Besley with her Selfie for Silence from the Day of Silence UPDATED: The coordinator of the national Queer Straight Alliance Network Tabby Besley is a semi-finalist for Young New Zealander of the Year. She is up against Lorde and nine other impressive New Zealand youth in the awards' shortlist. “This is such a lovely surprise - thank you so much to whoever nominated me!” Besley says, after hearing the news today. “I am really excited about the work being done in our queer youth communities gaining national recognition like this. I am just one of many doing this mahi though, so a big shout out to all the other incredible young people who are creating amazing changes for queer, trans and takatāpui youth all over the country.” Besley worked for Nelson’s Q-Youth as its drop-in centre coordinator after finishing high school. While there she was involved in a number of projects, including Pink Shirt Day. Now living in Wellington, she leads the Queer Straight Alliance (QSA) Network, which has helped create numerous student-driven diversity groups in New Zealand high schools since it was formed in 2011. The group helped run a PatchwerQ hui in Wellington last year, which was about offering support, developing leadership and encouraging connectedness between LGBTTIQ youth in the Wellington region and lower North Island. This year the QSA Network ran the first New Zealand national Day of Silence, a campaign against homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools. Besley is also the annual appeal coordinator for Wellington Rape Crisis. The winners of the New Zealander of the Year Awards will be announced in Auckland on 25 February.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 29th December 2014 - 10:41am