<strong>The long read</strong>: A police raid on a gay bar New York led to the birth of the Pri movement half a century ago – but the fight for LGBTQ+ rights go back much further than that
Contents:
- A TRANS HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN NEW ZEALAND
- WORTH FIGHTG FOR! — A HISTORY OF GAY RIGHTS
- STORY: GAY MEN’S LIV
- GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT PROTT
- PAGE 2. GAY ACTIVISM AND LAW REFORM
- THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT
- 50 YEARS OF GAY LIBERATN AOTEAROA
- PARTY AND PROTT: THE RADIL HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN, STONEWALL AND PRI
- GAY RIGHTS
A TRANS HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN NEW ZEALAND
Trans women – particularly Māori trans women – were 'the very first eedom fighters the gay movement'. * gay liberation movement new zealand *
The Gay Liberatn Front emerged to mand change laws and early 1972, Gay Liberatn groups sprang up Auckland, Wellgton and Christchurch after the amic Ngahuia Te Awekotu was nied a perm to vis the USA on the grounds that she was homosexual. For more rmatn on queer Aotearoa New Zealand prr to 1969, check out the followg: Elizabeth Kerekere, ‘Part of The Whān: The Emergence of Takatāpui Inty – He Whāriki Takatāpui, ’ PhD This, Victoria Universy of Wellgton, 2017; Chris Brickell, Mat and Lovers: A History of Gay New Zealand (Auckland: Random Hoe, 2008); Jsi Hutchgs and Clive Asp, eds., Sexualy and the Stori of Indigeno People (Wellgton: Huia, 2007); Alison J. For more rmatn specifcially on the role of trans people the gay movement, see Will Hansen, ‘“Every Bloody Right To Be Here”: Trans Ristance Aotearoa New Zealand, 1967-1989, ’ Masters This, Victoria Universy of Wellgton, 2020.
Danielle Street, ‘Queer activists vandalised a ‘gay’ ATM Auckland’, Vice, 24 Feb 2015; Aych McArdle and Ts McClure, ‘Auckland Pri Para and the hypocrisy of Big Corporate’, Vice, 23 Feb 2018; Maxe Jabs, ‘Pri Para: More sponsors pull their support’, RNZ, 21 Nov 2018; ‘Pri Para sponsors ‘blackmailg’ gay muny – Rākete’, RNZ, 23 Nov 2018. While the Gay Liberatn Front self may not have been found by trans people, trans women were the “ial impet” behd the gay movement: for was trans women – whakawāhe (Māori trans women) specifilly – who were the backbone of the muni om which the movement grew. In an early issue of the Auckland Gay Liberatn Front’s newspaper, Gay Lib News, activists plored the “suffotg tightns of the nuclear fay, ” which had rulted “anyone who don’t act acrdg to the male or female rol fed by society” as beg emed “unnatural, and subjected to discrimatn and sufferg”.
WORTH FIGHTG FOR! — A HISTORY OF GAY RIGHTS
Meanwhile, Victoria Universy of Wellgton’s Gay Liberatn Front branch clared s manifto that “those wh the movement who face addnal opprsn”, cludg “women, Maoris [sic], Pacific Islanrs, transvt and trans-sexuals and blatant gays, ” should be given “every enuragement to form special uc or sub-groups to prent their e to the movement”. Hesthia, a trans advocy group found Lower Hutt 1972, was an early supporter of gay liberatn, and turn members were equently asked to speak at nferenc, ved to gay liberatn danc, and gave tnal panels alongsi gay activists at hospals and schools. One anonymo Hesthia member, who marched the Auckland Gay Liberatn Front’s first prott down Queen Street, remembered beg heckled by “butch lbian separatists” durg a workshop Hesthia gave on trans issu at a Gay Liberatn Conference.
But the whe, middle-class members of Hesthia ntued to be ved to nferenc; was the trans sex workers, mostly Māori and Pasefika, who really faced the bnt of discrimatn wh the gay liberatn movement, and society more generally. Ngāhuia Te Awekotu, the very spark of Gay Liberatn Aotearoa, specifilly named three whakawāhe – Māori trans women – as the lears an hered “Polynian tradn” of queerns: om “the Mahu of Hawaii, Tahi, the Cook Islands, the Marquas, of the Fa’afafe of Samoa, of the Fakalei of Tonga, of the Carmens, and Shirell and Natashas of Aotearoa.
STORY: GAY MEN’S LIV
New Zealand Prostut Collective muny liaison Chanel Hati has scribed how credible was for her young trans self to see someone like Carmen beg so unapologetic: “this trans woman got out there, wh her big tti out, not shy…she broke down the barriers of nservative ials about what beg trans, or beg gay, or beg anythg other than the norm is…we stand on her shoulrs. For their place on the ontl, trans sex workers were reward wh srn; emed the “bottom of the gay heap, even though we were the face of ” as many cisgenr lbians and gays strove to distance themselv om this muny that was so monised.
