200+ Attendees at Trans Awareness Week Youth Led Gala!

200+ Attendees at Trans Awareness Week Youth Led Gala!

Our trans youth led gala was a huge success, with over 200 attendees, a dozen lively stalls, and a sweet chill zone, complete with fresh coffee courtesy of People’s Coffee. We wrapped up with the Wellington launch of Counting Ourselves, the national 2019 trans health report.

Stalls included:

Tarot readings and witchy zines and stickers

Makeup application, embroidery, and handmade jewellery

Cinnamon, chocolate chip, and almond cookies

Knitted soft toys and baking from Naming NZ

T-shirts, tote bags, bookmarks, and info booklets from InsideOUT

Hand made soaps from Shaddix & Co.

Really delicious scones from Project Youth

$5 fill-a-bag clothes from Aunty Dana’s Op Shop

Candy and info booklets from Victoria University Rainbow Students

and of course trans flag bunting, zines, diversity posters, trans t-shirts, and poster print mugs, from Gender Minorities Aotearoa.

(zines by @Alex.pc.art )

Trans folks of all ages and their whanau and supporters had a great time, including stallholders from as far away as Palmerston North, and attendees from Feilding, Auckland, and other parts of the country. We met grandparents and parents, including some from the Parents of Transgender Children group.

Counting Ourselves Wellington Launch

It was all topped off at the end of the day by the Wellington launch of Counting Ourselves, the 2019 national transgender health research report, conducted by and for transgender people. Research Officer Jack Byrne talked about the report’s findings and recommendations, and encouraged everyone to use the data in their activism.

A one minute video excerpt from the Counting Ourselves launch. There is also an audio recording of the launch coming soon at PrideNZ.

Youth team representatives closed the evening with a big thankyou from GMA to all who helped out, held a stall, or came by to have a look, buy some things, and hang out. A special thanks went to Newtown Community and Cultural Center, for co-creating and hosting the event.

We loved the opportunity to hold a trans led event that all our friends and supporters could come to –  the sense of community was amazing! Thank you all so much for supporting local transgender people, and helping GMA to support trans folks all over Aotearoa.

Transgender Awareness Week 2019

#TransAwarenessWeek #TransgenderAwarenessWeek

The Gender Centre is Moving!

The Gender Centre is Moving!

This week The Gender Centre, our Wellington transgender community drop in, is moving out of 128 Abel Smith street, and in to 130 Riddiford street in Newtown.

Our new venue will be up and running this week for our regular drop in Wednesday and Thursday, 10am till 5pm.

Sea and Stone IPL clinic will still be on Wednesdays as usual, and Wellington Transgender Legal Clinic will still be on every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month, and Raw Sugar will still be on the first Saturday each month from 4pm – 8pm, though our first Raw Sugar (July) might be a bit random as we get set up.

How to get there

To enter the new gender centre, go inside Aunty Dana’s Op Shop (up 2 steps with a hand rail), then through the store to the back door. Follow the signs up the internal staircase (about 20 steps with a hand rail). At the top of the stairs, The Gender Centre is on the left.

We have prioritised building a mobility ramp for the front door, which is currently being designed by builders, and purchased a second-hand Stannah Stairlift for the interior staircase, so while it’s NOT currently mobility accessible, it will be ASAP.

There is an all-genders bathroom with mobility support rail at the bottom of the stairs, and there is tube lighting throughout which we suspect is fluorescent,  but this can be turned off as there’s plenty of natural light and a lamp if needed.

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Working Bee on Sunday May 12th!

Working Bee on Sunday May 12th!

We have some very exciting news – our op shop is moving from 128 Abel Smith street to 130 Riddiford Street in Newtown!!

This weekend we will have a working bee at the new shop, which will be mostly painting and cleaning. Please join us from 11am, we will buy everyone chips at about 1pm, and wrap up around 4pm.

We would LOVE your help! Please wear old clothes which can get paint on them, bring a drink bottle as there is no kitchen, and step ladders or paint brushes would be super welcome if you have any laying around! See you there!!

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The new venue has 2 steps, with hand rails, gender neutral bathrooms – one with hand rails and 2 without, the lighting is non-fluroescent LED, and we’re not using any sprays though there will be paint fumes we will keep the door open to minimise these.

FB event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/317674685570507/

Accessibility by WAH