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Wellington Pride Hīkoi 2025 - speeches [AI Text]

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Nō reira, he tīmatanga kōrero, he karakia mā tātau. Tēnai te ara kei runga, tēnai te ara e rangi, te ara o tēnei tupua, te ara o tēnei ariki, te ara o rangi rau o kapapa. Rarau te pane o tāne, rarau te tangata ki rarau, kia tīna, haumi e hui e. Nō reira, [00:00:30] mana e ngā reo. He te kahui anewa -anewa. Koutou katoa, nau mai, haramau, whakatau mai. Whakatau mai me te manaakitanga o te iwi kainga. Te Awa, Taranaki Whanui, Ngati Toa, Ngati Raukawa ki te Tonga. Nō reira nau mai, haramau, haramau. Mauria mai o tātou tini aitua. Mē tika ka mihi ki a [00:01:00] rātou, ko wehe atu i ki te pō, haere, haere, haere atu koutou. Nō reira, ko hoki anō ki a tātou nei, ki te kaupapa e whakawhaiti nei e tātou i tēnei wā, te kaupapa, uh, tino whakahirahira, nau mai, nau mai, whakatau mai. Potarawa te whakatau ki a, ki a koutou, uh, i tēnei wā, i te mea. Mā ngā [00:01:30] kōrero e whae eke nei mō koutou, mō tātou te whakarongo. Nō reira, tēnā i te mihi ati ki ngā kāi kōrero, ngā kāi whakahaere, Ngā mea katoa hei tautoko tēnāi kaupapa, hei awhi, hei whakamaru -maru tēnāi kaupapa. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. I raro i te. I te korowai o te Whareparamata, [00:02:00] tō tātou nei Whareparamata, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Just a brief, uh, welcome, and I'd just like to call out to our speakers now, and our emcee, because I'm going to hand it over to, to them. Kia ora koutou. On behalf of everyone involved in organising this hīkoi, I would like to extend a very, very strong [00:02:30] thank you to mana whenua and to Te Whanau Whanau for welcoming us into Parliament and for making this possible. Kia ora everyone. It'd be great if we didn't have to be here today fighting for our right to health care, um, but we are here. And it's beautiful to see everyone. So thank you so much for [00:03:00] everyone for showing up. Um, we have eight speakers. We have, um, we've asked everyone speaking to, to avoid swearing as this is a, like a family friendly event. And it's important that all of, all of the trans community and all of our allies feel welcome here. Um, some of the speeches will touch on some dark material. Because transitioning is a difficult process. It shouldn't have to be, but [00:03:30] it is made difficult by the oppression of the system that we live under. However, I have asked everyone who is touching on topics such as their experiences with self -harm or eating disorders, other experiences of the like, while being forced to go through transitioning in a way that's not ideal. Um, to keep any details of this to a minimum so that we avoid triggering people who have trauma around these things. Um, If you are finding the speech is difficult [00:04:00] and you need a breather, please wave over one of the marshals. The marshals are in pink um, and they will do what they can to assist you. Um, but we hope that that won't happen. Um, we hope that everyone will have a, uh, you know as good a time as we possibly can when we're dealing with a fight for our right to exist. Um, thank you. So my name is Tristan Cordelia. Um, I'm a member of Queer Endurance and Defiance, um, and I would like to speak to invite the first of our eight speakers, um, Alice from Queer Endurance [00:04:30] and Defiance, uh, to take the mic. To talk to you. So, welcome Alice. Kia ora, ko Alice toku ingoa, ko Queer Endurance and Defiance toku roopu. Um, I've been on HRT for three years, five months, and five days. I [00:05:00] should have been on HRT. For five years, nine months, and twenty -two days. It took two and a half years from the day that I was first referred by a doctor for hormone replacement therapy to the day I collected my first dose from the pharmacy. As those days ticked by, my body irreversibly and agonizingly changed further and further away from how I knew I needed it to be. In that time, my needs were repeatedly demissed, dismissed, because of my [00:05:30] autism diagnosis. I also endured invasive and mocking questions from a psychiatrist about my experience of being sexually assaulted, and whether or not that caused my transness. But, that psychiatrist was the only one qualified in Te Tau Ihu, the top of the South, at the time, uh, so I had no other option. After that horrifically long wait, when I finally got access to the medication I needed, my endocrinologist left my doses at dangerously wrong levels for over a year. My testosterone [00:06:00] blocker dose was eight times too high, and my estrogen dose was four times too low for over a year, which has caused me permanent liver damage and stunted