Following the Queer the Night march through Wellington on 9 June, a group of 50 to 60 queer activists and friends met on 16 June to discuss "What next?" We crowded into the Trades Hall foyer near where a bomb had killed caretaker Ernie Abbott years before. This was grassroots activism at the most basic, sit on the stone floor or stand. No cushy chairs or couches, just a focus on words and ideas. Experienced activists like Bill Logan and Kay Jones shared organising stories from the 80s and 90s. Animal rights activists Mark and another talked about what worked and what didn't in their campaigns. Lots of other people, some still students at high school, talked about the type of support they'd like to see. One talked about putting energy into a queer arts collective. Others talked of collective action and flash mobs. Most in the crowd of people were under 25 with a range of ages upwards. We thrashed out structures that would suit our movement and let us contribute skills and energy to different activities. We all agreed on an umbrella network based in Wellington but doing outreach to other areas. We will have regular meetings to plan and do activities, and will share information by e-mails and the Facebook group. OK, that's the structure but what do we want to do? There seemed to be a general aim of ending homophobia and transphobia in our society, with occasional reference to addressing heteronormative binary assumptions. We want to specifically address homophobia and transphobia in schools. We talked about the implicit homophobia in the decision to exclude an ex-student from the St Pat's College Ball. Possible options for improvement include ensuring education standards have positive and responsible content on sexuality and gender, and that resources used are appropriate and inclusive. A suggestion from overseas practice was having a designated LGBTI liaison officer in each school. Other specific issues were our antiquated adoption laws and the lack of marriage equality. Some people weren't personally interested in marriage equality but felt that if straights could marry, then we should have the choice too. There were other issues that had resonance with some people. These included concern over the lack of acceptance and support for LGBTI people in faith communities; ignorance about transgender issues and even transphobia in the broader "rainbow" community; and closed door policies of some parts of the community. One person suggested that we could do a lot more good for young people in our community if we had received over $800,000 instead of it going to Destiny Church. The group - as yet unnamed unless you refer to Queer the Night, Queer the World - will meet again on Thursday 23 June at 7pm. The co-ordinators are seeking a bigger venue and will post details when these are confirmed. In the meantime, if you're on Facebook sign up to the Queer the Night page. - (GayNZ.com thanks Kay Jones for the update) Kay Jones - 17th June 2011