the meantime, we keep doing the work. Mahia tamahi. There's so much more to do. Um, A couple of years ago, about 18 months ago, the Human Rights Commission released the, the PRISM report, holding it up now. It's about, um, 50, 60 pages, and we looked at a number of [00:13:30] different human rights issues as they affect our rainbow takatāpui communities in Aotearoa. Um, there was a whole lot of recommendations in that report and fortunately a number of them have been achieved, ticked off the list, but there is so many more in there that we would like to see some progress on. I'll name just a couple. Amending the Human Rights Act, Section 21, to include trans, non binary, intersex [00:14:00] people. Um, and the prohibited grounds of discrimination. We want to see changes to our what are known as the hate speech provisions or the incitement to hate as they're technically called in the Human Rights Act. Uh, we've got adoption coming up this year, the surrogacy reforms. So those are all important issues for our communities. As well. Finally, and I'll just end on this. I wanted to make a plug [00:14:30] for the Human Rights Commission's complaints service. So if people believe that they have been discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender, gender expression, sex characteristics, they are able to make a confidential, free, uh, independent, independent, complaint to us and we are able to offer a dispute resolution service to try and resolve those complaints for people. Um, [00:15:00] thank you for having me. I have talked a lot about discrimination, but there is a lot of joy that we have in living our lives and being our authentic selves. Every day I wake up, I, I feel so grateful for. Being able to be who I am in this country. So thank you once again for having me and I will pass back to Rosemary. I'll just actually going to jump in here because Tain is, uh, extremely humble. The PRISM report was [00:15:30] produced by the human rights commission, but Tain wrote it. So, uh. Just so you know, that is an important thing to have in your library, so get a copy of that report if you don't have one. And we're going to start off with our first youth MP, and then they're going to go and order all five of them. And I might have to sneak out to speak in the house, so we're just, we're going to roll. So kia ora.[00:16:00] I just wanna go back to. She has led, um, us [00:16:30] into, oh well, especially myself, believing that I can do whatever I can do. She's, her saying, kia whakatane au ia hou, led her to have the power of the man, of the man. So she can be one. You know, bad, this big boss in Te Whakatohea. A woman that no one can, you know, [00:17:00] no one can mess with. And that is what I strive to be myself. And for me to teach, um, Ngā Uri Whaka Heke, the ones coming after me. What I prize mostly in life is teaching my nephews, my nieces, how to be a good person that I want to create an environment for them [00:17:30] that they can feel safe to be themselves and not to discriminate against others and to let people be who they want to be. Myself today is very important to me because I am, uh, I've experienced discrimination, um, both as a [00:18:00] gay man, but as a Māori as well. And, um, for me, these issues should be and need to be dealt with because it takes a moment to break something, but a lifetime to fix. You know, like when you try to heal someone from a broken heart, uh, broken [00:18:30] soul, that's a battle long going with, um, our mental health statistics, those, as for me, I'm a survivor of mental health. I've lived with depression, I've experienced others who had depression in my own household Those are the, those are [00:19:00] the stories we must exhume. Um, and I just want to go back to, you know, when you're that little kid running around the marae, the pā, just having fun with your cousins, and they didn't care what you were, who you were, they just loved you for you. And those are the times that I just, When I go back to, but I know I can never, [00:19:30] but stepping out into the world, you see, you just see the mamai that everyone has lived with, has experienced, and you feel in your soul that how could. How can our society become so, I don't know, so, you [00:20:00] know, māmae against a group, or a sys well, I like to call it that they, um, separate us in cauldrons and octoroons, but actually, it's Tangata kotahi mātou. We all are one people. And just to leave you guys off, and I want to leave on a good note, and just to say that we have role models in our community [00:20:30] as Māori. My uncle, Uncle Con, he used to live here. He used to be at the marae here. Um, he's a great leader. He's Takatapui. And when I go onto the marae and he's standing, not at the pae, but at the Whare Tuina o Karanga, so we can come onto the marae. I'm like, that is the mana I would like to hold. And seeing that Not only [00:21:00] that he crosses the realms of women and men, but he is appreciated, he is, um, he is thanked. Thanks, because he gets on, does the karanga, then goes, does the whaikōrero, then gets in the back to do our cooking for the manuhiri. You know, people like him are people to I would like to strifle. Tēnā rā tātou. That's me. [00:21:30] Awesome. Thank you so much, Rihari. Um, Anushka? Uh, kia ora everyone. My name is Anushka. Uh, I'm 17 turning 18 in eight days. Uh, thank you everyone for coming. I'm also a youth MP for Ricardo Menendez March. Um, I'm from Ōtātahi Christchurch, originally from Tāmaki Makaurau in Auckland. Um, I go by she, they pronouns and I'm bisexual. [00:22:00] International Day Against, um, Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia. To me, it's a very important way for us to celebrate how far we've come in terms of progression, like, from, like you said before, how, uh, homosexuality and transgenderism was seen as a, Disease or a mental illness in 1990, and it's good to see on a day like this, how far we've come from there to now, [00:22:30] it's a good way to acknowledge and commit to the progress we need to continue having to eliminate all sorts of violence and oppression and discrimination and exclusion of all L. G. B. C. Q. Plus people. Um, it's an important Way for us to address, uh, sorry. It's important for us to use that activism to address the issues as head on as possible [00:23:00] to be able to make as much change as we can and work further, um, to take down the structural colonial and, um, institutional systems of discrimination that. All LGBTQ plus people face in Aotearoa, and not just in Aotearoa, really anywhere around the world. Um, yeah, I'm very, however, like, I'm very proud to be a queer woman of color in Aotearoa, because we are, um, [00:23:30] one of the most progressive countries in the world, really. Um, and I'm proud to be able to express myself. In a way that I wouldn't be able to insert other certain parts of the world as well. And, yeah, there is always ways to improve, but I think, um, as we are now, I'm, I'm happy to look at out there and see a very progressive place. [00:24:00] Rather than a very backhanded, conservative, uh, colonial area. Thank you, Amuhi. Thank you, Anushka. Yeah, still working on decolonizing Aotearoa. Absolutely. Um, we're passing next to Joel. Uh, hi. Um, my name's Joel. I'm 18. I'm Eugenie Sage's youth [00:24:30] MP. Um, I'm transgender. Um, and so, uh, the stays. Pretty