”Trans people from their teens to their 70s were asked to identify objects of personal importance and to share the objects’ stories. What emerged was a quirky collection that is a testament to the diversity of trans experiences, and which disrupts established (and cis-written) narratives about trans lives.”
We are so grateful to Project Coordinator Will Hansen, and the team from Te Papa, for their enthusiasm and vision.
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
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.
Our presentation from the New Zealand Sexual Health Society Conference 2019.
This presentation is free to use for transgender health advocacy. Please credit Gender Minorities Aotearoa, Wellington, 2019. Statistics quoted in this presentation are from the 2019 national transgender health report Counting Ourselves.
Released for Trandgender Awareness Week #TransgenderAwarenessWeek #TransAwarenessWeek
This is an event for anyone of any age who identifies as trans or otherwise gender diverse, including intersex, takatāpui, transgender, transsexual, and non-binary people. We encourage you to bring along an object of personal significance to yourself (regardless of whether you think it “counts” as trans history!). If you need inspiration, check out our inspiration at The Museum of Transology (link is external).
Bring along an object that is significant to you as well as the object’s story (50-200 words). We will photograph your objects and on Sun 17 Nov host a show-and-tell where everyone can gather together and share their stories. Finally, the photographs and objects’ stories will be published on our website.
Copyright
We take copyright very seriously! We will have someone onsite during the photography days to talk about any copyright issues that might arise from this project. Because we are photographing your objects and collecting your written stories, we need to ensure we are meeting our copyright obligations.
If you have your object selected prior to the day, we’d love if you could flick through a photo of that object via email to publicprogrammes@tepapa.govt.nz (link sends e-mail) so we can check on the copyright status beforehand.
For more info, or to attend the photographing session at Te Papa, please see their website here.
GMA says:
Your significant object could be hormones, a binder, a bra, a hairpiece, or it could be the blanket you wrapped yourself in that one time, or that Marina and the Diamonds CD that’s always on at The Gender Centre! It might be your dog’s leash, or the earrings that always feel amazing, or your fave spice that reminds you of home. It could be Anything that’s important to you. You can also write a description of it and why it’s important if you want to. 200 words is about three times as long as this paragraph. Come make history together!
Tarot readings and witchy zines and stickers
Makeup application, embroidery, and handmade jewellery
Cinnamon, chocolate chip, and almond cookies
T-shirts, tote bags, bookmarks, and info booklets from 
Hand made soaps from 
and of course 