my feminizing development. I strongly believe that both of these professionals committed medical malpractice while preventing me from accessing HRT. And I know from discussions with my peers that my experiences are far from unique, especially outside of the main centres. The government has now mandated that every young trans person [00:06:30] seeking access to medical transition goes through the same interdisciplinary team framework that caused me all of these problems. There is no will within government to train or allocate more doctors to these teams. These year -long wait times will remain or worsen. These atrocious standards of care will remain or worsen. This is a ban dressed up in confusing words and it will kill people. It's not hopeless. The community knowledge within the trans community has [00:07:00] easily surpassed the knowledge of many of the doctors I've dealt with. We need to ensure that this community knowledge is made as accessible and widespread as possible. Especially among youth. We need to make sure that the names of the doctors that have helped us and those that have harmed us get spread around so people know who to go and where to go. These doctors need to commit to international best practice, even if it goes against these unfounded and bigoted guidelines in this country. We need to make, oh, [00:07:30] MPs need to talk loudly and clearly about our rights to health care and make clear policies within their parties that meet our demands ahead of the upcoming election. To anyone of any age, never be silent, never compromise, and never stop holding doctors and governments to account. Death before detransition. Ngā mihi. Ngā mihi, [00:08:00] Alice. Um, I would now like to thank, to invite our second speaker, um, Basil, a Queer Students Association representative from WGC. Kia ora, Basil. Hello, beautiful people! Oh my god, you're all so stunning. I wish we could be under better circumstances, but well, here we are. My name is Basil, and I am a proud trans man. Thank you. [00:08:30] But I'm also so much more than that. I'm also a son, I'm a grandchild, I'm a sibling, a cousin, a niece, a classmate, a friend, and so much more. But I am also five times more likely to commit suicide because of my transgender identity. And so for that reason, I have to be here today. To speak for those who no longer can. For all those sons and daughters, sisters and brothers who just couldn't take it any longer. Who, despite the piles of evidence that hormones and puberty blockers [00:09:00] are vital for transgender teens' mental health, were denied the healthcare they needed. Access to hormones can lower a transgender person's suicide rate by 30%. And yet, what does our government do? They not only deny transgender teens hormones, they seek to take away puberty blockers, which are a completely reversible form of gender affirming care. I am sick of waiting. I am sick of being offered half measures. I am sick of begging to be seen [00:09:30] as a human. And I guarantee you that every other trans kid who now rests under a gravestone feels the exact same way. So I ask you. And you. And all of you. I ask you MPs. I ask Christopher Luxon and David Seymour and that other weirdo they've got up there. How much longer will you stand for this? Because I know my answer. I know that I will stand for no more dead friends. I will stand for no more dead sons and daughters and sisters and classmates. And I am begging for [00:10:00] all of you for this to be your answer to. Give us the healthcare, the hormones, the puberty blockers that we deserve. Ngā mihi nui. HRT. Over the counter. And for free. [00:10:30] HRT. HRT. Over the counter. And for free. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Kia ora everyone. I would now like to invite our third speaker today, Elizabeth Kerekere. Elizabeth is a Takatapui community leader. Ngā[00:11:00] mihi aroha ki a koutou kua tāi mai nei ki te tautoko e tēnei kaupapa e pāna ki a mātou. Thank you all for being here to support all the reasons why we're here today. He mokopuna o Te Tai Rawhiti, ko whanau ākai. Ngāti Te Atanga o Mahaki, Ngāti Oneone, Rongowhakaata, me Ngāi Tāmanihiri. On my father's side, Whakapapa, over to the little tribes of the East Coast and Gisborne. And on my mother's side, County Clare, County Tipperary. Shout out to all the Irish [00:11:30] people in, uh, in, right here tonight, today. Uh, with Kevin, uh, we lead Te Whanawhana Trust. We were established now 24 years ago. For Taka Tapui to tell our stories, build our communities and leave a legacy. We've both dedicated our lives to that. Uh, so everything we do is to uphold the mana of all of you. And as we, uh, go into the privilege of having Grey here, which [00:12:00] is