This page features computer generated text of the source audio. It may contain errors or omissions, so always listen back to the original media to confirm content. You can search the text using Ctrl-F, and you can also play the audio by clicking on a desired timestamp.
Kia ora. I'm Elizabeth Kerekere. I'm the founder and chair of Te Whanau Whanau Trust. We advocate for takapapui to tell our stories, build our communities, and leave a legacy. I come from Gisborne. I'm Whanau a Kai, Ngai Tamanuhiri, Mahaki and Whanau a Kai. In our culture, we have beings called tipua, who can change gender [00:00:30] and form. And it is my belief, and through my research, and I guess the way I look at the world, is that I believe that our trans, non binary, and intersex magical beings, who can change gender and form, and they have a capacity in them, uh, that makes them significant. in our culture, but amongst us in our community. I think for those of us who are cisgendered, it's [00:01:00] really important, uh, to use whatever privilege we have to make sure that we continue to create space for and give voice to, uh, To all of our, to all of our whānau. When Europeans first came to our country, they found a people that were far more sex positive than they were comfortable with. They had come through from Tahiti, so I think they had some ideas of what to expect. However, with Māori, [00:01:30] they found us more muscular, more lewd, and They were not comfortable with what appeared to be a very relaxed attitude to same sex sexuality. And so immediately, immediately, they took steps to try and criminalise it, to, uh, suppress it. In fact, they worked really, really hard to pretend [00:02:00] that it never existed at all. It has taken many years of research from people such as Ngahuia Te Awakotuku and myself to unearth the evidence that proves, uh, both in the European record and the documentation we have from the diaries of sailors, from the records of whalers, of missionaries, so we know that this was true, we know that this was [00:02:30] real. But we also know this from our Māori narratives. We know this from our songs. Uh, we have evidence of this in our carvings. It is tempting, uh, for some people to look at incidences and evidence of, uh, male same sex sexual activity and call that, say that our ancestors were gay, or that women together were lesbian. But it's not appropriate to use those terms for our ancestors. [00:03:00] They lived a very, very different life to us. And so we use the word takatāpui. It's a traditional word which we have, uh, we've embraced. It means intimate companion of the same sex. But we've embraced that to include all of us, all Māori, with diverse genders, sexualities and sex characteristics. And that includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer, but actually many other identities. [00:03:30] Uh, that people may not even have names for just yet. But we believe. probably in that fluidity, uh, in that ability to change, that actually they're reflecting how our ancestors used to be. A big part, I believe, of decolonization is to go back and find those stories. To know that us coming from a culture where [00:04:00] whakapapa, where our genealogy and the stories of our ancestors are really, really critical to who we are now. That so it is with our ancestors who are takatāpui. And so we honour them. We acknowledge that. Many of them ended up living in a world where they couldn't be themselves, where they were no longer accepted. Uh, but that many of our whānau actually did shelter them, did [00:04:30] screen them from the prejudice that came with the colonizers. We know that once they decriminalized homosexuality in, uh, in Britain, they brought that over here, started actively criminalizing our people. And we know from the court records, though, that these activities were nothing we had a problem with. And so we know that in the Māori world, we didn't have a punishment for that activity. [00:05:00] And of course the focus at that time was about male activity. As we say in England, lesbians and the activity of women being invisible. But we know, and we honour those ancestors because we are their descendants. And right up to this place, a place of power in our country, our ancestors have led us. During those [00:05:30] periods of colonization, and of course in the handbook that says this is how you subjugate an indigenous people in their own land, there are many steps that need to be taken. And the suppression of sexuality and gender is one of them. But those things flow into other parts of our lives. And so the suppression of women, the suppression of children, all of those things, uh, connect together. To say that any, anything that was [00:06:00] different, anything that wasn't bound by, I guess the heteropatriarchal society that they brought to us, uh, it had to be dominated. It had to be changed, it had to be squashed. We have, as Takatāpui over the years, dealt with that in many, many ways. Uh, some of us have gone into hiding, some of us have lived the heterosexual life that society has wanted for us, and that might not have ever felt [00:06:30] real. Those of us who did not affirm the gender they were assigned at birth, uh, have lived in a, in a life that wasn't true to who they actually were. And over the years, people have, and I believe Māori in particular, have just fought against that and said, you know, society, you may beat me, you may put me in jail, but I am still going to be myself. And something about [00:07:00] that attitude, that warrior instinct, that survival instinct that said, I'm going to take this because no matter what, I need to be who I am. And we acknowledge all of those people who could not do that, who could not live that life or who took their own life because they could not be who they