As thrilled as she is to receive a Queen's Birthday honour today, transgender equality activist Lexie Matheson says she would willingly swap her Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for the addition for two words to the Human Rights Act. Matheson was today honoured for her work in education and the performing arts but the citation also acknowledges her work for glbti people. “Performing arts and education are prominent in the citation, a lot of that has been work that I've done and I have often wondered about people getting awards for doing their job, earning a living... but perhaps they thought I'd gone the extra mile and often for no recompense,” Matheson says. “But the mention of the work that I do, like many people do in their own ways, for the queer community, that's the part that gives me the most satisfaction.” Matheson says she is quite aware of the irony of her being officially acclaimed by the Crown when she has been a strong critic of the government and several of its agencies. “When it comes to being a critic of successive governments and agencies of the government, such as Corrections and the police, I like to think it's a really healthy situation, that I can do this and it's not seen as something personal. I've had to think about that quite a bit, it's nice to have the honour because I can use that as a degree of credibility in terms of the work that I do with young transgender kids. The really important work to be done is to get transgender people covered by the human rights act, to have really good practices at Corrections and the police, because we have a way to go down that path. “So what I've been thinking today is that the government is prepared to acknowledge somebody like me, poking them in the ribs fairly regularly on these matters then maybe we're not as far away from a resolution as it sometimes seems. But do we have to keep reminding the politicians.” As to whether Matheson considered not accepting the honour, “The letter from the Governor General's office made it clear I was under no obligation to receive it.” She says when it was first mooted “I talked with my family and part of the conversation was 'Why not?' and I really couldn't come up with a reason why not. I thought I'm not going to insult the people who put my name forward by saying no. Then I put it out of my mind... so when I got the letter I was pleasantly surprised but it was [partner] Cushla and [son] Finn who got all excited, more excited than I was. But I had a look at it later on and thought I can use that for the causes that I espouse.” But, she says, “I'd very happily trade it for two words in the Human Rights Act. That's not meant to disrespect to the Governor General or the Queen but I am desperate to see 'gender identity' in the act
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 6th June 2016 - 7:44pm