our first speaker, so beautifully, eloquently, passionately pointed out, not everyone has the privilege to do. That is our goal for our young people to grow old. And so thinking about that. The kōrero today. I wondered, have any of you seen these resources? Okay. No? Oh my God. So, part of the whānau, Takatāpui, this was a resource we did ten years [00:12:30] ago now, uh, and it featured five Takatāpui leaders, intergenerational leaders, and this was done with the Mental Health Foundation on the kaupapa of suicide prevention. We believe that, uh, More of us will choose to stay here if we have our mana upheld, if we're seen for who we are and we can live the life, uh, being who we are, who we need to be, and all of the health treatment that's required, uh, to make that happen. The second one... Growing [00:13:00] Up Takatāpui Whānau Journeys. This was with Rainbow Youth in Auckland and we worked with young people, their parents and their grandparents because we wanted those parents to talk to other parents, for those grandparents to talk to other parents. I wanted to tell you that we are nearly finished. Next month we'll be launching our third resource and it is focused on trans children.[00:13:30] And it's called, uh, celebrating, uh, what is it? Takatāpui tamariki celebrating our trans children. And what I wanted to talk about here is these young people. They go from nine years old to 17 and the nine -year -old tells a story. His parents tell the story of how he came out to them at three and a half and we believe that is why our Wairoa tells us who we are.[00:14:00] It gives us that drive to be who we are in the world regardless of what is going on. And so I wanted to give you a sneak preview of How we looked at this kaupapa. We interviewed all these young people. We interviewed their parents and their grandparents again because it's whānau. Uh, we hope that every one of you is inside a whānau that supports you for who you are. So, uh, I created this framework, Te Whare Takatāpui, for health and well -being for all of [00:14:30] us. So in this whare, Everybody supports the whakapapa of our trans tamariki, all of you who are trans, by connecting them with their whakapapa, by sharing stories of their ancestors who were takatapui, who were trans. Caring for and treasuring them as they are, intervening if they're being harmed, and leading, being a model for whānau acceptance inside their whānau. For wairua, everybody [00:15:00] supports the wairua of our trans tamariki, of all of you, by listening to them, trusting what their wairua tells them about who they are, preventing anyone from trampling on that wairua, helping them find connection to the whenua, the ngahere, the moana, to the land, to the forest, to the sea. We support the wairua, The mauri, that life spark, that thing inside us that is special, uh, we, by affirming [00:15:30] that unique self and their sense of who they are, by using the names, the pronouns, identities, they tell us they are. Believing their experience as they move through the world. Mana. We support the mana of our trans Tamariki by respecting their agency and self -determination to be who they are and to tell who they decide to tell about who they are. Providing accessible and age and culturally appropriate information and resources. Fiercely [00:16:00] advocating for them when they need it. We support the tapu, the sacredness of body and mind of our trans tamariki and all of you who are trans by preserving the tapu and privacy of their hinengaro, of their mind and their bodily integrity, their tinana. By increasing the numbers of places where they can be safe to be themselves. Providing clear pathways to the mental health, to the physical health needs in [00:16:30] any, any gender -affirming health care that they need. And finally, tikanga. We have to put rules in place. We need legislation, we need policies, strategies, action plans that make all of this happen. And so, it's about evolving. Tikanga, including in Māori spaces, so that our. All of our whānau, no matter what culture, no matter where they come from or how they've found, uh, themselves to be living in this place of Aotearoa, [00:17:00] to embrace them and all of their whānau. Revising tikanga across government, every single day. Government department and light of that. My total anger and providing training for decision makers because clearly they don't know what they're talking about. Uh, and it's been a long while since I was working in this house. It doesn't hurt so much when I see [00:17:30] these buildings. I'm thankful that our next speaker is someone who is still working in here. We must always, always have people in this house who are advocating for our people. So, those