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Welcome along. Um, my name is Gareth, and I'm Roger. And together we're Roger and Gareth. The joke never gets old. Welcome on this very, very special day, the 28th of June, 2020. Um, firstly, it is the 51st anniversary [00:00:30] of Stonewall in New York. So we're celebrating that we're also celebrating, um, Global pride 2020. And this is a result of the COVID-19 pandemic where many pride events around the world haven't haven't been able to happen. And so there is now an online, uh, global pride taking place for the next 24 hours. The New Zealand part [00:01:00] of that, um, is actually screening at five o'clock this evening. So in an hour's time, So we'll certainly be finished the walk tour before that, Um, and would recommend, um, if you are still around to have a look at Global Pride 2020. And the third, uh, special reason for today is that, um, today has been the first time we've been able to do the physical walk tour. So we did the same walk tour earlier on today, Um, the first time physically, [00:01:30] we've been able to do it since uh, the covid lockdown over the last couple of months, and it was really delightful to, um, be out and about and taking people physically around the locations we're about to see today. But one of the benefits of doing this, um, online is that it reaches a different audience and a fantastic audience. So we really appreciate you tuning in. We aren't actually logged into YouTube, so we know it's streaming, but, [00:02:00] um, we don't know if you're looking. Um, hopefully you are. Um, but please feel more than please feel if you want to contact us, um, send us an email at walks at dot NZ. Um, and we'll be able to see those emails coming in as we go through. So please feel free to say hi. Um, or if you want to add your own stories, please. Um, please feel free to Yeah. Yeah. Great. Great. Um, so this tour is, [00:02:30] um, very much highlighting, uh, transgender and non-binary people in Wellington. Some of the amazing history and some of the amazing people, um, that have been around Wellington over the last 100 or so years. Um, and it's a real delight, uh, to do this tour and let's start by going just showing you where we're going. Um and that is we're in a in Wellington. [00:03:00] So that's where the yellow dot is. And we're just zooming up a wee bit and we're starting, uh, just around Thistle Hall at the upper end of Cuba Street. Very good. And to begin with, let's, uh, show you some examples of national newspapers from around the mid 19 hundreds just to give a bit of a sense of what it was like in earlier times. Now, some of the people that we talk [00:03:30] about, uh, in this tour lived through these times, and so this gives a bit of context to what we're about to say, um, about them, a bit of a content warning. Some of the language and attitudes expressed in these newspaper, uh, items are a bit dated, confronting and downright offensive. Now, I'm sorry to say, but, um, when we constructed this tour, it really struck us that, um the people that we highlight are so resilient and adaptable to the times in which they lived. And we just want [00:04:00] to be able to give you a bit of a sample of the kinds of times in which they lived. So this first example is from 90 years ago uh, 1929 in Auckland. And, uh, part of it reads man with female mentality, a human freak, a psychological enigma. He is, to all intents and purposes, normal except for one obsession, his admiration for the dress and characteristics of the female sex. And then there's this one here from 1945 [00:04:30] which reads, in part, astounding masquerade woman's life as a man. Recent marriage to a young girl. Um, And in this particular article, um, a young couple were exposed by, um, the New Zealand truth newspaper, which was a, um uh, the yellow press really, uh, back in the day and carried a long interview with them, uh, in court. They were ordered to separate, uh, and to submit themselves to psychiatric treatment. Um, the magistrate [00:05:00] also commented on the surgery that had been undertaken, saying that, uh, the active surgery, uh, of a surgeon who operates on a human body for the purpose only of enabling her to masquerade as a man is inherently wrong. So those are just two examples of, um, attitudes from within the community from, um, last century and again. And we show this just to give context of the time in which some of the people that we talk about lived well, our first stop, [00:05:30] um on today's tour is Thistle Hall and Thistle Hall is Oh, gosh, that was a lovely sunny day when that was taken. Um, not quite like today. This is Thistle Hall. And, um, Thistle Hall was the venue of a screening of Tangerine. It was a film that tells the story of a transgender sex worker. And it's screened here on the 22nd of January 2016 to mark the first international [00:06:00] trans prisoner Day of Action. So the Trans Prisoner day of Action, um, came out of Texas in the USA. And really, it was a day to acknowledge the experience of transgender prisoners. Uh, also, uh, gender minority prisoners, Um, but also as a way of, um, showing solidarity and and solidarity for for people that were in isolation but also looking at, [00:06:30] um, resisting state violence as well. If we jump forward a year to 2017 and Thistle Hall was, um where the exhibition no apologies was held and this was an exhibition, uh, looking at the connection between sexual assault and society's ideas about sexuality. Organiser Conor Twyford noted that half of all trans women report serious [00:07:00] sexual violence in their lifetimes. And, uh, I mean, it's just an horrendous statistic, isn't it? Here's an