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So I grew up in Mexico with stories from my family on their political involvement during the Cold War at a time where, um, there was, um, foreign interventions across Latin America by the U. S. and many. Communities were fighting against the rise of the right and that those stories inform my political values. But when I immigrated to New Zealand, [00:00:30] it wasn't until I had lived here for a few years that I had. Started listening, um, to what politi politicians were saying about our migrant communities. That started making me attuned to, to domestic politics, um, and as a hospitality worker, um, working close to the minimum wage, I remember in the 2011 election, um, when I was watching the coverage, um, during one of [00:01:00] my shifts, just watching a clip of people like Winston Peters talking about Typical narratives about migrants buying all the homes and being kind of a cause of so many of society's ills and that to me really struck a chord because I thought, who are these people he's talking about? Like, I'm on a low wage, I like definitely don't have the means to buy a home and most of my peers don't either. And that made me quite angry and, [00:01:30] um, started getting me more engaged and it was until 2014 that I stopped. Through friends who I shared values, um, I managed to get involved as a volunteer in the Green Party 2014 campaign. And, um, since then I've been doing stuff on, um, Their rights of unemployed people and the rights of migrant workers as well overall with the green. Um, how has your experience been working here in Parliament? So as a parliamentarian it has been [00:02:00] Well, it's there's a massive sense of responsibility for the communities that I belong to and I think the job can be what you make of it because it can be quite broad. Um, and I always felt like as an MP, I'm the extension, the parliamentary wing of communities on the ground trying to make change. And what I mean by that is that I'm [00:02:30] still working on things like trying to lift benefits, um, individualized income support, um, support migrant workers, and always applying that as well, a queer lens to that because so many of the changes we're fighting for, so for example, individualizing benefits, which may not seem like a queer issue at first, but, um, but it is because so many of our rules around how people receive support and how people think of family as part of how they receive support are grounded on [00:03:00] Um, and so I often think of this work here as an extension of what I was doing before, just with access to asking questions directly to ministers and getting to hear about the agencies that, that, um, do the work around creating legislation. So, um, quite intense, but very fulfilling, um, comes with yet great sense of responsibility. Being in a government or a parliament with the most [00:03:30] political queer figures in the world, um, how does it feel to be amongst one of those twelve? I mean, I think, I've always been a bit cynical about the sort of branding about having the queerest parliament because for me the, with representation comes responsibility. If we're the queerest parliament in the work and we're not doing everything we can to improve the rights of queer people, then representation becomes a bit of a lip service. And saying that, I do think [00:04:00] what having greater queer representation in parliament is showing is the diversity that exists both in terms of identity, but in ways of thinking that exists within our communities, um, while acknowledging that despite being the queers parliament, we still don't have openly trans and non binary people here. Um, and I think that's worth noting. Um, and so. Yeah, like, it's great, for example, in the Greens, like, there's four of [00:04:30] us out of ten who are openly queer, and that's, um, that just means that, um, we often find ourselves on the same page on those issues, and that makes it, as a team, quite easy to work with, and to then build alliances with the Labour in Peace, who are the other party who have openly queer in peace, but at the same time, um, There will still be differences, and on issues such as the hate speech legislation, we've been quite clear that, you know, um, queer people [00:05:00] should be part of that conversation, and currently they're not, um, and we've got queer people in the party that is drafting the legislation that, um, That in some ways are complicit with excluding queer people from hate speech legislation, right? So I think that's always interesting when we consider the responsibilities that come from being part of the queer community and a parliament that celebrates that representation. At this current moment in time, do you think parliament has progressed towards equality for the LGBTQ plus community? [00:05:30] We've made some, like, important steps and whether it is through Merit Equality or Self ID laws, um, but there is so much more work to do, and part of the problem in my view is that the intersections of different communities are often not thought about when we're drafting legislation. I think the Self ID laws, um, were a great example where. We [00:06:00] had overseas born queer people who were constantly reminding government, Hey, look, like we will be excluded from the legislation. Please improve the legislation or go back to the drawing board. And at no point there were improvements being made to include overseas born queer people, which often will also include queer migrants. Um, and. So I think this is some of the challenges still to come, um, that outside of some [00:06:30] improvements that have been made for often sort of cisgendered and Pākehā queer communities, um, many of our communities continue being left behind, and I think that's where I think the next step should be as well. What more do you think we can do to support trans and non binary people in Aotearoa? Ensuring that