Women who identify as queer, in any sense of the word, are gathering at Auckland's Charlotte Museum this afternoon, for a discussion aimed at crossing the boundaries of age and difference. Bridging The Gap is a women-focused spin-off of the LGBT Life: Then and Now event in May, where glbt people swapped stories about their lives. Jenny Rankine from the Charlotte Museum says it's for anyone who identifies as a non-heterosexual female. She says the plan is to look at assumptions and stereotypes about each other, across the age groups. "It's clear that there's differences about how we all perceive ourselves. And it's really neat to have a chance to talk about that, in an environment where it's comfortable to say 'well I think this and I know it's different from what you think', but nobody's going to shout you down, it's all just going to be really relaxed." Rankine says it's not often that queer-identifying women from across the generations get together in one place. She says in the 'early days', the 60s and 70s, everyone used to socialise together at the same pubs, whether trans, queer, bi, lesbian or gay. "They all looked out for each other. And then they sort of became very quickly separated into different identity groups." Rankine says when the venues went from volunteer to commercial, everyone moved into age groups. She says the community as lost the sense of 'looking out for each other' and coming out support that she clearly recalls. She says while some younger queer women may learn from their older counterparts, she is learning plenty from the younger crowd. "The environment that I grew up in and the pressures on sexual identity then, are quite different now. And I find that fascinating. And what we're hoping is to have more learning from young women as this event, because the learning mostly went the other way at the last event - and we want it to be mutual." Rankine says the event will be alcohol-free, due to concerns raised at the Then and Now event about the level of alcohol abuse, or "people getting trolleyed" across the community. "People from every identity group were talking about it and concerned about it, at our clubs and bars - and also just among ourselves. And so one of the things that was clearly is that there are hardly any non-alcohol environments for young people, apart from Rainbow Youth. Whenever we have an event like this we'll have an alcohol-free environment at the Charlotte Museum," Rankine says. Bridging The Gap is being held at the Charlotte Museum, 7a 43a Linwood Ave, Western Springs, at 2pm Sunday July 25.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Sunday, 25th July 2010 - 9:17am