image taken by Amy Eastwood of, um sorry. Yes, Amy Eastwood of of the opening of the exhibition. It was very well received, um, to give you an idea of Thistle Hall. It hasn't always been so kind of lovingly [00:07:30] maintained. Here's an image from the mid eighties, and this is Thistle Hall. The actual hall itself is on the top level, and the gallery space is on the ground level. You need us to say it's looking a lot better now we're jumping across to our next stop, and it's actually literally just over the road. So we're at the red dot and we're going to the yellow dot, which is, um, an old building from 19 tens. So yes, so we're outside Carmen's curio [00:08:00] shop now. Carmen Rue was a sex worker, an entrepreneur as well as being an activist, particularly around anti discrimination causes and HIV aids. And here's a great photo of Carmen in Australia in the early 19 sixties. Now, um, Carmen will feature quite a bit throughout this particular tour. Um, and she touched many people in different ways, and she's pretty central to the tour, so we'll keep coming back to her. She was born in 1936 and and later lived in both Auckland and [00:08:30] Wellington. Uh, in the late 19 fifties, she moved to Sydney's Kings Cross and became Australia's first Maori drag performer, and from that time she identified as transsexual. In 1967 she came back to Wellington, and she established her International Coffee Lounge, the Beal Cabaret and Egyptian tea rooms, a massage parlour and a brothel in um, but she also established this curio shop. Here's a lovely image of, um, its front window, Um, from [00:09:00] when it was her curio shop and Carmen's life was filled with curios and right up to the end, Um, particularly, uh, here's an image of her home in Sydney many years later and again, lots of knickknacks and curios from that particular time. One of Carmen's many achievements was winning a landmark court case in 1966 which was about the right to wear female clothing in public now. Prior to this, newspapers were peppered with stories about people being prosecuted for [00:09:30] nothing more. Uh, on the ninth of January 1966 Carmen, uh, was arrested in Auckland for behaving in an offensive manner in public. Uh, now, the effects of manner was because she was wearing a black frock, black silk stockings and high heeled shoes and the quote from the police. His face was made up with cosmetics and his hair was dressed in a feminine style. Now Carwin wasn't having any of this. She turned up to court to defend the charge, but still in female [00:10:00] clothing. The police told her to go home and change into male clothing. But she refused, saying, You arrested me dressed as a woman, and I'm coming to court as a woman. Now, um, Justice McCarthy not only dismissed the case, but he said in his decision notes that he was quite unable in New Zealand law to find anything unlawful about a male attiring himself in female clothing. So Carmen, again featured strongly in this tour, will keep coming back to aspects of her remarkable life. [00:10:30] We're going to make our next stop now make our move to our next stop, and that is going from the red dot to the yellow dot and the yellow dot there on Web Street. And the reason we're going there is there's just a, um, an electrical cabinet just by that yellow dot there, and I'll just zoom up so we can see it a wee bit more clearly. Rio. So this is a painting by Wellington based artist Louis Neil, [00:11:00] and it was commissioned by the telecommunications company Chorus as part of their diversity programme in 2018. The original design featured fictional people, but Louie really wanted to make it more real and relevant by depicting friends in who are activists in the Rainbow community and beyond. Now, uh, Louis's art practise extends from drawing and painting to photography, fashion [00:11:30] and performance art, and Louis actually performed the work Jellyfish do return at Thistle Hall. We were just talking about, um, back in 2018, and the work did the connection between what you wear and who you are. And, uh, there was a really fantastic interview with Louis at the time, and just a couple of quotes from that interview, Louis says. For queers like myself, dressing ourselves is a balancing act of [00:12:00] layering or exposing our bodies to create something that looks and feels right. This power of self determination is one of the most important parts of my queerness. And then Louis goes on, when I see people around me whose clothing style disrupts conventions, there's a feedback loop of being visible to each other and therefore becoming more and more trusting that we can truly express ourselves through clothing in this society, a really, really powerful message. [00:12:30] We're going to move now from, um, Louis's artwork just a wee bit further down the street and we're going, uh, from the red dot it's actually quite a long way down the street. We're going from the red dot over to the yellow dot and at the yellow dot we have, uh, this house. So, uh, we're standing at 100 and 28 Abel Smith Street, uh, also known as the radical social [00:13:00] centre and community. Now, the centre came to mainstream attention when it was raided at dawn on the 15th of October 2007 as part of Operation eight Now Operation eight, you might remember, was a series of large scale armed police raids in response to the discovery of an alleged paramilitary training camp near the town of Roki. In the Bay of Plenty, about 300 police took part and only four guns were found. A 2013 official review [00:13:30] found that the police searches vehicle stops, roadblocks and photographs taken in hoi country were unlawful, unjustified and unreasonable. Well, since