important to me. Um, this morning, actually, I got a call from, um, my Nan, who's, who's 80, and she's a staunch Catholic, um, and she asked me how, she couldn't think of the word transition, so she said, how's your transformation into a butterfly going, um, which was really, like, nice, [00:25:00] like, that kind of thing, I think, just hearing that, um, from my Nan, who, like, She's so old and, and her generation just, she never knew a gay person, she never knew a trans person, and yet she can, you know, she can say something like that to me. Um, it's just like, it's amazing to experience, um, having supportive people like that. Uh, and So, yeah, that, that's, [00:25:30] like, the kind of thing that I want to, you know, celebrate, um, being able to have that in my life. Uh, but, you know, there's still stuff that, um, like, legally we're still getting there in terms of, like, equality. I think socially there's, there's a lot of small things that you don't really think of if you're not, um, like, I can only speak to being trans, but, um, that you don't think of. But. Uh, like, I work with kids in, uh, after school care, and [00:26:00] when kids, uh, will ask me, like, or tell me, like, Oh, your voice is getting deeper, or, like, I have to correct them on pronouns or something, I don't feel comfortable to, like, expand on that in any way because I feel that my job is in jeopardy if I do, um, if they tell their parents that I've told them that I'm transgender and they don't like that and they complain, I feel like I'm putting myself at risk disclosing that information. So I think, [00:26:30] um, just recognizing You know, the, the, the small things, uh, is really important. Um, like, the big things too, obviously. But, uh, you know, those small things add up, I think. Not being able to feel comfortable in that way is, like, pretty impactful. Um, but Yeah, I think having a day to be able to recognize that, um, at least for like, I've just been speaking on my own experiences, but, [00:27:00] um, yeah, just having a day to, you know, celebrate, um, the, the victories and, uh, recognize what we need to do better is, uh, really great. Yeah, I think that's, that's just about me. Oh, beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing, Joel. And yeah, I can see in the comments, we're really enjoying that, um, butterfly transformation metaphor. That's one of my personal favorites as well. Thank you. Um, and next up we've got Albie. Hello. [00:27:30] Um, I'm Albie. I am the youth MP for Close Warbrick, Auckland Central electorate. And I've been given a lot of different labels in my life, you know, is like, whether those are ones I give myself or that society gives me, you know, I'm autistic, I have mental illness, I'm a foster kid, I'm queer, it's just another thing. And at the end of it, I have had to really forge out within that, [00:28:00] I'm just me, I'll be, you know, there was all this people expecting me to be these things. And I And both some of those things and also so much more than that, if that makes sense, like, you know, I go between people telling me, don't be limited by that or don't just be the queer kid. But also I have people tell me how I should be as somebody that's like, make up your mind. And I think within the intersectionality of having a lot of different [00:28:30] things, you know, I've had to see how my queerness interacts with all of that when my queerness is the least important thing to me. You know, it's like. That's just who I am, you know? I just exist as a person and that happens to just not be considered the normal. Like, there is literally nothing weird about me saying no thank you to gender. There's nothing weird about me also saying no thank you to gender in the context of who I'm interested [00:29:00] in. Like, but it's become such a thing, you know, when I first went into care. I was put in a girl's home, um, and you'd think that that's bad enough on its own, but There was a lot of shit there. I was told a lot of stuff about my trans identity at the time. I was exclusively using he, him. They had an easier time with that. There was, you know, a non binary kid in the house and not only did they refuse to use their pronouns, one of the caregivers actually screamed at me one time when I [00:29:30] corrected them because it's not grammatically correct and told me I'm not allowed to call them they, them because Yeah, that was just not allowed to be a thing apparently. You know, all throughout that time, I don't think people realize when you haven't been institutionalized that that's very gendered. That is a huge thing. You know, you go for a system that is already not going to hold you. It's not going to [00:30:00] support you. That is, you have to advocate for another layer of your needs within that. And like, I think on a lot of levels I've had to advocate for my needs. I was saying, I didn't even want to come to this conference in the first place because I was sick of being the queer kid, you know. I am sick of it. Defining me. It's like, I am sick of it being something that matters because it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all. You know, I have been pushed out of a school because I was queer and refused to [00:30:30] sit down and take stuff. I was called a faggot by a kid who knew very much I was queer and was told by the vice principal in front of my mother, if he wants to be a boy, he can expect to be called a faggot. So that was fun, but the good news is my mom let me drop out of that school and that sucked, so it was a win win. But, you know, there's also, there's also the joy within it, like, I ended [00:31:00] up going to a place that was super supportive of me as a queer person, it just didn't matter, and I've definitely found a lot of community within that. So Yeah, I guess that's my spiel. Thank you, I'll be well spieled. Um, I, as someone who's also said no thank you to gender, I loved that bit as well. Um, our last youth MP is Kate. [00:31:30] Kia ora, um, I'm Kate, I use they them pronouns, and I'm the youth MP for Galros Garaman, uh, but I myself am based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Um, wow, I'd just like to start by giving a tōtoko to my fellow youth MPs. Uh, everything everyone has said today has absolutely resonated me, uh, with me and it's just been so inspiring to hear everyone's stories and journeys with queerness. Um, particularly what [00:32:00] Rihari said, it takes a moment to break a heart and a lifetime to fix it. That resonated with me especially because to me that's all about, um, what Idahobbit should be and what Idahobbit Um, as queer people, we're told a lot that microaggressions don't matter, you know, we should just get over it when people misgender us, when people belittle us, even when people use slurs against us, as Albie has highlighted. But those microaggressions [00:32:30] don't matter. don't feel very micro to us and they're actually quite significant. So thank you to Rihari for um, touching on that. Um, for me today, I'm both reminded of the progress that we have made and the progress we are still yet to make. Uh, queer people have such a rich history in Aotearoa. And I was too young to remember a lot of progress we made with things like the marriage equality bill. But for me, the first time I really saw queerness being [00:33:00] discussed and debated in politics