Wed 19 Oct 2016 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Lesbian activist and events organiser Cissy Rock, who yesterday received her Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit from the Governor General, says the experience was pleasantly “counter cultural” for her but she also enjoyed talking with people at Government House, Wellington, about their experiences with glbti family members. Cissy Rock in this year's Auckland Pride Parade Also receiving her Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit Queen's Birthday Honour yesterday was Lexie Matheso. Both women were acknowledged for their work with and for people in the glbti communities. “For me it was a pretty surreal experience,” Rock , who is known for her ebullient, up front and frank informality, says. “It was quite formal with instructions from Government House staff beforehand and us recipients all lined up like schoolchildren following the officer who led us in. There was quite a lot of pomp and ceremony” “The nerves only kicked in when we were being led into the presentation room,” but afterwards “I was beaming really, I felt like a naughty schoolgirl who's been made head prefect!” She says she was pleased that after the presentation a number of people came up to her to talk about transgender family members, working with bullied glbti youth and a Tongan clergyman who told her “it was good to see gay people being honoured.” Rock was accompanied to the presentation ceremony by her partner and she says after the formalities they were shown around Government House and "took a whole heap of selfies."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 19th October 2016 - 7:53pm