the raids, the community centre here has solidified itself into a radical community centre with the name of maintaining a radical uh left social and resource space, which prioritises minority groups. One of those groups that was based here until very recently was the gender minorities Aotearoa uh, a cross [00:14:00] cultural and 100% trans led national organisation. Now they moved to Rid Street in Newtown at the start of July 2019. Gender minorities Aros Vision is for all Takata transgender and intersex people to be empowered by a full range of choices across all aspects of their lives and to be able to participate fully in society. Its main funding comes from Auntie Dana's op Shop, which opened here in October 2017. As you can see in the [00:14:30] image now, the op shop is a diversity positive space in which all people are safe from discrimination and stigma. The shop was named after Donna Demilo, a local icon and activist. Now Dana is, as you say, um, a local icon, uh, to us here in Wellington, and Donna was born in Auckland in 1946 and here's a lovely photo of Dana. She ran away from home on the Queen's birthday weekend when she was just 13, and soon [00:15:00] after that she had a chance meeting with Carmen Rupe at the Coffee Lounge. And Donna recalls in an interview from a few years ago that Carmen was the person I wanted to be. Well, Donna moved to Wellington as a teenager and initially, uh, lived for a couple of weeks, uh, in the toilets at the Wellington Railway Station. So it was a really tough, um, entry into Wellington, um, in the sixties and seventies, [00:15:30] she recalls in that same interview we talked about, um, she says that Trans people were the face of gayness because gay men could run and hide behind their male clothes. We were the ones who got picked on. In that same interview, Dana recounts a number of instances where the police, particularly one policeman in particular, would pick her up on a regular occurrence and and do things like push her face into the window of a car until she yelled [00:16:00] out, pig or whatever. Um, and he would then book her and arrest her. And so there was really a sense that they were being targeted and, um, just really nasty. It was completely uncalled for. Um, Amanda Lahore has an interesting story. Um, she recalls, um, when Donna was brutally assaulted in police custody. Um, how Carmen took her out [00:16:30] back onto Cuba Street, dressed her up to the nines and said, You know, no matter the pain, no matter the tears, don't look down, don't look down. And it really does just kind of, um, give us an insight into the harshness of that time for Dana and Carmen and Co. Um, but also the resilience that they have had one of the, um, uh, [00:17:00] things just after Donna passed away in 2018 was MP. Jan Loy stood up in Parliament and paid tribute to her and there's a quote here that I'll just read to you from, um, Jan. She was one of our torch holders who created space for so many of us to walk into. While we've come a long way as a country from when homosexuality and trans people were criminalised, we are still a long way from fully realising our human [00:17:30] rights. For many of us, our moments of peace and our moments of celebration have been hard fought for So celebrations, in fact, are often acts of defiance as well as an act of joy. And at times they are also all too often an act of mourning. My ability to stand here open and proud of my lesbian identity comes from the bravery and political advocacy of my elders like Dana, one [00:18:00] of the really, um, special occasions that happened, Um, after Carmen's death in 2011 was the gifting of some of Carmen's to some of her tote papa, our national museum. And before Carmen died, she had actually, um, worked out which treasures she wanted to gift to the National Museum. And in 2013, there [00:18:30] was a lovely gifting ceremony, and here's a photo of Donna, um, holding one of Carmen's headdresses at that gifting ceremony. And here's a photo. We've got Amanda Lahore on the left. Georgina Baer in the middle. Uh, and we've got some again amazing treasures from Carmen. And this was part of that that gifting ceremony. [00:19:00] We're going to move now to our next stop, and that is we're going from the red dot and we're going all the way down to Cuba Street and we're on the corner of Cuba and Vivian well, on the ground floor of the building here, the building, uh, used to be a burger bar and on the first floor from the 19 sixties, a strip club called Club Exotic. Later renamed Club Exotic. It was owned by [00:19:30] Emmanuel Papadopoulos and had a huge neon strip tea sign of a naked girl and which hung outside of the building for decades. Even long after it was, um, it stopped being a strip club. Now Carmen worked here in the 19 sixties along with Georgina Buyer, who was here from the mid 19 seventies. Um, the famous actor New Zealand actor and drummer Bruno Lawrence worked for a time here, um, accompanying the strippers with drum rolls and fanfares. Um uh, as the girls are stripping in [00:20:00] 2013 interview, Georgina remembers the only queens that got to work in the clubs and do the full on stripping had to be extraordinarily good looking and uns spring. The exploitation was horrendous in lots of ways, but better to be inside the strip club on a cold, wet, windy Wellington night than stuck out on the corner trying to pick up a client. She also said, Um, I'd finished doing a spot up at the club Exotic race downstairs in my bra and panties and perhaps with a fabulous cape on and sort of fly [00:20:30] across Vivian Street to get to the purple onion to fill in and do a spot there. And, uh, let's just have a quick