was with the bill to ban conversion therapy. Um, when that bill finally passed, that was an incredible time of joy. Every queer person I know in Aotearoa was celebrating. And it just felt like we'd made a huge step forward, but at the same time, my local MP voted against the bill to ban conversion therapy. And I remember feeling so upset and so frustrated and angry that I was being represented by someone in [00:33:30] parliament who doesn't even think that I should have rights. And I know many people in my electorate felt the same, and many people across the country felt the same, that we still have MPs in Parliament who don't care about queer people. I'm incredibly grateful for the leadership we have, both in Parliament and out of Parliament, to counter those conservative voices that are a minority today, but should be even more of a minority and non existent. I think the political [00:34:00] landscape we find ourselves in today with queerness, um, matches my own experiences with coming out. People always think they know you better than you. Um, I came out as bisexual when I was 12 and I came out as non binary when I was 15. Neither of those identities have changed for me, but both times when I came out, people told me, you know, it's just a phase. You're going to grow out with it. You're going to choose a gender to be, you're going to choose a gender who like, uh, And that hasn't [00:34:30] been true at all. So I don't think I'm alone in that experience, which is why I brought that up. I don't think I'm alone in being bullied or being called slurs or having to leave spaces like the school I was at because they're no longer safe for me. Our suicide stats suggest that I'm not alone, and so do our mental health stats generally. Most of my queer friends and community have struggled with their own mental health, and that's not their own fault. That just shows how much [00:35:00] we still have to do as a society to make sure queer youth feel supported. My biggest support and love is young queer people in Aotearoa. I am proud to be part of the make it 16 campaign, which I feel is so intrinsically linked to queerness because most queer people are young people and young people, a lot of young people are queer more than any other generation. So by lowering the voting age and by getting more young [00:35:30] people involved in politics. I do hope that more MPs, whether they're queer or not queer, will see a need to advocate for policies that better help queer people. I think that's pretty much all I had to say and share, but just again, tōtoko what everyone else on this call has said. It's been an honour to speak alongside other youth MPs. I think young people are not just the leaders of tomorrow, young people are the leaders of today, and that very much rings true [00:36:00] with this call. So thank you. Beautiful. Thank you so much, Kate. What a good quote to end on. And yeah, I'm honored to be in the presence of some leaders of today right now. Um, thank you so much for all your korero and for being so open as well. Um, something that I really loved was how different each one of your, um, little snippets, little speeches were. And just give us an insight into your experience, um, the good and the bad. And, um, and also. Yeah, just who you are [00:36:30] and what we can do to combat, um, homophobia, biphobia, interphobia, transphobia, queerophobia in general. Um, we're going to move on to our Q& A section now. Um, we have a first question which comes to us from Zoe. Um, what are some things that would make life easier for you and your friends? Um, I saw this question, I was thinking about Things that wouldn't make it easier. Things that we can do to combat all these phobias. Um, for me, something that I focus on [00:37:00] all the time is having those little, those little moments. Um, And fighting against challenging any kind of rhetoric that it promotes negative stereotypes, negative views of trans people, of queer people, of rainbow people. Um, something that I found that worked for me, I've, um, in like quite a professional meeting recently with people that were 15 plus years older than me. And so I felt a little bit out of place. And, um, [00:37:30] I thought I was having trouble, you know, repping for myself the way that I would rep for other trans people, other people, other queer people. And I thought to myself, how would you respond to these questions, these remarks, um, to misgendering of myself if there was another young trans person in the room? And I was like, and that was like this magical little switch where I was like, Oh, I would. that I would definitely correct them because I want that trans person to feel safe. And then it was like I was taking care of like the baby [00:38:00] trans person inside me. Um, yeah, that's one of my little things is challenging, um, any kind of challenging misgendering, um, having those conversations when you do hear your friends say stuff that you're like, that actually isn't really. The right terminology. Let's have a little talk about that. Um, what are some things that would make life easier for you and your friends? Um, Tane, did you want to add a little? Thanks Rosemary. I would love to hear the answer from some [00:38:30] of our young people. Perhaps I'll, I'll leave it to them. Awesome. All good. Um, great. Well, we can go to Kate. Yeah. I really liked what you said about challenging misgendering. Um, Rosemary, I think for me, a lot of the time I can accidentally give an impression that I don't care when I'm misgendered, but the reality is I'm actually so tired of having to correct people on my pronouns constantly and [00:39:00] giving people, uh, queer people a break from being misgendered is a huge help you can do as an ally, because it does get tiring and. We do want other people to stand up for us when we are misgendered. Thank you, Kate. Yeah. And, um, anyone else that would like to share? Um, Rehari? For me, it's finding your community. Um, as a tangata Māori, [00:39:30] I find My happiness in my people, um, when I go to the Matatini, listening to all the songs, that's where my aroha, that's where I find peace, and that's where, quite frankly, well, that's kia tau te wairua. For me it's just finding your people, but your friends, your [00:40:00] cousins, your mum, your dad, whoever it is, they will make life easier for you. I remember I have an uncle, Uncle Wowo, um, he used to be a drag queen here in Wellington, his name was Belinda, um, and mum was, I've never met him, he died before I was born, but mum would always tell me stories, and When he comes back home to settle down after the big city [00:40:30] life, you know, tells these fabulous stories with all his friends, going out clubbing, and where he felt most safe was Being together in a community, so for me, it's kia koutahi mātou, you know, kia ora. Absolutely, how special is it as queer people that we can, um, choose our family and have those really [00:41:00] special family bonds and that's one of my, well that's my favorite thing about being queer. I guess I can't really differentiate being queer and just being me, but um, the experience of Redefining societal expectations and finding beauty in what other people have, and what's othered traditionally in society. I think, I guess that's technically what queer means. But yeah, what a beautiful word that I love to have and