Being trans and protesting

Many trans people are passionate about equality, which can lead them to join community groups, unions, or protests. This pamphlet gives legal information for trans people interacting with Police and the criminal justice system when protesting, if detained, and while being processed within the criminal justice system.

In 2017 we worked with a local anti-war protest group called Peace Action Wellington, to help them clarify the legal rights of transgender protesters interacting with Police. We addressed common questions for trans people, such as ”do I have to give my legal name to Police, if it’s my deadname?” and ”If I’m strip searched, what gender will the Police officer be?”.

You can find the answers to these questions in our booklet ‘Being trans and protesting”.

PDF – read online or download

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End Transgender Homelessness

According to international research, 15% of trans people run away from home or are kicked out because of their gender. Those rejected by family are twice as likely to have experienced homelessness (40%) as those who were not rejected (22%).

Trans people are routinely discriminated against in housing.

1 in every 100 New Zealanders lives in severe housing deprivation (1%). Yet for trans people, going by international statistics, the figure is 22 to 40 per 100 (22-40%).

Update: NZ data (Counting Ourselves) is out now – confirming that in NZ, 1 in 4 trans people of colour experience homelessness (around 25%), and 1 in 5 trans people more broadly (around 20%).

Download this image as a PDF here: End Trans Homelessness – Gender Minorities Aotearoa

We run the national peer to peer trans and rainbow housing network, Rainbow Housing NZ, which assists trans people who may otherwise be homeless into safe and appropriate housing.

Help to end trans homelessness – offer your rental property, spare room in your flat, or other accommodation through transgender housing networks like ours.

Contact us for non-discrimination policy development at your real estate agency, offer special discounts through us on your mobile homes, write to your local MP and tell them to make transgender housing a priority.Even just accepting, talking with, and supporting the young trans people in your family or extended family can make all the difference.

You can click here to join the Rainbow Housing Network, or click here to donate today and help end trans homelessness.

Sources: 2013 Census NZ, US Transgender Survey (25,000 trans people).

Aotearoa Trans Healthcare Guidelines Released

We’re very pleased to announce that the national guidelines for trans healthcare in Aotearoa have been released, and can be found here. We will be updating links across our website to help facilitate their use.

Great work from all involved in their development, we are looking forward to supporting healthcare providers in putting these guidelines into action in their practices. We encourage all transgender, intersex, and takataapui patients to download a copy and pass it along to their healthcare providers.

More information on gender affirming health care can be found in the national database by clicking on the main menu.

Rainbow Mental Health Support Survey

Are you queer, trans, non-binary, takataapui, intersex, LGBTQIA+, MVPFAFF, or questioning?

Have you accessed any mental health support in Aotearoa? (For example, counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists, or therapists)

Are you aged 14 or older?

We would love to hear about your experiences! Researchers at Victoria University of Wellington have teamed up with Gender Minorities Aotearoa, InsideOUT, and RainbowYOUTH, to create a 20 minute survey.

Your responses will be used to make resources for mental health professionals and you will enter the draw to win a $50 voucher.

Go to rainbowmentalhealth.nz or

Click here to take the 20 minute survey!

Number of Trans People in NZ

The Youth ’12 survey of 8,500 secondary school students in NZ showed 1.2% identified themselves as transgender.

With a population of 4.693 million, 1.2% = 56,316 trans people in NZ. A further 2.5% reported being unsure of their gender.

Make the spaces you are in be safe spaces to come out.

Gender Minorities Aotearoa, takataapui, transgender, and intersex NZ.

Wellington City Council Rainbow Community Consultation

Last week we joined other takataapui and rainbow community orgs and met with Wellington’s Mayor Justin Lester and the Wellington City Council city planners, to talk about how to make Wellington more rainbow friendly.

Of course if we were to have a statue it would have to be Georgina Beyer, and more murals would be great – especially if they’re designed and painted by local takataapui artists. We would love being trans to be so normal that no one would dream of attacking us. Visual representation matters.

However, at least in ‘Group 5’ we talked mostly about homelessness, and the massive ongoing work of housing rainbow people which falls on under-resourced community groups and individuals. We talked about lockers and a shower block for homeless people, maybe in Glover Park. We talked about how visual representation is great but material support is what we really need. We talked about how gentrification actually pushes rainbow people out of Wellington as rents rise and those who face the biggest inequities (takataapui) are forced out of Wellington and into Hutt Valley or Porirua. And we talked about gender neutral and accessible bathrooms in the Wellington CBD and beyond.

Above all else, the dozen+ community groups who were divided into 5 tables all came together with one unified voice: we need a council funded community venue/s where community groups can set up permanently and do their work without worrying about the rent.

So, we thank Mayor Justin Lester and Wellington City Council for hearing our korero, and we hope they are now enabled and empowered to act on our behalf, and make Wellington more rainbow friendly.