look at the purple onion. So this is on Vivian Street. Just a little bit down, Um, and you'll see that there's an artist painting the outside of the purple onion just ahead of Steve's fish and chips, which were apparently really nice, apparently, uh, just continuing on a wee bit more about, uh, Georgina. [00:21:00] Now. Georgina was born in Wellington in 1957 and, uh, she stayed around Wellington for a number of years, but then moved with some of her family up to Auckland while at Papa High School. Uh, she really found a love for drama. Um, she won the College Cup for drama in 1972 uh, and then left school at the age of 16 and moved down to Wellington, where she worked in this area in the kind of Cuba Street Vivian Street area [00:21:30] in the adult entertainment industry. Now Georgina has had a number of different careers, one of them being acting. And in 1987 she was nominated in the National Film and Television Awards for best actress in a dramatic role for her portrayal of Jules in the um, movie Jules style, and it was directed by the late Peter Wells. Now here's an image of of the publicity for Joel [00:22:00] Dahl and, um, the film. So we're talking. Mid eighties, the film was promoted as quote A Day in the life of Mandy, a Man and Joel, a transsexual. Joel and Mandy are in love and trapped at the fringe of a mocking society. Mandy is Jeel star Daal, as in in darling now, Really. Interestingly, the film was actually produced in 1985 but according to the director, Peter Wells, um, TV [00:22:30] NZ executives believed that it violated public decency standards. According to Peter VNZ, executives thought it was quote unacceptable for transgender people to be shown as anything other than figures of fun. I mean, it's just remarkable to think that such an archaic, archaic idea and it was only 30 30 years ago. Hm. Anyway, the the film was finally [00:23:00] broadcast in 1986 although they had to broadcast it in a 10 p.m. slot. A fight of human rights and equality. Um, here's here's a really lovely quote from Georgina. It's important to allow people who want to be positive contributors in our society, regardless of sex, race, creed or gender, to reach their human potential. We need all human potential to make our communities thrive, to make [00:23:30] them more vital. The very centre of our reason for being and living. And later in the tour, we'll talk a little bit more, um, about Georgina and and her careers. But let's, um, jump back 100 years now and, uh, just walk a few metres uh, back up Cuba street to the brick building, Uh, which is the people's palace? It was built by the Salvation Army and provided liquor [00:24:00] free cheap accommodation for working class people, families and travellers. Um, before this building, the Salvation Army had on the site, uh, the Paulina rescue home. And if we'd stayed here in 18 95 we may well have had contact with, um, a young Eugene Fellini who was a resident there now, born in Italy in 18 75 Eugene came to Wellington at the age of two with his family, and he was the eldest of 22 Children, [00:24:30] 17 of whom survived. Uh, Eugene was working at Murphy's Brick Works in Taranaki Street when he was taken to court for Impersonating a man around 18 95. He ran away to sea age 21 And, uh, Eugene was raped, raped multiple times by the ship's captain and had a baby in Sydney in 18 98 staying in Sydney and changing his name to Harry Crawford. He married twice. He was charged and subsequently convicted of murdering one of those wives. [00:25:00] Uh, in 1920 um, now, the evidence for the murder conviction was pretty circumstantial and, uh is pretty flimsy by today's standards. As far as evidence goes, uh, Eugene died sadly in 1938. Uh, after being released from prison and stepping off a pavement and accidentally into the path of an oncoming car, we're going to move now just a little bit further down Vivian Street. So we're [00:25:30] at the People's Palace in the on the red dot and then we're just going back around the corner to the yellow dot, and the yellow dot holds quite a lot of significance for Rainbow Communities at the moment. It is a kind of an apartment complex with, um, a subway food service down the bottom. But it was also the location of Carmen's new International Coffee Lounge. Uh, Carmen's original International Coffee Lounge was located [00:26:00] a wee bit further down Vivian Street, just next door to the Salvation Army citadel. But this is the second location of that coffee lounge. It's also the location of Chrissy We Evergreen Coffee Lounge, and I'll tell you a little bit about, um, Chrissy, Um so Chrissy, there's a lovely photo here of Chrissy. Hopefully, yes. Um, so Chrissy was born in Hastings in 1944. And she came to Wellington in the late 19 fifties, [00:26:30] where she worked in various hospitality establishments, including the powder puff in Victoria Street. Um, and apparently it was always called the powder puff. Um, which is quite fun. Um, but Carmen was a very good friend of Chrissy. And when Carmen got into financial trouble in the late 19 seventies, Chrissy organised a fundraising event to to help Carmen out. Um, this helped get Carmen over to [00:27:00] Sydney, and this is where Carmen spent the remainder of her days living in Sydney. Uh, as part of that deal, Chrissy took over the location here at Vivian Street and turned it into the Evergreen Cafe. So apparently the evergreen, uh, boasted the best toasty sandwiches in town. But alongside that, it was a very, very safe environment for, um, trans rainbow communities. [00:27:30] Um, Chrissy was a very welcoming host, and, um, really made people feel very safe. And people from a diverse range of backgrounds came to the