celebrate. Um, and all of our rainbow community as well. [00:41:30] Oh, Albie, did you want to add one? Yeah. Um, my friends will shoot me if I don't point it out on this is, um, Safer rainbow spaces for young people, because a lot of the existing ones don't have enough support, you know, when you're taking a group of people that often do also have mental health issues because of the shit that we experience. Those groups can be a really dangerous place that can create. Some really bad vortexes, [00:42:00] you can end up with some unsavory people and that like just better support in our rainbow young people instead of just being like, Oh, you can handle yourself. You're fine. It's like, you know, these are people who are often very, like, I don't want to infantilize us, but you know, we are often vulnerable for different reasons. For example, like we think that we're going to be completely safe because nobody says, yeah, you know. All the same things that happen in straight communities, they can happen here. It's just you've got the extremists on one side saying, Oh, [00:42:30] well, the gay people are predators and stuff. So you're going to ignore them because You know, they're crazy, but you have the other side where you're sitting there thinking, like, you don't think about what's safe, you don't think about all of those things, so it's like, within the communities, just a lot more support, and, you know, with it being so taboo, it's still taboo, queerness is still taboo, talking about queer issues is still taboo, talking about, you know, being groomed as a queer person, people will turn around and say, well, that's because you're queer, [00:43:00] that's because you're hanging out with gay people, it's like, Uh, no, it's because I was around predators, and yeah, I just think they It's not me being against my own community to say that my own community is not always safe and that we need more support for our young people and protection of our young people and to wrap around and protect those young people. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Albie. And that's, it relates to the point that Kate and I were speaking [00:43:30] on how it's important to challenge those misconceptions, those negative stereotypes and everything. It's not just important to challenge those. In terms of, um, things that relate to Idahobbit, just to shorten it, um, but also, of course, all of the intersectionality within the rainbow community, because it's not just one thing being rainbow, you know, we have to challenge ableism in our community, we have to challenge racism, we have to decolonize our spaces in those ways, and, um, listen to people's lived experiences and honor that. I really appreciate you sharing. [00:44:00] Thank you so much. And, um, Joel and Anushka, did you have anything to add from that question? Otherwise, they're pouring in now. So we've got more. No, you're good. Well, you've got lots more to go to. Um, I might even go to YouTube for the next one if that's all right. Um, the next one is actually a little bit related to this one as a little tangent. Um, it's how can allies best support young queer people? So we've talked about, um, We've talked about what, how we can make it, how, what could make it easier for us and our friends. Um, what are the kind of [00:44:30] things that would be helpful for allies to do for us? Um, I'll just give us just maybe one sentence answer from each of you, if that's all good. Um, I'll go to Anushka first. Um, I think how allies can help, uh, queer people best is just by opening up spaces for us. Enough for us to have our voices heard a lot more out there and more open because it seems like Uh, we don't have [00:45:00] much, um, of a area or a, um, what's the word, much of a space to be able to voice our concerns and thoughts. Yeah. Thank you. Joel? Um, yeah, I would say, um, just coming from my own experience, um, that, uh, kind of asking what people, what would make people comfortable, not, um, kind of [00:45:30] making, um, Um, any assumptions, if you know someone who's queer, especially someone who's trans, there are a lot of things where you might not, um, think it would be very impactful, um, to say something or to do something, but it really is to that person. So just asking before you do something, um, that, uh, might make that person, um, feel crap. So, yeah. That's such a good point, Joel. And it's one I feel like I often forget as well, which is that [00:46:00] Even that sometimes it's, we say that it's important to correct people's misgendering, to stand up for our identities, but sometimes people aren't out everywhere. And so if you want to be a good ally to your queer friend, to your trans friend, to your Takatapui friend, have that conversation with them about what that looks like for them personally, because we're speaking quite generally as a rainbow community here, but of course everybody's different and they're going to have those different needs and wants. Um, cute. How can allies support [00:46:30] us? I'm not sure I have that much to add. Uh, to be honest, I think Anushka and Joel, uh, covered everything pretty well. I do like what you said, Rosemary, about our experiences being very nuanced. So I don't think we're able to speak on what allies can do for every queer person. And your best bet is to speak to the queer people you interact with and the queer people in your life about what they need. Awesome. Um, I'll be ready honey. Did you want to [00:47:00] add to this one as well? Gosh, I had something and it's gone out my brain for a second. I think that there's a level of making things a big deal when it's like one of the biggest things they can do is make sure we're comfortable, but also not make it a big thing. It's like, I'm here. That's something you don't eggshells around it. But there's also it's gone right out my brain. [00:47:30] Nope. It's gone. Don't worry, it happens to me all the time. Um, Uriha, I'm sorry to shake your head. Don't worry, we've got lots more to go to. Lots more questions to answer that I'll get to. Um, on this question, I just wanted to, Tain, if you wanted to add, yeah. Kia ora, Rosemary. I just wanted to add one small thing, which is, you know, we can think about allyship as people who are not Part of rainbow communities supporting us who are, but we can also think about allyship as, you know, for myself as a trans man [00:48:00] supporting, aspiring to be an ally to intersex people as well. So, um, different identities within our community, we can also be, and we should be in my view, allies to each other because this is a shared kaupapa. This is a shared fight. Oh, what an excellent point. Yes, we must do so much more to respect and support our intersex fauna. Thank you so much, Tane. Um, this next one is Youth MPs Focus. So it's going to be coming to [00:48:30] y'all. Um, it comes to us from Martin. As youth MPs, how do you pick your battles? There's so much to do. How do you find the things you focus on specifically? Um, I know this is going to be hard, but just in the interest of time, we'll keep it to a couple sentences if you can. So, um, just what that makes you think of, how do you pick your battles? What things do you focus on specifically as a youth MP? Um, just to go back to the top from the last one, um, I'll pass it to Anushka. Um, [00:49:00] how I pick my battles. Uh, that is quite a difficult question to ask, um, I mean, to answer, to be honest. Um, mostly I just try and pick the battles that affect me or my community, like the, uh, people of color community specifically, especially queer women of color. I think since queer women of color are something that I really am impacted by, I try and [00:49:30] Pick battles that are surrounding those issues. Yeah. Excellent. We'll go to Joel. Um, yeah, I usually, um, will go to things that, um, I feel like I can really make a difference in. Um, there are lots of big issues that I would be interested in fighting for, but I don't feel like I have, uh, you know, the power to do that. So I pick things I feel like I can make a change in.