Raw Sugar monthly social is on! We’re deep in the hot thick summer months now, with long evenings, short nights, and lots of time work towards our goals!
*Tatataapui * Trans * Intersex * Queer * Rainbow * Plus friends and whaanau*
Ka aha te raa (date): Sat Nov 10th
Ka aha te waa (time): 4pm – 8pm
Kei reira (location): The Gender Centre, 128 Abel Smith street, Wellington
Homai (bring along): he kai to share, or just bring yourself, or friends, or whaanau
Waea mai (contact us on): genderminorities@gmail.com
Raw sugar is a FREE event, a SOBER event, it is WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE, and has GENDER NEUTRAL BATHROOMS.
Come and have some talks by the fire, eat some food, meet other lovely people, and have a good time..
NB film is actually at 6p not 4pm as in the poster. Film sometimes has an age restriction.
We also thought we could share with you some of the work we’ve done throughout the year – this is where your donations end up! We welcome all feedback and ideas for what you would like to see in 2019.
The trans communities are warmly invited by the author, Caren Wilton, to attend the launch of her book My Body, My Business – New Zealand Sex Workers in an Era of Change.
The book is based on oral history interviews, and is full of colourfully told personal stories from 11 sex workers in Aotearoa NZ, including 4 trans sex workers.
Caren, on behalf of the late Dana de Milo, whose story is featured in the book, is donating a portion of every book sale to Gender Minorities Aotearoa.
The launch is at Unity Books 57 Willis St, Wellington, 6pm on Thursday 29 November. Nau mai haere mai, all welcome. RSVP to publicity@otago.ac.nz by November 27th.
My Body, My Business will also be available from Unity bookstores in Auckland and Wellington, university bookstores, Whitcoulls, and some Paper Plus, as well as online sales from Unity Books Online.
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”.
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%).
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).
Transgender Awareness Week runs from November 12th – 20th, it’s purpose is to raise awareness about trans people, including intersex and non-binary people, our lives, our humanity, our struggles, and our joys. It ends with TDoR, Transgender Day of Remembrance, on November 20th – a day to remember the trans people around the world who have been lost to murder. It is also a day to affirm our resolution to fight for the living, and to end all stigma, discrimination, and violence against trans people.
This Transgender Awareness Week, we have a simple message for Aotearoa New Zealand: Trans people exist, and that’s a positive thing.
Thanks to our friends at RainbowYOUTH, OUTLineNZ, and Like Minds, Like Mine, our transgender diversity posters are up in Whangarei, Auckland, Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin this week.
Invercargill and Hamilton can also expect to see them on November 18th.
Big shout out to trans folks in smaller cities, towns, and rural areas – let’s work together to make sure every local community embraces us fully and gives us the opportunities, respect, and love we deserve.