It produced s report 1957 and, May 1958 the Homosexual Law Reform Society was found, wh the objective of liftg crimal sanctns om homosexual acts between nsentg adults private, the prcipal remendatn of the Wolfenn report rpect of homosexual nduct. Mr Mason's proposal had, unfortunately, some anomalo effects and some of his opponents ed this fact to acce him of master-mdg a secret nspiracy to legalize homosexual nduct, a suggtn which predictably attracted wi publicy.
GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT PROTT
It was joed 1964 by the Natnal Council of Women, whose argument for reform was based upon a fence of civil liberti, and upon the impropriety of imprisong homosexual offenrs, a pot nced by the Jtice Department for what is by now 15 years. As the ial exuberance of the law reform movement yield to a dogged termatn to persevere the face of prejudice and tratn, a new mood of impatience was experienced many quarters, not least on the part of many homosexuals.
Easter 1972, ed the whole of April saw a mhroom of activy om the "happeng" Albert Park to publicize an open letter to Auckland's mayor prottg gay opprsn to support om the Natnal Women's Liberatn Conference to terviews on rad, televisn and the prs. Th, gay liberatn and gay rights groups have, all parts of the untry, been particularly pennt upon the energi of dividual lears There have been s where a group has llapsed, or gone to temporary recsn, wh the parture of some key figure to another town, or overseas. Such views are not readily renciled wh those of the radils who, sensive to the bat already well-veloped wh the women's movement, see some measure of social renstctn, elimatg the var maniftatns of sexism, as mandatory for gay sexual polics.
The long-term aim of the gay rights movement is, acrdg to the Victoria Universy of Wellgton Gay Liberatn manifto of 19 76, a world which people are no longer labelled homosexual or heterosexual, but are thought of simply as people seekg posive, fulfillg exprsn of their sexual natur. The first, arisg out of a Lbian Conference March and the foundatn of the Gay Femist Collective, was the ongog issu of the place of lbians wh the movement and the need to strengthen lks between gay liberatn and the femist movement.
PAGE 2. GAY ACTIVISM AND LAW REFORM
I sgle out law reform rather than the new ncern wh the plight of gay parents, or the strengtheng inty of a transexual and transvte group wh the movement, or the vatns to CLF members to vis and take part schools programm (an activy which has flourished unntroversially many parts of the untry, the edor of the NZ Tablet notwhstandg) bee there has been and still is diverted wh the movement as to how important law reform is.
Now, if we take acunt of the and other siari, we end up wh different social arguments (cludg laws) om those which at prent obta, arrangement unr which hetero- and homosexual are treated alike as beg relevantly siar suatns But suppose someone objects that beg a homosexual is a relevant difference. In short, the suatns of homo- and hetero-sexual are not relevantly different Whatever steps we take legally, morally, socially, to protect the young, to enurage posive moral standards, to support social stutns, will apply irrpective of sexual orientatn. The Campaign for [unclear: s] Equaly (CHE) which had had [unclear: ence]1972-3 gatherg support [unclear: ] to Parliament, a project [unclear: aban-] light of the Kirk admistratn's wh the NZHRLS, was [unclear: rurrec-p] wh which gays and straights [unclear: t] a gay polil msage at [unclear: pros-][unclear: lidat] the forthg [unclear: elec-] activy marked a new [unclear: par-vake] of the Venn Young Bill's [unclear: ead] of tryg to spot the [unclear: libe-] electn was over, ndidat [unclear: nted] wh gay rights issu [unclear: tn] perd.
THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT
It should therefore be clear how negative and hostile social attus, attus which nspire to ero the dividual gay's nfince his or her own worth as a human beg, nstute an opprsive climate which to live, the more so bee the effects of such attus are pervasive, difficult to ppot and almost impossible to prove ntrovertibly any particular se. The raids on Auckland's "Backstage" club; the Social Welfare Department's disclatn to subsidise the Auckland Gay Welfare group; Amnty Internatnal's cisn that persons imprisoned on grounds of sexual orientatn were not a proper ncern of their anisatn.
Rad New Zealand's ban of "Sg If You're Glad to be Gay"; the prsure put upon Mr Highet and the newly-formed Film Commissn to prevent fancial support gog to the 'Night Mov' film; the disastro effect of an accatn of homosexual activy or volvg sexual activy upon public life and reer, seen the se of Moyle and O'Brien New Zealand, and of Jeremy Thorpe UK; the mpaigns of groups such as Concerned Parents Associatn, Catholic Home and School Associatns, and the Society for the Promotn of Communy Standards—and perhaps the edor of the NZ Tablet should be add to the list; the seizure of the Spartac Internatnal Gay Gui by Auckland Ctoms as cent; the failure to clu the NGRC or any gay group reprentativ the Human Rights Day semar. In the years to e there n be ltle doubt that the Gay Rights movement will grow, for even should achieve one of s primary aims, of law reform, there is a long road to hoe terms of tg the public so that Gays are eed om both direct and direct persecutn.