[00:50:00] That's a good one. That's something that I gravitate to as well. Um, Kate. Um, that's a really good question because it's something I struggle with. I often feel pulled in many different directions and struggle to balance everything. Um, as I'm sure most people on this call also feel. Um, what I found really attractive about Make It 16 is that by supporting young people, we can support solutions on a range of issues that I care about. So I think I [00:50:30] found a love for supporting youth voices because by supporting youth voices, Um, I can campaign for queer issues. I can campaign for the environment. I can campaign for women's issues like pro choice, which is relevant at the moment. So I think it's just finding the right cause for you and the cause that you are extremely passionate about and is your motivation for getting up every day. That sounds very dramatic, but I think. what you're most passionate about is what you need to focus on.[00:51:00] Yeah. Great advice. Um, we'll go Albie and then pass to be hurry after. Um, so for me, the way that I pick my battles is for one thing, what's already in front of me, I've already got so much on my plate, but also just the things that I feel like I personally have the most ability to give insight and effects to, which right now is foster youth advocacy through, um, I'm on a youth council for that. And, [00:51:30] Stuck within my city, Auckland Central Electorate, it's where I live, it's the community I see every day, it's what Chloe gives me projects for, I mean, use what you have, like, don't sit here being like, I want to tackle this big issue that I have no connections to, when I, I care about these issues that are right in front of me and I've got heaps of connections to them and ways that I can jump in and be involved and make a difference and feel like I have a choose sign.[00:52:00] For myself, how I pick my, my battles is from the lived experience. Um, I choose battles that I personally have witnessed and experienced, and then I can give my all into it. You know, emotion. For me, emotion leads my [00:52:30] whole world. I can't do something that my heart is not, not in a, is not in a good space or, you know, my heart needs to be in there like 110%. And that's where you can feel the emotion in the room. For me, it's to make the biggest impact. I can talk about all these, you know, big flash things, [00:53:00] but that's not me, you know, so yeah. Kia ora, tēnā koutou. Kia ora, thanks Rihari. Um, we're gonna bring it up, um, supportive, positive, wholesome with a question here from Brinley. Um, any warm fuzzies you had recently from your friends slash family who supported you and your queer identity? Um, I'll give you guys a little bit of time to think. I've So this question was thinking about it myself. Um, I'll start out with a sad bit and we'll go to a happy [00:53:30] bit. I recently came up to my parents as agender. I never thought I would do that because I knew that they wouldn't be accepting and wouldn't be understanding. Um, but I kind of just was forced into it because, um, my parents posted this like transphobic meme on Facebook and then wouldn't take it down or listen to me or any articles that I posted because they insisted it was just a joke. Um, and this led to a whole big. rupture and drama, and I was really stressed out, but eventually I was like, whatever I got to lose, um, they're the only [00:54:00] people in my life that I'm not out to, and it sucks to be misgendered when I have to visit them and everything. Um, and throughout that process, my twin brother and, um, my sister in law were really, really supportive of me, as well as my partner and my friends, but I'm just thinking about, um, my family, and, um, they got, uh, oh, actually, it's turned around, uh, And they got me this little necklace that says Proud Enby as a present when I went to see them. And [00:54:30] that was a really special, warm, fuzzy, like, from one side of the family feeling that kind of heartbreak to the other side being so accepting. Um, and of course, they have such wonderful chosen family. That was a really positive, warm, fuzzy for me lately. Um, to give the youth MPs a little bit more time to think. Um, Tane, did you have one you wanted to share? Thanks. Um, I'm still thinking about Joel's comment earlier and his Nan. [00:55:00] And, uh, that, that reminds me of, of when I first heard my grandmother call me or introduce me as her grandson for the very first time. Uh, she was. 99 years old yesterday. So, um, yeah, she's, she's on my heart. She's in my mind tonight. And, um, just how good that made me feel, um, when she saw me for me and was Proud to introduce me as her grandson. [00:55:30] I'll never forget that moment. Oh, that's so wonderful, Tang. Thank you for sharing. Um, and youth MPs, if you want to raise your hand, I can go to you first, or I will pick on you like a teacher. Oh, I'll be, there you go. So this one's not traditional friends or old family, but I mean, I, I would consider her my friend now, but when I first met Chloe, the first time that we actually met, we were, [00:56:00] Having a chat and I sort of said like, you know, he, him, I, I, I'm kind of non binary kind of thing, but like, I, I'm not out about that because I've just had a bunch of shit and he, him, you know, a male is what I chose to be. And then she just goes to me, it's like, do you want to be non binary? And I'm like, Yes. It was like, then let's make that happen. Like, you know, and just that explicit support is like, bro, I'm with you. Like I will stand [00:56:30] for you that just knowing that that was actually what gave you the push to just be like, wait, why am I still acting like I'm binary when I know I'm not just because I believe people won't respect me as a non binary person. You know, that really pushed me to be like, fuck it, gonna own myself. So. Yeah, that was cool. Oh, lovely. Love that. Um, yeah. A good shout out to Chloe for being a great friend. [00:57:00] Chloe's awesome. And I'm not saying that as a fanboy, I'm saying that as a She supports me a lot. Totally, yeah, I've, a lot of my, the reason I'm here basically is because of Chloe, because I joined her campaign, so. Yeah, thanks Chloe. And any of the other youth MPs have some warm fuzzies to share, feel free to unmute or just raise your hand. Joel, warm fuzzies. Um, yeah, mine isn't so recent, but, [00:57:30] um, when I first came out to my parents, I wanted them to be involved in, um, choosing a name for me. Uh, and, uh, so I remember sitting down with my, my mum, and, uh, she proposed that I took the name Roderick, which I took as a middle name, uh, which is the name of my uncle