Lesbian community events organiser and activist Cissy Rock, who yesterday was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen's Birthday Honours, says she is amazed "a National party-led government" saw fit to honour "an old lesbian from west Auckland." Rock says she was "shocked" when first nominated, and also "quite conflicted" as "I wasn't wanting to sell my soul to the system... so I had to ask do I want this or not? After all queer people like me are used to working outside then system, of bucking the establishment and finding new ways of doing things." But, she says, she decided that "if someone wants to hand out something like this which will make us more visible then that's a good thing... I want to stand up with all the people that have been behind me. This is about putting the spotlight on work that's done for our community, it draws attention to all the community-building work people have to do." Rock says her family and friends are "very proud, very chuffed" by the honour, "I've been overwhelmed by how touched people seem to be."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 7th June 2016 - 10:25am