are. I believe that's been happening for generations. Um, it's certainly true now. And I think as Takatāpui in today's society, it's [00:07:30] really important then for us to see When we claim a term like that, it's not just about our sexuality or gender or our sex characteristics. It's about our commitment and our embracing of our own culture, our own spirituality. No matter the color of our skin. No matter how much we can speak our own language or how much we're connected with our family. Because the fact is.. Many of us were estranged [00:08:00] from our family and therefore from our culture because we're not accepted. And so for those of us who are accepted, it's really important for us to keep helping people to make those connections back. Sometimes it's a real connection back to family, but sometimes it's just that heart that says that you know where you belong and where you come from and where is the land that you stand on. There are [00:08:30] organisations such as my own that advocate specifically for Takatāpui. There are many LGBTIQ organisations throughout this country that look after, that acknowledge or support. Uh, but many more of our whanau are just out there living our lives, , and we might not run into them. We might see them at the gallery, we might see them when we are playing sports. Uh, but we are everywhere. [00:09:00] We are in every whanau in this country, and I believe that the more visible we are. Just living our ordinary lives, which are, of course, completely extraordinary. But, the more we can just get on with being who we are. I believe in the parades, I believe in visibility, and having the celebration of our community. [00:09:30] But actually, your day to day life, that should be something we could take for granted. And so many of us cannot. And so the rest of us must continue to fight, must continue to advocate, must continue to open doors, particularly for our young people. Te Whanawhana and Laggans, uh, two of the boards that I'm on, were instrumental in the creation of this original Rainbow Room and we were here for the opening.[00:10:00] It was quite exciting because even though it was a small group and it's inside, kind of in the middle of Parliament, it just felt so auspicious that we were creating something that probably doesn't exist in many places in the world. And of course all the staff here that created it, the people who did the research and we had lots and lots of photos and, and stories [00:10:30] about the political histories because at that stage it was very much about homosexual law reform. And it was just the powerful thing of having a space and knowing, uh, that you're represented really. openly and strongly inside this institution. And so I think it's really critical then, for Parliament to be able to [00:11:00] say, we've moved on, actually. A lot has happened, we've still got so much to do. And with the Parliamentary Rainbow Network, and the amazing work that, uh, its leaders do, that, That is something that we can be completely, completely proud of. We have just hosted ILGA World here in New Zealand and Te Whanau Whanau Trust along with Rainbow Youth and ITANS helped host that [00:11:30] incredible event. But to have our whole conference of activists from all over the world come to Parliament and hear.. Lesbian and gay MPs speak to them. That blew people's minds. That is not something that any of them would ever expect to happen in their, most of them, in their countries. But to have that opportunity to be [00:12:00] here, it is the seat of power in our country. And there's something special about knowing that there's a place carved out for you. And I guess for me. I've got my artwork as holding a specific space for Takatāpui. So I created mana, this artwork is called Mana Takatāpui, in my final year of art school at Toihoukura in Gisborne. It was one of Uh, two pieces, this one and Mana [00:12:30] Wahine, which I still have. And this particular piece spoke about, uh, well obviously the mana of, of Takatāpui. About us being able to have our own voice, uh, having our own integrity and the right to stand. And the two major designs in the artwork are the poutama, so representing whakapapa. So again, that's talking about our Takataapui ancestors and [00:13:00] remembering that we have always been here, and we will always be here. And the other design is the kaukau, and that's about leadership. That's about.. Requiring those who are in power to listen to what it is we have to say, but also acknowledge that we are the leaders in our own whānau, in our own lives, uh, but also in our own communities, and that those in power [00:13:30] need to be not just listening to us and deciding what to do, but actually directly collaborating with us, that this is a, uh, That it's more powerful. It will be, change will be more lasting when that change is created with community. And so the way that I've done the design where one pattern is woven and ribbon, and the other pattern is painted, interweaving [00:14:00] of those concepts. Uh, the, The design itself is made of ribbon and the harakeke that on the side is made from harakeke that was planted by my great grandmother at our marae. So I was here when it opened originally and it's really exciting for me that it has been refurbished because so much happens in our community and, and even though change [00:14:30] can sometimes be slow, Over a period of time, you can see the trends, the way that the world is moving, and the creation of this room, the refurbishment of it, uh, the work of the Parliamentary Rainbow Network. It's like we will find ourselves very much on the right side of history.
This page features computer generated text of the source audio. It may contain errors or omissions, so always listen back to the original media to confirm content.
Tags