who, um, passed away. about, uh, 10 years ago, um, and his, uh, she got his [00:58:00] husband on the phone, um, for me, uh, and I, I talked to him about taking his name and just, um, having a conversation that was so, um, I don't know, uh, respectful and, and open and, um, really about. Um, honoring someone by, you know, taking their name. Oh, that's wonderful. Names are so special and personal to us, and that's really lovely that you went about it as a family unit. That's awesome. [00:58:30] Um, we can move on to the next question unless anyone has any burning warm fuzzies to share. Kate, yes. Um, actually, I just thought of something recently that shows the power of really cool ally shit. And that's, um, my mom is an incredible ally. She's not part of the LGBTQ community at all. And she didn't really know anything about being non binary, um, beforehand, but I started at a new school this year. And in the school system, everyone here will know, right? It says your gender. And [00:59:00] for me, it said female. And I didn't really mind. I didn't want to make a fuss, but no, my mom decided she was going to make a fuss and she emailed every level and chain of command until she could get it changed in the system. And now my gender in the school system says indeterminate because there's no non binary option. So my mom's in the process of going out of her way. To try and get the ministry of education to change the entire school system. So my gender can say non binary [00:59:30] and not indeterminate. And that is one of my favorite stories since I've come out as non binary because a supportive family and supportive friends makes all the difference. So thank you to my mom for that. And that is my one fuzzy story. Oh my gosh, such warm fuzzies, but also like badass fuzzies. Um, go Kate's mum, thank you so much. Uh, let us know how we can get involved, that's so awesome. Um, Bihari Anushka, did you have any warm [01:00:00] fuzzies to share? No worries, if not, it's okay. Um, all good. We've got lots more questions to get through. Oh, hi Elizabeth. Sneaking in across the screens. Beautiful. Um, we have quite a few questions based around schools, um, from teachers, from students. Oh, hello. Sorry, I'm just having some technical issues at the moment. Oh, no worries. Oh, all good. Just let us know, [01:00:30] um, when you're back. Um, I'll read out this one. I'm a transgender teacher in a fairly conservative school. What advice could you offer to make it a safer place for all? There's so much homophobia directed towards staff and students, but it falls on deaf ears when raised with our school leaders. Um, this is one that was a little bit shorter. We've had some longer ones that talk about people's experiences in schools and about how being intersex, being queer, being trans, um, being gay, being bi, being rainbow, isn't really taught. still in sex [01:01:00] education and even just accepted in school and that's a big issue. Um, as someone who has been out of school for almost 10 years, I'm not as familiar with what it's like now, but, um, yeah, I wanted to know if anyone had any advice to offer on how to make schools a safer place for everyone. Feel free to just raise your hand. I actually did think of something to, yes, I'll be. That's it. Honestly, like, [01:01:30] that may be confronting, um, but sometimes you just have to be the one to start shit and just be like, Hey, I'm actually not taking this sitting down, so like, jot that down because You do have a lot of legal protections, to some degree, so it's like, if you're comfortable with it, if you feel like you physically can, start shit. It's how shit changes. Start shit. Love that. Um, I actually did think of another one, which is that, which is really relevant [01:02:00] to the schools, um, today, Inside out CURO and gender gender neutral bathrooms NZ launched a parliamentary petition to fund schools, all schools across so that they can have gender neutral bathrooms. Um, and that's really important so that our non-binary au can feel accepted and represented in schools and accept. And accept it again. Double accepted. Um, in that way. So we'll put a little link in the comments to that petition, but [01:02:30] really awesome. If you check out gender neutral bathrooms and said, and also the awesome work, um, inside out car does and sign that petition. That's one way that you can help make schools a safer place right now. Um, any other ideas about how we can make school safer? For a rainbow photo. Oh, Kate. Yes. Um, if your school has a gender and sexuality club, I know they go under different names at different schools, then supporting those is a great idea because [01:03:00] it gives queer students a safe place to chill and also to organize if you feel like your school needs that. So if you don't have a gender and sexuality club, then starting one of those. is a great idea. Even if it's just two of you or three of you at first, it will grow. Awesome. It will grow like a beautiful butterfly. Um, any of our other youth MPs have ideas? Joel? [01:03:30] Yes. Um, I would just say, um, I'll, I'll give this idea even though, um, you know, bring this up. Uh, with people who aren't very receptive to these ideas, it might just fall on deaf ears, but there is study after study after study after study that says that, um, having an accepting environment for queer people leads to better outcomes for their mental health. It leads to lower rates of suicide, or it leads to lower rates of mental health, uh, challenges [01:04:00] that they're facing. Um, and there's just so many of these studies that exist that prove the same thing over and over and over again. Um, that you can provide to people. Um, and once again, I know that, uh, oftentimes it falls on deaf ears. People don't care. But, um, you know, that does exist. That evidence does exist. Yeah. That's such a great point. Thank you so much, Joel. Um, Tane, I was wondering if you had any points to share [01:04:30] as a professional rainbow. Professional rainbow. Um, thank you. Uh, just a couple of quick comments for me first. Thanks for the question. I, I think it was from a trans teacher in a conservative school. If I got that right. Um, Just aroha nui to you. Thanks for, um, being with us tonight for asking this question. I don't think there are any easy answers. [01:05:00] If there are, you would have thought of them. Um, one thing I would say is that, you know, as, as queer rainbow takatāpui people, we tend to be pretty good at finding each other. And I hope that if not in your school, you can find, uh, and connect with other colleagues that can help you in this situation. This isn't a fix it, but there are, you know, small things that we can do to ourselves to affirm ourselves, whether that's, you know, whether, uh, wearing a [01:05:30] special necklace or a bracelet or something that reminds us of who we are, even when we're in environments that aren't accepting, uh, that may or may not work for you, but just something else to think about. And the last thing I just wanted to mention is if you haven't already, it could be worth getting in touch with the. PPTA, the Post Primary Teachers Association, um, and getting some support from those folks. They've got, um, they've got documents and [01:06:00] resources and things that can support, um, I recall some of them reference, for example, the Health and Safety at