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So I'm with Chris Baker. I first met, Met Chris, Um, when I came to Palmerston North in 1988 and was desperate to come out. And the only way that I felt that I could do it was keep going into the woman's pork shop where I would see you, Chris. And you always gave me a lovely smile. Thank you. Um, and from there, eventually, Yeah, I ended up myself going into a flat with, um, lesbians joining the soccer team, joining the softball team and turning up [00:00:30] at pretty frequently. Um, what was your role in in at that time, Chris? Um, well, as far as is concerned, I've been, um, different had different positions in it. You know, um, I've been a past president, vice president, welfare officers, and part of when the lesbian line got up and running, there was a group of us that got us got that going. And the lesbian support group. And we had a little [00:01:00] office in square where we used to answer the phones on the Sunday night. I got someone else, and they were more nervous than me. Yeah, so I was sort of involved in that and, um through and yeah, because some of the the woman was when I first come out and, you know, I was 27 or something. We got involved in the community in the early eighties, [00:01:30] so So And then I got involved in the woman shop, so it was all interconnected, and I just got involved with the, you know, the social side and the committees and, you know, I was part of it. So it was always sort of part of my life and meeting people and and also being part of I had that sort of all interconnection with that, And the women and the women have collective, so it all sort of become interconnected. And and as you said, the shop was a good [00:02:00] place where a lot of people came and just sort of stepping in and, you know, because we had the books and, um, and all that and it was a safe place. I remember we had a chair by the desk, and it was always full. There's always people sitting there and just wanting to talk and you know, so how how important was it to be working alongside the guys on Well, well, to me personally, Um, it's never been, [00:02:30] and I suppose that's where I sort of come from. It's, um even though I sort of came out as a lesbian, I still had a lot of closeness with the guys, you know, because that's part of my life. There's always men in my life one way or the other and all this, but But we were a community, and the community was everybody. Whether you you were gay bisexual, you know, um, lesbian, [00:03:00] feminist, separatist, whatever we had all. So it was to me, it was important because, you know, a lot, you know, and the safety. You know, I suppose in some ways in those days lesbians, we had a lot going on. But I used to feel for the men because it was a lot more unsafe in some ways. But, you know, I just felt as a community that was what [00:03:30] community was about. It was all of us, not just one or the other. So, um, I know that changed from man to Gay Rights Association to M. So got the big L in there, and that was part of it is because it wasn't just about the gay rights. You know, it first started off with the men getting together, and that's the end of the, you know, in the 40 years ago, where they first met, [00:04:00] um, they used to meet at each other's homes and then they had, um was it on the corner there, One of the pubs I used to go up to and then they met Scottish Hall. They did all those things, and then the woman got more involved, and I think that probably would have been the early eighties. Um, there was a lot of, you know, women that I met, though, when I first came out. So it was important that it was inclusive, that it wasn't just about the men. I think [00:04:30] they started it as far as that's concerned, but it became more inclusive. And even like today, it's more with transgender and intersex, and it's just but we can't keep changing names all the time. How many T shirts can you have? A. How many colours? So I think, um, it just become very important because a lot of on the committees when I was involved there was, you know, there was men and women. [00:05:00] And I think we went to a stage that the president was a man in The vice president was a woman I was trying to think when I was president. Who was the vice president. Can't remember. But so it was sort of that and we had, you know, the lesbian support groups, and we had all those connections. And then when we moved up to the square where we had the club, too, that was it was a more social. We all met up there. We had the groups that met up there. We had the libraries, we had the resources, [00:05:30] and it was a great place in those days. But then it became more focused on the club, which to me, was a bit sad. But, um, but we still had a good place up there, you know? We got them play pool and, yeah, we had the nice lounge area. And so we had the libraries and and I think I was lucky for the woman shop that I had the resources that when women come out, I usually had the books [00:06:00] lost a few over the years, giving them out, but yeah, so this moving into To what? What do you think that means for? Well, I've gotta be honest. And I spoke to I've sort of gone through different feelings about it because having been part of at the beginning, when we didn't have a base and then we went through and we had the base, you know, we had the square edge, and then we had and, [00:06:30] um, we had our office and I wasn't sort of involved. I, you know, I've only been back in New Zealand since about 2011, and I've only just started getting back, you know, involved with Melbourne in the last year or so, I sort of felt a bit sad that we'd lost our base. I thought, How is this gonna work? And I thought, you know, and I went through like, I felt like we'd sort of gone a bit backwards, but having got involved with the committee [00:07:00] now, I think Well, maybe sometimes we need to go back to see where we come from for us to move forward. That's how I look at things. So I'm hoping that this No, I believe it will be a good move, You know that if we get more and with the committee, you know, and I probably bring a bit of the old stuff to it. Being the that we can, um, move forward and get back out of the community is what [00:07:30] we're supposed to be because there's lots of groups out there you know that need us. Still, we may feel a bit safer going out, um, to clubs and that, But there's still what's behind the You know, there's that whole connection with families and, you know, still a lot of families don't accept and, um, I want that to come out more that you know, that we're still out there and we still [00:08:00] that we're like everybody. Some of us got Children and you know, we're mothers. So there's still that role for the welfare. And, you know, we're talking about the um, hardship fund, which I'll be involved with and just supporting are gay, and an area I'm interested in is is lesbian gay with disabilities having disabilities and also our ageing community. [00:08:30] What's you know, what's gonna happen when we all end up in old people's homes, you know, you know, how is it? Do they go back in the closet. So the other areas I'm really interested in as we move forward, because it's not just about, you know, all the trend is about as we grow old. And it's also about, you know, we do have health issues and how do we support our our community? And there's a lot [00:09:00] that are at home, and I've worked in the community sector where there's a lot of people that don't go out. How do we reach them? And the lesbian and gay community? How do we reach them? Have you guys got ideas for us? Well, no, I think because I've just come back on and I you know, I said to Rachel that I'm really interested in that area so hopefully we can develop it over the next. You know, time because there's Rachel said. We are the oldest [00:09:30] club in New Zealand. It first started, really, and I think the guys started meeting about August November around that area. But we've always celebrated on Labour weekend. There's always been the shows every labour weekend. We used to always go out to the um was it the river? So I think it's it's part of us developing. We're getting older, and it it sounds like you've [00:10:00] got the space available space to have an office that you maintain. Well, that's right, you know, And I think that way we might be able to put what money? And we're going to become a charity because we haven't been able to be a charity, and I'm really looking forward to that. Um, to me, that means we become more of the community. We can get the funding, we can do more for our people. So and that's just what I'm here back here doing. Like that's all I want [00:10:30] is to work with the community. I might have one area. I'm more interested than the others. But, um, we all we're all gonna have different areas. We're going to be more passionate about.
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