of you who are politically minded out there, thinking, there's an election coming, local body election this year, national elections next year. Start thinking, are you a person that needs to be there? Maybe you won't get in this next, this first time, maybe the next time. Think about that, we need you [00:18:00] in here. So, nō reira, when our whakapapa is recognised, when our wairua is recognised. is upheld when our mauri is seen and valued when our mana is absolutely upheld when our tapu is preserved our sacredness and when the tikanga is in place for all of that to happen [00:18:30] that That is when we start to get back to what it used to be like in this country before colonisation. And so, they... And as a last word of hope, Te Whanawhana is involved in two big projects right now. We have got government funding to change the government [00:19:00] and this health system right now. And for intersex people. Shout out to two who's here from Intersex Aotearoa and all of you with diverse and innate variations of sex characteristics, but also trans perinatal care. When you're worried about what's happening, there's too much going on, no. That there are so many people working across government doing projects, but right now this government is funding the most groundbreaking [00:19:30] research and mahi to change this health system. That is happening right now. Do not ever, ever lose hope. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou tatoua. Kia ora koutou. Um, we do understand that it's, well we've got five speakers left, um, but, Sitting through eight speakers in a row is difficult. Um, so I'd like to invite my friend Oscar up to the stage now to help me [00:20:00] Help us all take a break for a couple minutes Um, Alva, can we have two mics? Hello, that is a lot of people great to see the support Well, we gone we gone. All right Kia ora everybody Well we walk into this world WALK INTO THIS WORLD With our head up high WITH OUR HEAD UP HIGH Walk into this world WITH OUR HEAD UP HIGH Walk into this world WITH YOUR HEAD UP HIGH Walk [00:20:30] into this world This world that will tell you, you can only be what it assigns you WITH YOUR HEAD UP HIGH Push past the pain and forget the shame WALK INTO THIS WORLD The world is yours. The world is yours. With your head up high! We are beautiful when we make ourselves. Welcome to this world! With your strut, with your swagger, with your head up! Walk your head up high! Walk into this world! With your head up high! Walk into this world! [00:21:00] With your head up high! Kia ora everybody! We'd ask you to chant along with us, but also understand that some middle -aged white woman doesn't get to tell you what to do, so if you don't feel comfortable joining us, that's fine! We don't need to live alive to keep ourselves alive! We don't have to live alive to keep ourselves alive! We don't have to live alive to keep ourselves alive! We don't have to live alive to keep ourselves alive! We don't have to live alive to keep ourselves alive! We don't [00:21:30] have to live alive to keep ourselves alive! We don't need to live alive to keep ourselves alive! We do not need to live alive to keep ourselves alive! Kia ora! Thank you very much! I would now like to invite to the stage our next speaker, Benjamin Doyle. They are here on behalf of both the Green Party and themselves. Kia ora.[00:22:00] Nō te upoko te ika a Maui. Tēnā koutou, kāranga mai, kāranga mai. [00:22:30] Trans and non -binary people are a threat to the patriarchy because we defy the limits they have placed upon society and us all. We prove, we prove that something more expansive and joyful is possible. Something beyond their tiny, unimaginative hegemony. This government is gutless. It is attacking rainbow rights [00:23:00] and stirring up imported rhetoric from fascist groups and political tyrants overseas. Do not be fooled. No one is safe. They come for queer, Māori and disability rights first, but they will come for everyone soon enough. How dare they call for public consultation on whether we deserve to have life -saving treatment. How dare they! [00:23:30] Target trans and non -binary people's rights as though we are up for debate. How dare they attempt to deny children healthcare? How dare they? Access to healthcare is a human right. Period. We are calling on the government to increase funding and access to puberty blockers for trans young people. We are calling on people to increase it. [00:24:00] And what this government doesn't want to hear is that interventions like puberty blockers and HRT are crucial to the well -being of the general population, trans and cisgender people alike. This is not some radical new approach. The government is just transphobic. We know