coffee lounge, and it was used as a drop in centre in the late 19 eighties. Um, sex workers used it as a drop in centre as Well, it was, um, very well loved One of the, um, really lovely things about the coffee lounge is the, uh, war [00:28:00] hangings. Now there are I think there are around 15 or 20 I think, um, wall hangings, photo montages that Chrissy made over the years. And the newspaper clippings, the photographs. They document, uh, Rainbow history in Wellington from the 19 seventies eighties and nineties. Um, just a a an amazing collection of faces and stories. And, um, when the [00:28:30] coffee lounge finally closed in the early two thousands, these wall panels were held onto and have finally been subsequently been gifted to te papa. And so Papa holds these wonderful historic collections of images, and they're in te papa's care. But you can you also see them online as well? They're very easily accessible. Um, if you go to to Papa's website, look for collections [00:29:00] online and just put an evergreen cafe or evergreen coffee lounge and you'll come up with these amazing moments in time. Well, Chrissy um uh passed away in the early two thousands and following her death, a group of her friends formed the Chrissy WEU Memorial Trust, and that was to help fundraise for funerals For those community members who weren't able to cover those costs. [00:29:30] Well, just a few paces away from where we are now was, uh, the Purple Onion, uh, Wellington's first drag club. Now the purple onion was opened in the early 19 sixties by Pasi Tupou, who just returned from performing at the all Male Review Clubs of Sydney. Uh, pussy was the first Samoan to dance at the girls and the Purple Onion in Sydney. Uh, now here's a great image from Salient the student magazine in 1965 advertising the then current review [00:30:00] at the Purple Onion. Uh, and this is where Carmen first made her mark on Wellington's adult entertainment scene as a performer and Carmen remembers, I haunted the footpaths in the alleyways close by. It was a good place for trade. I took most of my clients to the under side alleys of the area for what I called short time knee trembler. We're going to move to our next stop now, which is just, um, around in Marion Street. Um, [00:30:30] and before we do, we should just say, um, the the light is fading here, So we, um I'm not sure if we should increase the exposure on our camera, Or maybe maybe the darkness works for us. Um, but also, we counting down to, um, the segment in global pride at five o'clock tonight. And, um, certainly the walk tour will be finished by then. Um, and really looking forward [00:31:00] to that. Just remember, if you'd like to get in touch with us, please feel free. Uh, our email address is walks at dot NZ. Um, say hello if you like, um, or if you've got a story you'd like to contribute, please feel free to say hello. But we are moving now from, um the red dot to the yellow dot and the yellow dot is in Marion Street. And, um, what we're looking at is this building with this mural, which [00:31:30] was painted in 1990 by Michael, Ben and Michael. And part of this mural is an image of a sex worker, and it was painted there to acknowledge that the Cuba street area, the Marion Street Vivian Street area was is still, um, Wellington's red light district. Um, we've had, uh, Georgina, Dana and Carmen all worked in this area, and, um, this was I think a really nice [00:32:00] tribute to that history, and it's still visible today. Well, sex work in in New Zealand, um, has been documented, really? Since European colonisation. Uh, generally, it's been about, um uh, the activities of the sex workers rather than the clients. And, um, when you look at our laws, it's been about punishing sex workers [00:32:30] rather than clients. Um, in New Zealand, there wasn't like a specific law dealing with work that made it illegal. But there were laws around sex work. So, for instance, you could get charged with keeping a brothel. You could get charged with solicitation. Um, you could get charged with living off the earnings of prostitution. Um, and they were quite harsh penalties. [00:33:00] Um, you know, going back to 19. 08. You could get two years imprisonment with hard labour for being part of a, um, a brothel. Um, or I think there were some, um, penalties in the 19 sixties, where it was like at least five years imprisonment. Um, so they were pretty pretty tough laws in 2003. However, that all changed when New Zealand became the first country in the world [00:33:30] to decriminalise sex work the first country in the world to decriminalise sex work. Um, that was initiated by the New Zealand Prostitutes collection in the late 19 eighties. So from that from the late 19 eighties, they've been working to try and get the law changed. And this was about just making it so that, um, six workers had the same rights as any other worker. Um, and it was about being fair, and it was about being safe. [00:34:00] Um, Tim Barnett, who was a labour MP, picked up the challenge and he introduced the Prostitution Law Reform Act Bill. Sorry. In the early two thousands, and in 2003, it became law. It passed its last reading, its last hurdle in parliament by a vote of 60 votes for and 59 votes against. So it was a one [00:34:30] vote majority. But actually, that doesn't really matter, because, I mean, it passed and we became the first in the world, um, to have decriminalised sex work. Um, over to me. I just had a complete blank. Yeah, um, but there was there was one other thing I was I was going to say, um and that was, [00:35:00] um, really Interestingly, in an interview with Georgina Baer a few years ago, she recounted how the one time she