Contest Money Still On Offer (Press, 19 October 1976)
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Summary: Contest Money Still On Offer (Press, 19 October 1976)
Organisers of a transsexual beauty contest scheduled for Sunday in Christchurch have confirmed their intention to donate the proceeds to the Cholmondeley Children’s Home, despite the home's board announcing that it would not accept funds raised by the event. A spokesperson for United Sexualities, the group organising the contest, stated that the proceeds would still be offered to the children’s home. However, if the offer was declined again, they would redirect the funds to another charity. On Friday, the board of Cholmondeley Children’s Home released a statement explaining their position regarding the contest. They publicly dissociated themselves from the event and informed the organisers that they could not accept any benefits stemming from it. The board’s president, Mr C. L. Paterson, expressed discontent over the organisers' use of the home’s name without proper authority in the promotion of the contest. He clarified that the board was not passing a moral judgment on the group but rather addressing a specific grievance. In response to claims made by a spokesperson from United Sexualities that the board had previously accepted donations from the group, Mr Paterson indicated that while such contributions might have been made, none were accepted under that name. United Sexualities is described as an informal collective of transsexuals, transvestites, and lesbians that has been active in Christchurch for approximately four years. According to the spokesperson, there are around 15 transsexual individuals and roughly ten times that number of transvestites in the city. The Cholmondeley board noted that the group's initial approach to them was presented as being "on behalf of university students," a claim that the spokesperson from United Sexualities denied, referring to it as a “silly ploy.” This ongoing dispute highlights the tensions surrounding the intersection of charitable fundraising and LGBTQ+ representation in the community, especially amid the social attitudes of the time in 1976.
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