that access to surgery, therapy, mental health support and education [00:24:30] for rainbow people is life -saving and therefore must be prioritised. That's why the Greens will increase funding for trans -reproductive and gender -affirming healthcare, decrease wait times for surgery, strengthen workplaces. Development and capability and address discrimination in the healthcare system. Let's make HRT available to everybody who requires it, and puberty blockers on demand! According [00:25:00] to the census, the rainbow vote is 5 percent of the population, but we know it is more than that. Our vote can determine the next government. We will use our voice, now and at the next election, to make this a one -term government. We must love radically. We must organise with purpose. We must [00:25:30] fight for our lives and the lives of our children. Mana hapori, mana tipua, mana takatapui e. Ka rongo te pō, ka rongo te ao. Haumi e, hui e, taiki e. Tēnā koutou and free Palestine. Kia ora Benjamin. I would now like to invite to the [00:26:00] stage our next speaker, um, Ashley from Career Endurance in Defiance. Ashley. Whoo! Kia ora, Ashley. Kia ora koutou katoa ko Ashley Tokimangawa. I'm 18, I'm a daughter, I'm a sister, I'm a proud straight ally, and I am also transgender. I was a transgender child, or if you listen to the President of the US, I currently am a transgender [00:26:30] child. The Wellington Pride Festival have asked us to keep this event family friendly, so please bear with me as I attempt to discuss my experiences without swearing. I first tried to medically transition when I was 16. I had known I was trans for a long time, but was too afraid to say anything to my parents. I knew I would have to do this alone, so I waited until I was 16, at which point I transferred myself to Evolve, a clinic that provides GP services free to those under 25. I met with my wonderful doctor, and she referred me to the Wellington Endocrine [00:27:00] Department for psychological assessment. I was made to fill in invasive forms detailing every aspect of my body that gave me gender dysphoria. Thank you for watching. With the forms completed, I waited, and waited, and waited. I would be waiting for over a year. Being 16 at this point, I was well into the physical process of puberty, and I was still made to wait. Not once was I offered puberty blockers, not once did any of my attempts to speed up the process make any difference. It is hard to describe what that situation was like to anyone who was not a trans child, even to people [00:27:30] who transitioned as adults. To watch your body change, to become more foreign and horrifying to you every day, all whilst knowing exactly what is wrong and that the treatment for your distress is right. There. But those in power refuse to give it to you. That is my definition of torture. We as trans children suffer, in the words of Abigail Schreyer, irreversible damage from our natal puberty because doctors are unwilling to prescribe us life -saving medication. And this government wants to make this pain [00:28:00] even worse, and treatment even harder to access. After approximately 15 months on a waiting list, I finally had my appointment with a psychologist from Wellington Endocrinology who could assess me as ready for hormones. Our meeting took under two hours, after which I was booked in with a doctor who could prescribe me hormones. I can't explain the relief I felt when I started HRT. To know that my shoulders were never going to broaden, that I was not going to grow even taller, that hair was not going to grow in my [00:28:30] face, amongst so many things. The joy I felt that day I had never truly felt before in my life. I felt like my life had finally begun, but I also can't express the grief I felt knowing I could have had this moment years ago if it wasn't for the incompetency and downright cruelty of the trans healthcare system, especially of how it treats trans children. I have spoken with trans adults who are able to access HRT within weeks. I'm standing here in the middle of [00:29:00] puberty. I had to wait years. Tell me why we consider that except instead of gross incompetence. Fast forward to today I'm standing here as my true self as the woman I am. My transition has continued to go well. I have parents and friends who support who love and support me and I have happier than I have ever been, but I am also standing here in anger and with a fight in me. I am dedicated to making sure it's heard. No trans child ever has to suffer on waiting lists like I did. That is my commitment to all the [00:29:30] trans youth here today. I will fight for your rights so that you don't have to grow up fighting for them yourselves. Ngā mihi nui. Kia