Wed 30 Dec 2015 In: Our Communities View at Wayback View at NDHA
It’s that time of the year when we look back on the news stories that defined us as a community, the stories that shook the boat and the stories that continue to shape us. January It was a noticeably quiet start to the year, with people around the country recovering from the Christmas and New Years period. Unfortunately although quiet, it wasn’t the best start to 2015, with the passing of the colourful, eccentric and incomparable performer Warwick Broadhead and a scary late night encounter that saw Family Downunder resident DJ Wanda robbed on K’Rd by a man wielding a crowbar. Body Positive started the year off with positive news and secured a three year agreement that will see its annual contribution from the Ministry of Health rise from $100,000 to $150,000. February With the Auckland Pride Festival came pride, protests and GAYTMs - what a festive and eventful month it was! No Pride in Prisons protest the Auckland Pride Parade In the true nature of pride, protests were plenty this month with things kicking off one day before the parade when Ponsonby Road’s ANZ GAYTM, installed to celebrate, was hit in a paint attack - the anonymous group Queers Against Injustice took responsibility and stated the attack was to protest ‘pinkwashing’ and a “racist, classist and cis-biased” Pride. The following day a group, who we now know as No Pride in Prisons, protested as Corrections staff marched down Ponsonby Road, “to highlight the fact that the queer, Māori and Pasifika communities are disproportionately harassed and targeted by police.” Allegations of violence were circulating as the group claimed that one of the protesters had her arm broken when she was thrown to the ground by Pride security. They also alleged that Glam Slam manager and GABA President Heather Carnegie participated in the violence. To round things off, ANZ’s Ponsonby bank branch and the Ponsonby Police Station both had pink paint hurled at them in a separate overnight attack. March A rather quiet month following pride festivities in Auckland and Wellington, this month it was Christchurch’s turn to celebrate. The Auckland Pride Festival apologised “for anyone who was harmed” during the Pride Parade, saying it completely supports the right to protest, an Auckland man was charged over allegations he infected another man with HIV and NZDF Overwatch founding member Stu Pearce married his long term partner in a NZDF Chapel - the first time a NZDF chapel has hosted a same-sex wedding. April Vern Keller Sometimes research fails to surprise us and in April Australian research confirmed for the rest of the world what we’ve known for a while now - that far more gay men are now finding long-term partners online, via apps and dating websites. Perhaps more surprising was Caitlyn Jenner’s announcement to the world that she is transgender. The NZ AIDS Foundation lost a true champion when librarian and researcher Vern Keller died suddenly in his home this month. He was farewelled in a service which ran the emotional spectrum from deep sorrow through to warm laughter. May New Zealand Rugby revealed it is developing a diversity programme to educate and eliminate homophobia in the game, however, as these things seem to go, we take one step forward in one direction and one backwards in another - evident when a move within the Labour Party to push for free gender-reassignment surgery was slammed before it’s even gained significant traction. Not ones to let difficult times pull us apart, following a devastating earthquake that struck Nepal, in true community spirit, a New Zealand appeal was launched to help LGBTI people affected by the disaster. June Half way through the year and what a busy month it was. While Family First continued to push damaging rhetoric around LGBTI people this time releasing a “nonsense” gender identity report, Wellingtonian LGBTI advocate Tabby Besley jetted off to the UK and was honoured with a Queen’s Young Leaders Award. Colin Craig and David Farrier The New Zealand AIDS Foundation were given the go-ahead to trial PrEP in New Zealand and revealed the annual number of gay and bi men newly diagnosed in New Zealand with HIV has risen to the highest level since the HIV epidemic began. Mika withdrew his involvement in the Auckland Pride Festival due to the removal of clear commitment to Treaty of Waitangi principles in Pride's objectives. The Pride board later pledged to reword its constitution to reflect their commitment to the principles. And finally, anti-gay political wannabe stood down as leader of the Conservative Party; after he appeared in a sauna with David Farrier for an interview on TV3’s Newsworthy (need we say more?) and overseas the US Supreme Court made the historic ruling that same-sex couple across the nation can marry. July It was all happening in some of our biggest LGBTI community organisations this July, while Vinnie Sykes and Kirsten Sibbit were appointed as the new co-chairs of Auckland Pride Festival Inc, little did we know the Outgames Board had resigned en masse (it would be a few weeks until this unexpected news was made public). …and a man in Seattle attempted to hold a ‘straight pride’ parade but it turns out heterosexual people were just not that into it - he was the only person who attended. August The Outgames story blew up and a bombshell press release revealed the mass-resignation of the Board. The former Board would not speak for a further ten days and it was revealed that they could not secure funding for the now-abandoned 2016 Outgames. Meanwhile trans inmate Jade Follet was transferred to a women’s prison following a No Pride in Prisons hunger strike that forced Corrections to review her request. September Robbie Manson and Chris Harris What a month for sport it was! Cyclist Linda Villumsen claimed the individual time trial at the Road World Cycling Championships, nabbing the coveted rainbow jersey, the Falcons claimed trans-Tasman gay rugby championship the Purchas Cup and openly gay double scullers Robbie Manson and Chris Harris secured a spot at the Rio Olympics after making the final of the world rowing championships in France. Despite the great successes for our athletes this month, GLISA-AP announced that they would no longer support the 4th Asia-pacific Outgames that were planned to take place in Auckland this coming February. It was also the beginning of an intense few months for Body Positive when, after closing their offices in Wellington due to funding constraints, 50 Body Positive members signed a petition for a Special General Meeting to be held citing a lack of confidence in the board. October A rather depressing month for LGBTI news, the latest suicide statistics show numbers are higher than ever, Linda Heavy resigned as General Manager of Auckland Pride Festival and a car crash took the life of Christchurch man, Michael James Burnby, leaving his husband Tony Tucker in a critical condition. The lighthearted news for the month came when Auckland couple Alley Williams and Ashleigh Habgood found themselves 15 minutes of fame after their Facebook plea for sperm went viral. November Beenie Man Who could forget the Beenie Man saga, the controversial reggae singer was set to play at Raggamuffin Festival in February but was taken off the lineup after he refused to deny his homophobia and hung up on one of our Daily News journalists during an interview. Good riddance - he’s been replaced with out lesbian singer Diana King. It was a great month for RainbowYOUTH who received a $150k funding boost however the month was not rosy for all LGBTI organisations. Amid an ongoing battle between its board and a group of dissatisfied members, Body Positive lost a board member and in the weeks following a vote of no confidence saw the rest of the board collapse. December Tis the season to be jolly and many of you have taken off on your holiday escapes but be safe when you play, it was revealed this month that the rate of gay and bisexual men contracting syphilis has doubled. It seems that it is, however, the season for love and romance - our very own marriage equality champion, Louisa Wall, tied the knot, lesbian singer Anika Moa proposed to her partner and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster can now officiate your wedding. We learnt that not all things done in the name of Christmas spirit are joyful after an Auckland billboard company erected a transphobic Xmas billboard of Caitlyn Jenner - luckily after public outcry it was quickly removed and the company apologised for any offence caused, donating $1000 to RainbowYOUTH in an attempt to smooth things over. Finally, to end the news in review on a positive note, the last month of the year has brought with it a historic win for LGBTI couples who now have the right to adopt, whether married or not! GayNZ.com Daily News staff - 30th December 2015
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 30th December 2015 - 11:38am