was arrested with, uh, for work, um, they couldn't actually charge her, because at the time, she was legally considered a male. And so she was charged with being a rogue and a vagabond and charged with frequenting with Felonious intent. [00:35:30] In another interview, uh, Georgina recounts how the police would regularly, um, pick, uh, six workers up on a Friday night and then keep them in jail. Um, over the weekend, uh, to be brought before the courts on, um, Monday. And it sounded very like sport like they were doing for sport. There was no, there was no particular. No one was getting hurt. Um, there's no reason for it. It [00:36:00] it was just sport. And Georgina is quoted saying you'd be put in with men, and so you ran the risk of any kind of abuse and violence and sexual violence that might occur over the weekend, which is just shocking. Just really shocking. Yeah, well, Georgina had something else very poignant to say when it came to, um, parliamentary reform. Uh, she talked of her time when she was working as a prostitute and she said, in support of the bill this [00:36:30] bill gives provides people like me at that time with some form of redress for the brutalization. That may happen in a situation when you're with a client and you have a knife pulled on you, it would have been nice to have known Instead of having to deal out justice myself to that person, I may have been able to approach the police in this case and say I was raped. Now I have to say that we are fading into the background with the the light. [00:37:00] So, um, the camera the computer we're on is not particularly, um, fast. And I'm just going to try very quickly and try and change the visuals. Just so we're a wee bit brighter. Just bear with us. Just bear with us. Oh, my [00:37:30] goodness. Oh, my goodness. I don't know what it's doing. Um What? Oh, OK, now we're getting there. We're getting there. We're just just going to do this really quietly and configure and hopefully update signals. The output are council video and [00:38:00] ports. I mean, which is live webcasting, folks, we get much more live. You can't. And you know, we just kind of feel that actually, you probably want to see us rather than Well, I don't know if you do. I mean, to be honest, um what definition around us. Oh, hello. Hello. I'm out from the shadow here. Oh, happy. That's so good. OK, I wonder if we can do [00:38:30] it so that Oh, yes, that's That's good. That's better. All right. Great. Thank you. OK, you're welcome. OK, so, um, moving on. Now, um, we're going to just talk a little bit more about, uh, Georgina. I'll just find an image of you. Um, so another string to Georgina's bow is that the whole politic, The whole political part of Georgina's [00:39:00] life? Uh, in 1992 Georgina ran for the carterton district Council, but didn't get elected. But a year later, uh, won a by-election with a clear majority. And then in 1995 she was elected mayor of Carterton district. And this is an image from Georgina's time as mayor. This is really significant in the world because, uh, Georgina became the first openly transgender person in the world to hold a May [00:39:30] in 1999 she moved into local government, uh, from local governments to be to become a member of parliament. And again, this is hugely significant because, um, Georgina became the first openly transgender member of parliament in the world. Um, and during, uh, Georgina's time in parliament, she fought for prostitution reform, civil unions and gender identity legislation. Uh, which we'll talk about, uh, a little bit later on. [00:40:00] Gosh, we are bright now, aren't we? I can enjoy. OK, so we're moving along to our next stop now, which is going from the red dot to the yellow dot And here we are in the heart of Wellington's Rainbow Precinct. And this is really championed by former Mayor Justin Lester. And this is the second rainbow crossing in New Zealand. Um, Roj, [00:40:30] can you tell me where was the first rainbow crossing? Um, don't tell me. Was it Queenstown? Oh, you've just read that script? Yeah. Oh, there you go. Yes. Queenstown had the first rainbow crossing Wellington, the second rainbow crossing. And there's a third rainbow crossing, um, in, um, up the coast just north of Wellington, which gets painted on every year on to a rainbow [00:41:00] crossing and then the council will come along the next day and remove it, Which is kind of anyway, um, it is what it is. So this crossing here in Wellington, um, was launched on the birthday of Carmen repay in October 2018. The transport authority at the time actually opposed this crossing along with the police, saying that it would be confusing for motorists and pedestrians because [00:41:30] it looked like a pedestrian crossing. And their quote was there was a high risk of confusion and a dazzling and distracting effect. And by this image, I don't see anyone looking confused or dazzled for that. But it looks amazing. Um, so we also had Justin list of the mayor, um, paint part of the crossing. And he was pretty pleased that he wasn't arrested because, um, the transport authority at the time [00:42:00] were wanting to call on the police to stop this happening, but it went ahead. Now, the other thing in the Rainbow Precinct are these pedestrian lights and the lights when they go green for people to cross the road, um, show a silhouette of Carmen and they were, um, launched in 2016 by then Mayor Celia Wade Brown. Um, and that's another really [00:42:30] exciting part of the precinct. And just to give you another image of Georgina, this is Georgina, um, in the love parade. Uh, in 2015, it started off at Civic Square, went up Cuba Street, went past where the rainbow crossing