ora, Ashley. Um, just letting everyone know there is lost property over by the water station under the tree. Um, we do have a phone and a set of keys. So if you're losing your keys or losing your phone, um, they're over there. And water. And water. And we would definitely recommend getting water and sunscreen if you're dying under this [00:30:00] heat, because we shouldn't need more health care than we actually need. I would now like to invite our next speaker up to the stage, um, from Ultraviolet, Charlie. My name is Charlie. I'm one of the leaders at Ultraviolet at Wellington High School. And I am angry. I look out and I see [00:30:30] so much pain. I see a community that has been betrayed, stabbed in the back by our own government. I see people who are forced to live in pain, waking up every day to a body that doesn't feel like home. I see teenagers wearing baggy clothes, trying desperately to hide their bodies so they don't have to think about how much it hurts. How much it hurts to be forced through puberty and watch your body turn into something that isn't you. I see a community that has been betrayed, stabbed in the back by our own government. I see people who are forced to live in pain, waking up every day to a body that doesn't feel like home. [00:31:00] I see a community that is hurting, that is angry. I think about how, at the age of 12, I starved myself to try and stop these changes my body was going through. I think about how the Counting Ourselves 2022 survey reported that 50 percent of trans people have self -harmed at some point in the last 12 months. I want you to look around. Out[00:31:30] of every trans teenager and child that you see, half of them have felt so lost and so hurt that they have felt the need to physically hurt themselves to cope. I think about how, while we suffer, the exact same medication being denied to us is being freely given to cisgender heads who hit puberty early. There's never any controversy about that. I am angry. [00:32:00] And now, I look out, and I see my anger in all of you. But do you know what else I see? I see hope, and I see power. We stand united in demanding our bodily autonomy. And to those in government who want to take away our rights, we say try us, because we are angry, and together we can do it. We are strong. We will not sit down. We will not cave in to the cruelty and hatred as they try to [00:32:30] bully us into submission. To the politicians sitting up in those buildings behind me, I say watch out, because we are angry, and we refuse to let you play with our lives any longer. Thank you. This fight is hard, and sometimes it can seem too hard. But it's not too hard, [00:33:00] and we can do it. All we need is one mic, one stage, and one crowd. And armed with this, we can spread our voice to the whole world, to every boy, every enby, and every girl who's stuck inside their parents' basement trying to imagine what my face should look like and wondering what these thoughts meant. Like, why can't I see myself in the mirror? Why can't I picture myself as I am getting bigger? But to be [00:33:30] the true, true self that I see, I may need healthcare, an end to medical gatekeeping, and someone who cares, well, we care. And that is why we're here. Rap with me! HRT! HRT! Over the counter m4 free! HRT! HRT! Over the counter m4 free! HRT! HRT! Over the counter m4 free! HRT! HRT! Over the counter m4 free! Prooo! [00:34:00] Thank you so much. We just have 2 speakers left. I would like to invite now to the mic, my comrade Lilyall, who's been our hip marshal for today. Uh, speaking on Pahapu Pōneke Anti -Fascist Coalition. Thank you, Matt Lilliel. I was born in the 80s. I grew up in the 90s and the early 2000s. One of the most transphobic movies ever put to film, Ace Ventura, [00:34:30] hit the theatres when I was 10. At 10, I didn't have the words we have now. I didn't know these words. I didn't know transgender. But I knew that I could never be out. I knew already that I am a woman. I am a woman. Women like me were cast as the butts of jokes, humiliated for laughs in smash hit movies, cast as murderers and monsters. Things deserving of mockery for daring to exist, daring to exercise bodily autonomy, daring to be [00:35:00] herself. The medicine I needed already existed in the 90s. Puberty blockers are old, but they are kept out of reach of girls like me. Girls going through a testosterone puberty, and kept out of reach of boys going through an estrogen puberty. But not the girls going through puberty too early. Not the girls that are recognised as girls. Not the boys recognised as boys. It was gatekept away from the wrong kinds of girls and boys by doctors sure that we would grow out of it, [00:35:30] denying us our