Work Act, and you can use some of those provisions in our existing legislation to Um, try and advocate for safer, uh, schools and safer environments for everyone, staff, students, um, other, uh, other members of the school alike. Um, I would like to speak to this because this is a battle that [01:06:30] I've faced myself. Um, going into year nine, into college, um, I went to this very toxic school that had, like, noticeably toxic masculinity. Um, There were many times that men, uh, boys and girls were separated, and in those times I felt that my divine femininity was stripped away from me, and I was, and there was this sense [01:07:00] of loss. There was no belonging. For myself to be there in those, um, groups where we were separated and I could not understand that. And you know what, the person who was teaching us was my damn cousin, you know, the baddest ones from your family. I tell you, God, but for me, I, I had to call [01:07:30] upon everybody who were feeling the same emotions as me. I had to. Do a big meeting. Go talk to all the girls and tell them, well, what are, what are the problems? What, what is happening in your reality in this ura? You know, talk to your kids first. They will know what you, what you need to do. Then after that, we had to make a meeting with the. [01:08:00] teachers with the principal go through all of us, all these rarurarus, till we get to a point where not necessarily that it was fully resolved, but where we could say we did something. So I'll just tell you, talk to your, talk to your students, they know the game. Tēnā rā koutou.[01:08:30] Thank you so much. Um, Anushka, did you have any, uh, ideas to share about how we can make school safer? Um, I just wanted to, you know, reiterate what Albie and uh, Kate said about like, just start shit if you want to start shit and just, you know, um, if there's no club at your school that, uh, embraces all these sexualities and, um, gender identities, [01:09:00] just start one, you know, there's like what Albie said, there are laws to protect you. If your school starts anything with you, just, you know. Fight back, like, the government, I mean, the Ministry of Education should be able to help you, and if they don't, just keep, keep going, just keep starting shit, there's so many people behind you, like, whole rainbow community would be behind you. But yeah, that's all I wanted to reiterate. Aw, thank [01:09:30] you so much, Anushka. Um, welcome back, Elizabeth! Kia ora. Um, hope reading in the house went well. And I'm wondering if you had anything you wanted to add about how to make schools safer. No worries, we can keep going. No, no, I'm enjoying listening to our young people kōrero. Oh, awesome. Wonderful. Um, we'll move. To the next question. Um, this one is from Bonnie. Kia ora. My name is Bonnie. I use she, her pronouns. I'm a bisexual woman. [01:10:00] How do you go about explaining queer struggles to parents? My dad really struggles with understanding that LGBTQIA plus people are discriminated against. And I find it difficult to discuss this with him and others who are sure. There are no issues anymore. Um, I was just wondering about some strategies for this. Thank you so much for this corridor today. Um, Hey Bonnie, I'm in such a similar position, so I could definitely use some advice on this myself. I, yeah, I've only just come out as agender to my parents and they definitely don't [01:10:30] get it. Um, yeah, feel free to raise hands if you have ideas about. How you've gone about talking to your parents or other parents or parents in general. It's a hard one, right? Yeah, um, Kate, did you have any ideas? Ooh, um, I think that is a hard one. I might need another moment to think about that. [01:11:00] No worries at all. Um, yeah, well, feel free to chime on in. Um, I can speak a little about what I've done, which is, uh, I scheduled a call with my parents and I like basically wrote a script and wrote everything that I was going to say, um, about myself and about. You know, what kind of language that I wouldn't accept and, um, about my expectations and about what makes me feel respected and loved. Um, and that's something I've come back to when my parents have been, [01:11:30] uh, willfully ignorant, I would say, about my queerness over the years is, I just focus on the fact that this is what makes me happy. This is me living my happiest, most authentic life. And, um, you know, it's like, you want me to be happy, right? As a parent. And, um, it's just getting them to kind of listen and, and open their minds a little bit, even if they're this, uh, similar kind of parents that I have were. They are used to being the ones [01:12:00] that tell the kids what to think or teach them, like, this is something that is totally unfamiliar to them. Um, and I guess I turned out quite different from how they expected. I think that's another thing as well, but focusing on how it's what makes you happy. Um, and even if, you know, you're struggling in your identity, it's who you are and everybody deserves to be loved and respected and accepted for who they are. Um. Any other [01:12:30] ideas about how we could explain queer struggles to parents? Anushka? I just, sorry, I just, um, wanted to note that maybe, like, uh, showing them more media and more, uh, Showing them more, yeah, media around the acceptance of LGBTQ plus people, uh, around them will make them more accepting of the idea and [01:13:00] more, uh, yeah, if you're more vocal, I think if you're, if you have friends who can be vocal or other family members who can be vocal about these things, then, you know, bring them along or just, uh, yeah, show them that it's like, it's okay. Now it's, it's accepting. And yeah, that's absolutely such a good point for sure. Yeah. I, it made me remember that that was one of the things that I did [01:13:30] in my email. I was like, watch, um, oh my gosh, I'm going to get disclosure on Netflix. You can learn about trans people, watch disclosure. Um, and I linked them to like parent support groups. There's parent support groups that exist. Um, Rainbow Youth runs a lot of them, um, Gender Minorities Aotearoa has some great resources as well, um, we're really lucky in Aotearoa New Zealand to have so many awesome community organisations, um, that fight for our beautiful rainbow fauna and take care of it. Um, [01:14:00] any other ideas on how we can explain queer struggles to parents? Oh, Joel, yes. Um, yeah, I, I think I was just gonna say, um, I think media is a really good way of doing that. Um, but, uh, I think, unfortunately, A lot of queer people, um, uh, either have personal experience or know people who have had, um, traumatic experiences because of their queerness, um, and I think [01:14:30] being able to, um, if you can, talk about those things to parents, parents especially, because I think, um, uh, especially if it's a personal experience, um, it really resonates, um, with people who are close to you, um, if there are things going on that are really, um, terrible, getting called slurs, threats of violence, things like that, that unfortunately are still quite common, um, for queer people. Um, just existing. Uh, I think sharing those [01:15:00] things that they happen and that they're real, um, is really impactful for people. Yeah. Thank you, Joel. Listening is so important. Um, we're close to running out of time, so it's time for