we, A, consider, well, consider the needs of the communities in all [00:07:00] policymaking is one step. The second one is to actually engage with communities, um, When policymaking is happening. Um, and I think an example of that would be on, so to give an example of my work where I think there are intersections with the lives of trans and non binary people. One of the issues I've been working on has been, um, health requirements that migrants must pass in order to access. visas. And, uh, [00:07:30] the way that it works is that if you're deemed to have a cost to the healthcare system, you may not get a visa. That often is talked about in the framework of how it impacts disabled people. But what it is not often known is that if you're a trans migrant and, uh, you disclose that you may be seeking gender affirming, um, medical Procedures that, um, then you could be seen as a burden to, um, the public healthcare system and therefore be rejected a visa. And I think [00:08:00] this is why we shouldn't just think of our trans and non binary, um, peers just in the context of like explicitly queer rights legislation, but actually everywhere, because. Trans people are overrepresented in homelessness statistics. Um, trans people are, and there's no, you know, adequate services to address the needs of trans people who are homeless. Trans people are also overrepresented in substance abuse statistics. And yet we, again, [00:08:30] like, there's still missing initiatives that specifically target those communities. And I think this is where we need to do better as a parliament. And with greater representation of trans and non binary people in parliament. Should hopefully help in the future, but at the same time, those of us here still have a responsibility to engage with our trans and non binary peers around this. And I would add, um, on top of those two communities, that [00:09:00] a community that we should also be engaging more with is the intersex community, which.. It tends to also be, um, invisibilized in legislation. And when we continue having non consensual surgeries on intersex babies, you know, I think of the progress we're yet to make. Do you have a sort of future vision for, um, Takatapui people of our country? Yeah, with Takatapui, um, members of, of [00:09:30] our communities, I think, well.. I often look at the work that Elizabeth Kittikate is doing and has been doing for, for so many years. Um, and I, I see often my role as somebody who's To'uiwi to, to actually amplify and support the, of the work that she is doing. Um, I think again, it's about taking the lead from Takatakoi, um, community members about what is it that their need and their aspirations and, and. Part of what Elizabeth [00:10:00] has been calling for is a ministry for rainbow communities that then specifically can have a lens. It's around the needs of different communities, which then filters into how other decisions are being made. And I think that could be something that we could be exploring. Um, but I think for those of us who are in Māori, it is about taking the lead from our peers who are Takatāpui and, um, and simply supporting them in their work. Yeah. Awesome. Um, what can queer people do to support queer politicians? [00:10:30] I mean, first of all, I think hold us to account. Thank you very much. Um. Because our queer identities are not just.. Media opportunities, right? It's about, again, I go back to the responsibility we have. And so we're all richer for when our community is engaging with us to ask us to do better and to give us feedback of the work that we're doing. Um, I think if anything, you know, I, I, I feel supported by the community. And for me, [00:11:00] if anything, the question I think about is more, what is it we need to do better to support our communities, right? Um, but if I think of that sort of mutual relationship where I think we could be doing better is recognizing that in our queer community. We still have a long way to go to combat things like transphobia and racism and fatphobia and a lot of other challenges, right? Like, our queer community is [00:11:30] not monolithic and there's still challenges within our own community. And so, um, when in, when we're engaging with members of the public, I think that's something to, to take into account. And this is why I think, you know, and I think the queer community has actually. You know, progressive queer members of the community and often left wing members of the queer community have had a long history of standing in solidarity with other marginalized groups because we are everywhere because of those intersections. [00:12:00] So I think, yeah, I would put it in terms of support to us. I guess it's more about the accountability because again, we're all stronger for it. Yeah. Do you have any, uh, queer heroes that you have in mind or queer people that you look up to or inspire you? Yeah. I mean, there's just, there's so many. Um, I often, and I often struggle with to name like, I don't know, really high ranking public figures because it's [00:12:30] often the people on the ground that I think about who have often challenged us. Um, like, and, and, and so I guess to. You know, I think of our green movement and some of the queer people who are starting to challenge, um, the gender binary. Think of, you know, people like Danny Marks and Rosemary Peppermint have recently ran a local body campaign like that. That's the people I'm often inspired by, um, [00:13:00] in terms of, um, People at the forefront making change, or even activists like Eliana, who is an intersex activist and, um, went through a really challenging struggle with having her intersex identity and, uh, recognized in official documents. Like, those are the people I often look up to. Um, but it's actually the mahi on the ground and the people on the ground doing it. [00:13:30] Could you share a little bit of your personal journey with, uh, coming to terms