Mon 1 Nov 2010 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Mama Tere Strickland The New Zealand AIDS Foundation Trust Board has decided to uphold its decision to award life membership to Mama Tere Strickland. “The decision to award Mama Tere life membership subsequently became the subject of a complaint due to Mama Tere's history and past advocacy with respect to sex workers and sex worker rights,” says board chair Alastair Cameron. “The Trust Board has now completed its consideration of this complaint. It has decided to uphold its decision to award life membership to Mama Tere on the basis that her long-term contribution to the NZAF's mission to prevent the transmission of HIV meets the stated criteria for life membership.” Cameron says Strickland's contribution includes: • involvement with the NZAF since 1996 and a strong advocate for NZAF's mission and our safe sex messages for over 15 years; • active participation at the NZAF Takatāpui Hui since 1997; • represented the Takatāpui community on the NZAF Trust Board from 1999 to 2001; • guidance and support for the NZAF's Māori staff, including our Kaimahi in the Hau Ora Takatāpui programme (1999 to 2008); • an advisor to the Trust Board on issues for Māori; • community work for takatāpui tane and vulnerable rangatahi in one of New Zealand's most challenging urban areas. Cameron says in making the decision, the NZAF Trust Board acknowledges that when it comes to the Prostitution Law Reform Act and advocacy strategies for sex workers, Strickland has not always held the same position as the NZAF. However, Cameron says the NZAF must work with a broad spectrum of people and views in order to achieve its mission to prevent the transmission of HIV in the communities most at risk, and does not always expect to agree with everyone all the time. He says life membership recognises people's "significant and long-term work related to our mission, but we may still disagree with them about certain aspects of how to meet our mission over time." “Trustees understand that the decision to continue with the award of life membership to Mama Tere is controversial, and will anger some people who we deeply respect and whose association with the Foundation we value highly. This is a reflection of our need to work with a broad spectrum of people, and we simply ask that people consider Mama Tere's contribution to the NZAF's broader mission and the process leading up to this decision in its entirety.” Cameron says Strickland was nominated for life membership independently of the Foundation. He says as with all life membership nominations received, the board was then required to consider her nomination against the stated criteria for life membership. The board chair says the original decision was based on the fact that Mama Tere met those criteria, evidenced by the contributions outlined above. “The Board then reconsidered this decision in light of the information provided in the complaints. This process noted that the nomination's list of activities undertaken by Mama Tere still met the criteria for the life membership award.” Cameron says the board's consideration of the complaint also revealed that the draft citation outlining the basis for the award of life membership to Mama Tere included, in error, additional aspects of Mama Tere's work that were not included in the original nomination. “These aspects related to Mama Tere's advocacy for sex workers. The purpose of circulating the draft citation to recipients was for errors to be identified and corrected. The citation will be changed to refer only to the details in the nomination provided by the member, which do not include Mama Tere's advocacy for sex workers.” Cameron says the board intends to review the processes surrounding the nomination and awarding of life membership. “The board had already decided to initiate this review before receiving this complaint, although this investigation provides further insights into how to improve these processes. It shows that these awards are of interest to the NZAF's broader community, meaning that the processes should arguably involve greater input from people within that community.” You can discuss this New Zealand glbt community news story in the GayNZ.com Forum
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 1st November 2010 - 1:14pm