is now and ended up on, uh, street. Now, just in the same area is what we now have as the oaks complex where that yellow [00:43:00] dot is. And there's another view of the oaks complex, and you can see the rainbow crossing in the foreground. What used to be there was actually the Oaks Hotel, the Royal Oak Hotel, And this is an image of the royal oak. So Cuba Street is on the right hand side, going up, and Manor Street is on the on the left There. What an amazing place. Well, for a time, Georgina Baer worked at the Royal Oak, um, as a night porter, and she [00:43:30] remembers the bistro bar as being populated by an eclectic mix of life, everything from drag queens to trannies to prostitutes, male and female sailors. It was quite a sort of rough bar, but full of all this colour and life. Well, next to the bistro was the tavern bar, which was almost an exclusively gay bar. So at that time, it was perfectly legal legal to discriminate in New Zealand against homosexuals in regard to employment, uh, provision [00:44:00] of services and accommodation. Um, but that only changed with the Human Rights Act of 1993 championed in Parliament by MP. Catherine O'Regan. Now, for the first time, law prevented discrimination on the grounds of, amongst other things, someone's sexuality or HIV status. However, uh, there was no explicit mention in the law about gender identity, and almost 20 years later, Catherine O'Regan apologised for not including transgender people in the legislation. In October 2004, [00:44:30] uh, Georgina Baer introduced the Human Rights Gender Identity Amendment Bill to parliament, and the bill offered specific protection from discrimination on the grounds of gender identity. But unfortunately it was introduced to Parliament during the very heated debate over civil unions. Now the bill was shelved after the general election in 2005 and then withdrawn altogether by Georgina in 2006, following an opinion from Crown Law which said that transgender people were already protected [00:45:00] under the existing human rights legislation in New Zealand. Well, that same year the Human Rights Commission launched an inquiry into discrimination experienced by transgender people. And the inquiry was a world first by a national human rights, uh, institution that resulted in the publication of To Be Who I Am in 2008. And as it stands, gender identity is still not explicitly mentioned in the Human Rights Act. This [00:45:30] is a really good point in the proceedings to really acknowledge one of our local icons and activists. Um, Shelly Taki Howard. This is a lovely photo of Shelley, and it was taken by Kate Spencer. Well, um, Shelley in 2015, um conducted a social experiment and education campaign in Midland Park, which is about 15 minutes walk from where we are now. [00:46:00] Um, Shelley's experiment really wants to highlight the difference between tolerance and acceptance. She stood blindfolded with arms outstretched and two signs beside her. One summarised data from the youth 12 survey, which showed that despite the many hardships faced by transgender youth, they were still the most active in youth communities in helping and assisting others. And the second sign read, I am transgender. I honour you. Will [00:46:30] you honour me? Hug me? In an interview with Jack Lynch, Shelley recalls how she engaged with around 25 people that day And how for some, even though they were hugging, there was a real distance there. But in other situations, um, there was a real connection, and she reflected on those interactions. Now that you've got this information, what are you going to tell your Children? What are you going to tell your partner? Are you going to go to the local school board of trustees [00:47:00] and tell them that we have to do more for queer identifying youth? Well, sadly, Shelley passed away in November 2017, and it just It just seems like yesterday, doesn't it? Um, yeah. No, she was She was amazing. Mhm Well, on to our next stop. Um, there's a little map there. There we go to the yellow dot We're at the red dot and we're going around to the site of [00:47:30] the bell. The balcony cars, um, entertainment spot there. Um, it was established here on the corner of Victoria and Harris streets in the early 19 seventies, Um, and is now the corner of the um, public library. Here's an image, uh, from the time when La Belle was there, the hurry up shoe repairs and a great photo here were down below and above, uh, was Carmen's the balcony. It was an entertainment establishment catering [00:48:00] to mixed audiences and could accommodate up to 400 guests. So it was a pretty big space up there, Um, Georgina Baer recalls. She walked up a relatively long flight of stairs from street level and then walked into a wide open room with a catwalk, tea style stage tables and chairs for seating. It was a bit of a Las Vegas style show and sort of feathers and bras and G strings and things. The performers were always very beautiful, exotic and beautifully costumed. Georgina remembers it as sort [00:48:30] of titillating. It was nothing like a strip club, and they didn't really strip. They might get topless, but it had Class was burlesque, and here's a playbill from one particular night, Uh, in the early seventies, on this night, you could see the Paris by night review, which included the jungle slave girl, and you could also see the routine school girl expelled Spider Woman and Go Go Fantasia. Uh, In May 1975 Carmen uh made national headlines when [00:49:00] she revealed in a television interview that she knew of both the current gay member of Parliament as well as members that were bisexual. Now remember that at the time, homosexual practises were still illegal