with your own identity and also growing up in Mexico as well? Yeah, I, I mean, I grew up in an incredibly Catholic community society. I didn't grow up in a Catholic household, but it was quite confronting to come to terms with my identity when so much of the media around me and. The comments around me were literally violent [00:14:00] towards our communities. I first came out to my first, uh, girlfriend from high school. Um, and I, after coming out to my friend as a bit of a practice run before I kind of had the conversation with her and, um, and despite it being like a really difficult conversation, like I, what really helped me is that underneath it all, she was actually really supportive of. I mean, it's like that we broke up and everything, but she was really supportive [00:14:30] of my identity. And I think that was really helpful. And it was for me really helpful to have, um, uh, a dad who, who, who was deeply supportive. Um, and, and sometimes I do want to highlight the positive experiences of coming out because they, they do exist. Um, I thought the act of coming out in itself is complicated and you know, I think we, we, we should unpack that sometimes later down the track, but, [00:15:00] um, but when I came to Aotearoa as a migrant, there was this kind of weird thing where like, I had come out to basically like my dad and to my close friends from high school. And then I came into a setting where it was like, I had to come out all over again. And so like, and I think this is not come out, but I guess where you often feel unsafe revealing. That you're queer or kind of openly talking about your queerness, um, or again, feeling like it's going to get [00:15:30] identified. And so that process of constantly feeling like you're outing yourself was quite, um, was quite tasking. And like at times I felt unsafe and like in different environments, I felt like I would have to then, um, play straight to the best of my limited ability. Until it kind of became inevitable or somebody would ask a question and, and like, and why speak about it this [00:16:00] way is because there was always that feeling of not feeling safe, right? Um, so I guess that was kind of my initial reflections, but I do feel really lucky that I have a network of people who have been consistently supportive and we all know the difference that it makes for one's mental health for one's. It's just general life outcomes to have people who are supportive. And so I ground myself into a lot when thinking about other members [00:16:30] of the community who don't have those people around them. Working here in Parliament, have you ever had any sort of like treatment change from being an openly, um, you know, open about your sexuality? Have you been treated differently for better or for worse or had any sort of experience like that? I think. Because in my caucus, 40% of [00:17:00] us are queer, it's just so normal, which is great, like, you know, and I would not, I don't think you'd be able to say the same thing about other political parties necessarily. Um, and you know, we have had legislators from National who belatedly came out either after their careers or at the intel of their careers. And then I think, damn, like, it must be really unsafe to be out. Um, in those parties. [00:17:30] Um, so I personally feel like what has really helped not feel like I get a different treatment in Parliament as a result of it is that, um, There's just so many queer people in the Greens. But what I think is different in terms of the treatment is that by being openly queer, you also, your constituents and your community knows that it is safe to approach you if they have needs relating to their identity. And so [00:18:00] it is great to know that some queer migrants are able to reach out. Um, knowing that it's not going to be unsafe to come to issues with me. Um, and I think that's where often a lot of people meet challenges because it may not always be safe for constituents to reach out to their MPs where they have to openly talk about their queerness and being afraid that they may get judged or not supported as a result of their identity. Do you have a sort of approach that you think is best effective [00:18:30] when fighting inequality in any sort of area? I think at all points, it's like working with the community on the ground and realizing that, as I said earlier, that we serve as a parliamentary extension of the work being done in the community. And if we're not working with people on the ground to push for issues, then we're kind of in a little bubble here. And I mean, this place. I mean, it is real life, but it's also not [00:19:00] like the way, you know, like the way that people behave in the house, like you, the way that people yell at each other in the house, like you would probably get smacked if you talk to people the way that people talk to each other in the house. Um, and for me, like on so many of the issues I work with, I often am feeding back to groups in the ground fighting for it and they themselves are sort of feeding and suggesting things that I should be doing. And I think that's. That's super useful because a, I have a direct accountability to members of the community on the campaigns that [00:19:30] I'm running, but B, because of that feedback loop, we're able to then, you know, so for a letter makers, an example that I raised about the health requirements, people are able to then come to me and then we're able to work directly on say either. Working to get visibility in the media or to challenge the minister on someone's specific situation and, um, I know it sounds like the whole working with the community sounds naff and maybe like stereotypical, but I'm always quite [00:20:00] surprised at how it's not necessarily the norm and can often feel like the exception, not so much in the Greens, but just, I would say just Parliament more generally. Yeah.
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