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.
Hi, I'm Judy O'Brien and I'm a trustee of the board for Outer Spaces. Outer Spaces is an organisation that supports three different youth initiatives in Wellington. So our mission is to support gender and sexually diverse young people through community building, education, development and advocacy. And we do this through our three groups which are Schools Out, Transform and Naming New Zealand. So, Schools Out [00:00:30] is an organisation that supports school aged people from about 12 to 18, and that runs after school programs for queer young people to get together and get to know each other and talk about the things that matter to them and what might be affecting them at school. Transform is a group that supports gender diverse and gender questioning young people aged from about 14 to 30, and that runs in the evening. We address all sorts of topics with that group, from changing your name and [00:01:00] gender marker to sexuality, education, consent, and healthy relationships. And then Naming New Zealand is a charity that runs to support young people to change their identity documents. And so their name and their gender marker, and their passports, their birth certificates, and their name change process as well. So recently we ran a law clinic for the young people in Schools Out and Transform. to have Naming New Zealand come in and talk to them about how they can change their documents so that [00:01:30] everything's in line for them and they don't have to deal with unnecessary discrimination in the process. So our organization's vision is a universal acceptance of body, identity, and sexuality diversity. And to achieve that, we run these groups in the greater Wellington region. Those groups have been supported by a range of different organizations and people. We've had a lot to do with Other groups in Wellington [00:02:00] like Inside Out, Te Whanau Whanau, and Rainbow Youth in Auckland, we have quite a strong dialogue with them as well. So one of the major issues facing young people in schools at the moment is bullying and safety. We know that gender diverse students don't feel safe in school at a rate of about and we know that one in five gender and sexually diverse students experience bullying on a weekly basis. So, New Zealand schools are there to provide a safe space for our young [00:02:30] people and that's what organisations like Outer Spaces and Inside Out are trying to ensure. A room like the Rainbow Room tells our young people that they're welcome and that they're celebrated in the halls of power. Ten years ago, some of our young people didn't even know that they could survive to the age they're at today. And now, with a room like the Rainbow Room, saying to them that, you can become a member of parliament, uh, it helps to support their goals and aspirations, and let [00:03:00] them know that this is a society that appreciates and recognises them. So Outer Spaces would support something like the Rainbow Room, because it says to our membership, it says to our community, that LGBTQI plus people are welcome and celebrated here and that the halls of power give space to those of the rainbow community. So when I was young, uh, the only visible transgender woman in New Zealand was Georgina Beyer and she was a hero to [00:03:30] me and The only real person that I could look up to as a young trans person. And now I get to enjoy being an adult in New Zealand and know that the path was cleared for me by someone who was really powerful and inspirational. Um, there's been a huge change in perception of gender diverse people and sexually diverse people in New Zealand and having that recognized by Parliament is really important. We have huge rates of youth [00:04:00] suicide in New Zealand and a lot of those young people are sexually and gender questioning young people and if we can say to them that they're loved and that they're safe and that our legislation recognizes them and their rights then we can pave a brighter way for all of them just as Georgina paved the way for us.
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