in New Zealand and would be up until 1986. So members of Parliament took great offence and voted for Parliament's Privileges committee to investigate Carmen's statements. Now they found that Carmen had lessened the esteem in which Parliament is held. Carmen unreservedly apologised for the statements and told [00:49:30] the committee that she regretted regretted making them well. Car's next foray into politics, just a couple of years later, was to run for Wellington's mayoralty in 1977. Um, with the backing of Bob Jones, her campaign slogan was Get in behind the part of her campaign, uh, advocated for legalised brothels and gay marriage, which was, uh, remarkably well ahead of its time. Um, considering the mainstream society. Unfortunately, [00:50:00] she lost the May race to Michael Fowler. Speaking of Michael Fowler, that's our second last stop and Let's bring this up. So we're going from the red dot to the yellow dot the Michael Fowler Centre and we're showing you this because in March 2018, it was lit up in the colours of the trans flag. So blue, pink and white. And that was to commemorate Zeena Campbell, who had died [00:50:30] a month earlier in Arrow Valley, and lighting up the Michael Fowler Centre, Mayor Justin Lester said, We're standing side by side, shoulder to shoulder with the pride and trans community now. The lighting up of the MFC followed a vigil for Zena and that was organised by transgender advocate Bella Simpson. Now Bella went to high school with Xena, and Bella spoke that night about the average life expectancy of trans women globally, [00:51:00] and that age was 41 years, which is just shocking. The average life expectancy is just shocking. At age 11, Uh, Bella, uh, was one of the first members of Transform, um, a trans and gender diverse uh Peer Youth Support group, which started here in Wellington in 2008 and over the last decade, Bella's really publicly advocated for trans youth rights. In 2016, she received a youth LGBTI [00:51:30] change make award from MP Nicky Kay at a special ceremony in Parliament. And then, in 2018, uh, Bella was present on the steps of Parliament, where, for the very first time, anywhere in the world, the bisexual, intersex, trans and rainbow flags flew at the seat of Parliament, uh, to mark the International Day against homophobia, transphobia biphobia and intersex phobia in a recent [00:52:00] newspaper article. Uh, well, actually, just from a a year or so ago, Um, Bella is quoted as saying, I've been told several times by doctors, psychologists, teachers and colleagues that my identity is a phase and I'll grow out of it online. I've been told that I'm not a real woman, that I should just kill myself because no one wants me. But guess what. I'm here. I'm alive and I'm not going anywhere. [00:52:30] Well, it's a statement that, um also resonates when we think about Carmen Rope. To quote the composer Jack Bo, the lesson that we learned from Carmen is we've got one life, and the worst thing we can do is to have fears and anxieties. We have to embrace life and be who we are. Well, the last location on this tour is the boat shed, uh, on the waterfront. And this was the location of Carmen's 70th birthday [00:53:00] party in October 2006. Carmen flew over from Sydney for the occasion. She was escorted to the boat shed by two muscle men who were her personal servants for the night, and there was a guard of honour, with over 70 trans people lining both sides of the stairs into the venue. The Australian high commissioner spoke, and the mayor of Wellington presented her with the keys to the city. The former vice squad detectives presented her with the order of the pink policeman's helmet hat, Um, a real police helmet painted [00:53:30] pink, complete with feathers. During the same trip, she was welcomed back to Parliament for a special dinner 32 years after she was last there before parliament's Privileges committee. Now, Georgina Baer said in an interview that one of the proudest moments as an MP was when she and fellow gay MP S, Tim Barnett and Chris Carter welcomed Carmen back to parliament to meet the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, Carmen never lost her fire her A. And there's a great image of her [00:54:00] just two months before her death in 2011, performing at her 75th birthday in Sydney. A remarkable person and, uh, somebody that has left a legacy not only here in Wellington and in New Zealand, but in Australia, Australasia and and also the world. And what a wonderful place to end on this very special day, the 28th of June 2020. This is, of course, the anniversary of the [00:54:30] Stonewall riots in New York City. Um, and it's amazing, even though it was a New York city at half a world away, but it still had an impact here in New Zealand and around the world. And that's something to be remembered and celebrated. Um, today is also, uh, the, uh, global pride 2020. And that is happening right at the moment as we speak. And in around about four minutes time. Uh, the New [00:55:00] Zealand segment, a segment for global pride, is going to happen. That's streaming on YouTube. Um, and you can just type in Global pride 2020 you'll get the address. Um, well worth seeing So, um, have your pride, everyone. And this also marks our first, um, physical walk tour since COVID-19 lockdown was lifted. Um, and it was really lovely to be able to take people physically around Wellington [00:55:30] today and show them the sites. So we really hope you've enjoyed, um, this, uh uh, This this this history, uh, feature, uh, we've really enjoyed bringing it to you. And, um, we will see you again shortly. Thank you for watching.
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