50 YEARS OF GAY LIBERATN AOTEAROA
The activist Sandy Gntlett argued that drag queens were the ‘most maligned of gay people’, spe their brave ristance to society’s ‘genr programmg’, and another wrer suggted ‘drags’ were pneers the gay movement, havg had ‘the urage to “e out” and bear the bnt of straight srn long before any of dared to’.
Male same-sex activy was still illegal durg the 1970s, and a young Graham Unrhill – later a gay activist – watched a gay rights prott march Auckland wh some trepidatn: ‘A small, brave group of people dared to march down Queen Street loudly mandg “gay rights”.
Although this applied to all forms of provotn, impacted on gay victims sce some killers had claimed their male victim proposned them sexually and ed them to lose ntrol, allowg them to be nvicted on the lser charge of manslghter. Although members of the gay muny were divid their opns about the rt, hundreds of people returned to the scene for the next several nights, some to ntue vlent opposn to the police and others to exprs their sexualy public for the first time.
PARTY AND PROTT: THE RADIL HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN, STONEWALL AND PRI
After Stonewall, however, a more radil polil nscns veloped that rulted om the formatn of many new groups, cludg the Gay Liberatn Front and Radilbians, whose members rejected the strategi and lled for a more ant rponse to homophobia. The papers clud sectns voted to muny updat, cultural events, and personal ads, but they also highlighted new polil ncerns, namely efforts to raise awarens about the problems of gay people prisons and ncerns about gay health. Public health thori, journalists, doctors, and even many the gay muny blamed gay liberatn and the looseng of sexual rtrictns for the epimic, but no one the medil or scientific muny actually unrstood the behavr of the vis.
” The spark me to Ngāhuia after she had been award a scholarship to study the Uned Stat and was nied a visa by the nsul, who labelled her a sexual viant to her face after she stated that one of her aims was to study gay power the US. It’s important to rist popular ias that Gay Liberatn started wh the 1969 New York Stonewall Inn Rts (a nohels semal event the history of global queer activism) and sudnly changed the world overnight, and stead work to unrstand and uplift the radil histori on our own shor, and to tell the stori that extend back many centuri. In Aotearoa, the Gay Liberatn movement of the 1970s sought to ee people om the homophobic shackl imposed by Brish lonisatn followg the signg of Te Tiri o Waangi 1840, which led to the adoptn of Brish laws, cludg the law which crimalised sodomy.
GAY RIGHTS
Gay liberatn uld never have occurred Aotearoa whout the prr existence of the muni, the “kamp men and women, the fairi, butch, queens, dyk, transsexuals, transvt, and htlers” who risked imprisonment, physil abe and social nmnatn orr to live their thentic liv. There were the kamp Māori women of 1960s Wellgton (they didn’t ll themselv lbians back then), who band together for safety, solidary and socialisg; the femme fairi betiful drs dolled up wh wigs and false eyelash on the arms of butch clad mascule attire, breasts strapped – female upl passg as heterosexual to avoid a hidg; the queer trailblazer Carmen Rupe, who employed transvt, transexuals, drag queens, gay men and lbians at her famo ffee lounge and other Wellgton tablishments the 60s and 70s.
Although theory activists sought clivy – the word ‘gay’ was ed broadly to name a muny that was racially diverse and volved homosexuals, bisexuals, asexuals, tersex people and trans people (though they ed different terms, such as “non-sexual” and “trans-sexual”) – practice GLF was a predomantly whe, middle-class, cisgenr movement. Soon they were advotg nothg ls than “gay liberatn” nscns-raisg groups to fundraisg danc, protts outsi hostile newspapers to refug for homels trans and queer people, this surge LGBTQ+ anisg took many forms, and as the first anniversary of the rts me to view, some the muny began discsg how bt to mark what was beg regard as the “Bastille day” of gay rights.
Wh a sgle lifetime, homosexualy has moved om beg a crime and a psychiatric disorr, punished the US by imprisonment, chemil stratn, social ostracisatn and a lifetime as a registered sex offenr, to a socially and legally regnised sexual inty. To relig and cultural nservativ, Pri paras are nothg ls than the public flntg of viancy, while many LGBTQ+ people regard today’s rporate-sponsored paras as havg sold out the radil, revolutnary mands of the gay liberatn movement.