bodily autonomy. Those of my generation who are still with us, we know what hatred exists in these policies, what horrors exist, in the denial of our right to bodily autonomy. In denial of self -knowledge, in denial of our humanity. We know where this leads because we have been there and we are not going back. We fight for everyone's bodily autonomy. We [00:36:00] fight for everyone's bodily autonomy against these fascist policies. Thank you so much. Um, before I call her up to the stage, um, I just like to let you know, after our last speaker, Te Whanau Whanau will close with a karakia. And when everyone leaves, could you stick to the footpaths because the roads are no longer closed? [00:36:30] Ka pai? I would now like to invite up to the stage my comrade Max from QED and the IVT. Kia ora. Kia ora koutou. My name is Max Shada. I'm a trans lesbian, a communist, a founding contributor to the QED, and a supporter of the international Bolshevik tendency. [00:37:00] Woo! Bit of a cheer from that, yeah. Four years ago, when Wellington showed up a thousand strong to protest a transphobic speaking tour, Two years ago, when Auckland sent Posey Parker running with her tail between her legs, people celebrated. Transphobia was felt to be an insignificant foreign import that refused to take root in the soil. But here we are. Puberty blockers in jeopardy, a far -right church making constant shows [00:37:30] of intimidation against even the mildest of queer events. Seemingly everywhere in the world, there's some growing section of the political landscape deathly hostile to trans existence. What we experience here is not yet on the level of the U .S. But do not think for a moment that the New Zealand state is immune to such horrors. As the U .S.-led Western domination of the world crumbles, the facade of international cooperation and incremental progress crumbles with it. [00:38:00] The squeeze that capitalism is feeling compels the rich and powerful to claw back concessions that have become particularly troublesome. Whether in adequate gains in treaty rights or basic workplace health and safety, the worldwide attack on trans people is just one more, wedded to capitalists' need to get us back in the nuclear family, cranking out the next generation of exploitable workers. And this need will not decline with Luxon's approval rating. Thank you for listening. Whether this [00:38:30] government weathers the next election is not the question to ask. We know a return to the tedious tinkering of Labour and their loyal coalition partners won't protect us because it never has before. Reaction will regroup. And we have to handle it ourselves. We have to claw back a tradition of militant defence as queer people and as workers. We have to rebuild a workers' movement that will defend us in the streets and take our struggles into [00:39:00] the workplace, into the heart of the system. A working class revolutionary party will be what is capable of protecting us when push comes to shove. Right now, it is a burning necessity worldwide. All the rights that we have been granted came from struggle. And in the absence of struggle, they can be taken away. Do not accept it. We will learn again how to fight. We will learn again how to win.[00:39:30] Kia ora Max. Um, I'd like to extend a warm thank you to all of our speakers. Um, to everyone who came here. Trans rights are human rights. Free Palestine. Toitū te Tiriti. We are stronger together. We stand up for the rights of one another. The rights of one are the rights of all. The [00:40:00] rights of all are the rights of one. And together we can do this. Kia ora. Kia ora tātou. We're going to finish off with a waiata that I'm sure we can all join in with, but let's all stand because I want to see some of these signs around here. Rainbow Quakers, celebrate diversity. You can't stop queer joy. Queer migrants and refugees in Aotearoa. Crash the system. [00:40:30] Trans youth need care, not Restriction. Militant trade union struggle. Trans, and then it gets smaller words. I hate Mondays and love on demand. Be who you are. Binary is for computers, not people. Healthcare workers for transgender healthcare. Trans healthcare save lives. Trans rights are human rights. I'm literally just a girl. Trans rights are human rights. I won't say that one that starts off with F. But Seymour and um, Winnie and Luxon, yeah. [00:41:00] Trans healthcare, now we are dying. Everybody deserves healthcare. Believe Trans Kids. Nō reira, Trans Lives Matter right at the back there. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou koutou.

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AI Text:March 2025
URL:https://www.pridenz.com/ait_wellington_pride_hikoi_2025_speeches.html