us to do a little closing round. Um, yes. And What we can do is just go around and share, um, like a person or, um, a piece of media or anything that [01:15:30] you get inspiration from. So it can just be one thing so that we go through quickly. Um, what I'm going to say is my wonderful partner, I get a lot of inspiration for living my best queer life from them, um, and living our best life together. Uh, I'll pass to Tame and then you can pass to somebody else after that. Kia ora. Um, I get a lot of inspiration from and, um, yeah, I draw a lot of inspiration from, uh, some of the [01:16:00] new support spaces and organizations that have popped up in these really intersectional spaces. I'm thinking of groups like Rainbow Path for our rainbow refugees and asylum seekers, um, Indian origin pride who had their launch at parliament last week, Adhika Aotearoa, um, Tiwhanawhana Trust, Same Same But Black, um, and many other groups which, um, didn't even exist. Five years ago when I started in my role, let alone longer, and our communities have always been doing this work, [01:16:30] but to see, uh, support come together like that, um, in such an intersectional way is something that, um, gives me a lot of, uh, hope and inspiration and joy. Um, I will pass to Anushka. Uh, Kyoto, uh, I think, uh, what, uh, sorry, could you repeat? Uh, the question again, just one more time. Oh, like what, where you draw [01:17:00] inspiration or what inspires you? So it could be a person, it could be a piece of media, it could be an organization. Um, yeah, I think, sorry, thank you. Uh, I think the people who inspire me the most are just friends around me who are also either strong allies or just a part of the LGBTQ plus community. They're always. They're also the ones who are very vocal and very, um, put it like, very [01:17:30] out there about these kinds of, uh, like, internalized homophobia. Like, a lot of issues that a lot of LGBTQ plus people face, like, personally, a lot of them talk about internalized homophobia, internalized transphobia, um, just those sorts of things. I think them being able to talk about that helps me. Um, also accept myself more[01:18:00] awesome. We'll pass to Joel and, um, then you can pass to somebody else. Um, yeah, I think, um, the things, uh, something that inspires me is, um, just, um, just art in general, I think, um, just unrelated to, to queerness or anything, but, um, I'm, I'm a media and politics major. So, um, I really love you. Just, um, sitting [01:18:30] down and, and engaging with, you know, a piece of art and being able to see, uh, someone put passion and, uh, an effort into something and create something, uh, beautiful out of it. Awesome. We'll go to Kate. Oh, I think my normal answer to this question would be that I get a lot of inspiration from spaces like this, where I get to hear from other queer young people and be [01:19:00] really inspired by what they have to say. But also recently I've been reading a lot of books by queer authors and I found that to be a huge source of inspiration. Um, I recommend Girl, Woman, Other, and that also helps. My grandmother understood me more accepting of my identity as a non binary person. So I think it was Bonnie who asked the question about how to, uh, get your parents around. I recommend giving them Go Woman Other to read and I'll pass on to Albie.[01:19:30] I think that this is going to sound very cliche, but probably my friends. You know, and, and network friends, old friends, new friends, you know, making all the connections that I've got within the greens now is like really cool because I'm seeing people like Chloe, like Rosemary, like we've got a lot of other people I've met, like Zoe, there's, um, like all these people who [01:20:00] just inspire me to be my best, I don't even, it's not even just the queerness, you know, it's like, you know, All of them are inspiring me to continue with my work and know that I can make a difference and that I'm not doing this alone, you know, I'm not sitting here fighting an uphill battle by myself because I'm seeing other people and what they're fighting and we're fighting some of the same things, some of the different things. So I know that if I'm not doing something, somebody's doing it. And yeah, [01:20:30] just having a community is really inspiring to me. For myself, it's seeing the living representation of resilience in my Māori communities. Um, on the hapū level, with my uncle being the kaikaranga at the marae. At the iwi level, seeing transgender women stand on the [01:21:00] Matatini stage, the national stage for kapa haka here in New Zealand, and top groups performing, uh, our Our hearts, our, the cult, our culture to the world. Those are the people who bring me inspiration. Seeing, um, both sides of myself as a gay man and a Māori, um, those are the people who bring me inspiration. And [01:21:30] also, you know, my mum, you know, can't forget about my mum. Love her. She, you know, she's the one who always tells me, oh, you're different. You know, be different. That will get you somewhere in life. That will make you succeed. Your mātauranga in Māori, your, you know, just being gay, you know, that is, she always loved. [01:22:00] Me for being different. So she brings me inspiration. Kia ora koutou. Oh, kia ora koutou. Wow, this has been amazing. I don't know if you've all been following all the comments in the chat, but all of our youth MPs, uh, I hope that you're feeling all the love. All of the respect, all of the inspiration that you have provided to a lot of our whānau tonight. We've had heaps of people on this call, but lots more following on Facebook. [01:22:30] And, uh, you know what? Our MPs have chosen pretty amazing people to represent us in this house. I'm very, very proud of all of you. Thank you so much for being here, all of you who've come to watch. Please put your comments in the chat so that our young ones can see how much you've appreciated them. Uh, this has been recorded. It'll be available for people to watch later. Uh, and yeah, this has been an [01:23:00] amazing way to finish the day when we started at raising the flags as the sun came up. So it's Idahobot Day, a day to acknowledge. The diversity of our sexualities, our genders, and our sex characteristics, but all the other parts of ourselves, ourselves as artists, as scholars, as people who play sports, all the different ways that we express ourselves in this work, the way that our mauri, our life force, uh, is given, [01:23:30] given freedom. Being valued, being acknowledged, and just part of everything you want to be part of. So thank you so much. And I'm going to close, I like to close with a whakatauki, and it's because it's a simple one, but it is my favorite. Apart from mahi which I heard Jane saying, which is like, do the work. But it's that. We have these individual [01:24:00] days as a point to stop and remember that every single day these issues are facing us. Every day, this, this is our life. And so my whakatauki is mā pāngo, mā whero, kā otiai te mahi, with the red and the black. With your expertise, your mātauranga, your knowledge, your life, everything you bring to this work, we bring that together. And together, we will get the work done. [01:24:30] So, nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora hui hui mai tātou katoa.
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