Fri 25 Sep 2015 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
The Wellington Young Feminists group is calling for Girl Guides NZ to hand over organisation of the upcoming Take Back the Night event following what they describe as a series of transphobic actions and a general lack of an inclusive policy. The event is due to take place on 2 October as part of a national advocacy initiative for GirlGuiding New Zealand's Stop The Violence Campaign, however the organisation has been called out on its lack of inclusion in regards to the transgender community. Take Back the Night is a well recognised global movement aiming to highlight the problem of gendered and sexual violence. Following a series of challenges from both the Wellington Young Feminists and the general public, Girl Guides NZ have recently stated that they have never intended that the event would focus on sexual violence, rather on general feelings of safety in communities. On 17 September Co-chair of the Wellington Young Feminists, Rachael Wright, commented publically on the event Facebook page inquiring about trans inclusion and representation and a resulting public discussion brought up more questions regarding these matters. A transgender woman who joined the conversation had her comments deleted from the page and was eventually blocked - something the Wellington Young Feminists group have called an act of silencing. With discussions continuing on the page and members of the public becoming increasingly upset by the lack of inclusion, the organisers appear to have deleted all discussions before finally releasing a statement of apology that reads; “As an event run by a small group of GirlGuiding NZ volunteers, there were concerns that some of the comments made did not reflect what we were trying to achieve and were not in line with the feeling of safety we are trying to create. We would very much like to discuss concerns surrounding the event, however we would prefer to do this via messaging and email, as this allows us to give concerns the full time and consideration they deserve.” Wright says, “It's not good enough for them to silence trans women rather than be responsive to concerns around inclusion. We, as feminists, need to learn from our mistakes and try to grow a feminism which is aware of the interlinking of oppressions. “It is not okay for an organisation to claim ownership of an event like this and to shut down trans women's efforts at highlighting issues of trans safety.” Girl Guides NZ have yet to release any information regarding a change towards making the event more inclusive and Wright says she is disappointed in the transphobic and transmisogynistic actions of the organisers. She believes Girl Guides NZ are exploiting the brand recognition of the event and are disrespecting the events history. In a letter sent to Girl Guides NZ on September 24 the Wellington Young Feminists ask for the organisation to withdraw from their role in organising the event. Wright says; “We are not proposing this event become a Wellington Young Feminist event. Rather, there are a group of volunteers from a range of backgrounds who are willing to run this event. We would hold public organising meetings and liaise with other groups to make Take Back The Night what it should be: an inclusive, community-based response to gendered and sexual violence in Aotearoa.” Girl Guides NZ have since amended the event description to read; “Take Back the Night is an event for all women of all ethnicities and backgrounds, including trans, cis, and queer, as well as people who support them. We should all be able to feel safe in our community. It is a time for people to come together and support each other to take back the night; to reclaim it as a space that we should be able to feel safe in; to speak out and say violence of any form, to anyone is not okay.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 25th September 2015 - 4:43pm