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Timeline: January

January 1977

  • A lesbian summer camp is held (Canterbury region). The camp is held at Glentui in North Canterbury
  • The Campaign to Oppose Persecution begins (Wellington). The campaign was in response to scandals involving allegations of homosexuality against Members of Parliament
  • The first New Year's camp at Vinegar Hill takes place (Rangitikei region). Link: Vinegar Hill

January 1981

  • Gays and lesbians picket the office of the Human Rights Commission (Wellington)

January 1982

  • The group Gays in Education ends (New Zealand)

January 1985

  • The Hawke's Bay Gay Society ends (Hawke's Bay region)

January 1994

  • Buddies - New Zealand's first gay massage parlour opens (Wellington)

January 1996

  • Labour MP Judith Tizard proposes legalising same-sex marriage (New Zealand)

January 2008

  • The Human Rights Commission publishes To Be Who I Am/Kia noho au ki toku ano ao (New Zealand). The inquiry into discrimination experienced by transgender people is a world first by a national human rights institution. Link: Human Rights Commission

1 January 1995

  • Dancer Warren Douglas dies (Wellington). The Warren Douglas Scholarship Fund was subsequently established in May 1995 to help those who wanted to make the transition from performer to arts administrator, as he had done. Douglas is remembered on the New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt. Links: New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt, Warren Douglas Scholarship Fund

1 January 1998

  • Jacquie Grant becomes a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) (West Coast region). Grant is honoured for her work as a foster parent to more than 60 children. In 2018 she was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM). Links: Te Ara, A Gender Variance Whos Who

1 January 2021

  • Vicki-Anne Heikell is awarded a Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (New Zealand). Heikell is awarded the honour for services to heritage preservation and Maori. Link: New Year Honours
  • Victor Rodger is awarded a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (New Zealand). Rodger is awarded the honour for services to theatre and Pacific arts. Link: New Year Honours

2 January 1986

  • Artist Leo Bensemann dies (Christchurch)

2 January 1997

  • Morals campaigner Keith Hay dies (Auckland). Hay took a lead role in campaigning against homosexual law reform in 1985/86. Link: Te Ara

3 January 2007

  • Television current affairs: a Vanuatu radio show that talks about sex and HIV (worldwide). TV3 News, ref F96881. Link: Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

4 January 1972

  • Television news report: Otago University Professor claims 4% of New Zealand men may be homosexual (New Zealand). NZBC news, ref TZP86606. Link: TVNZ

6 January 2005

  • Makgatho Mandela, the eldest son of Nelson Mandela, dies from AIDS related conditions Link: BBC

7 January 1914

  • Rupert Brooke departs for Tahiti onboard RMS Tahiti (Wellington). Brooke is in Wellington 5-7 January 1914. Links: Wikipedia, Papers Past

7 January 1986

7 January 2005

  • Television news report: Makgatho Mandela dies from AID related conditions One News, ref: F84608. Link: Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

8 January 1977

  • A meeting is held to set up the National Gay Rights Coalition of New Zealand (New Zealand)

8 January 2006

  • Security guards at an international cricket game stop two women from kissing (Napier). The kiss had screened on McLean Park's big-screen monitor to a cheering crowd. A guard allegedly told the women that they were distracting the crowd, and would be thrown out if they did it again. A spokesman for the company later told media that the kiss "was inflammatory" and had "upset two of my more sensitive staff. It got the boys riled up, to be honest.". Link: NZ Herald

9 January 1923

9 January 1966

  • Carmen Rupe is arrested with behaving in an offensive manner in a public place (Auckland). The offensive manner was because Carmen was wearing female clothing: a black frock, black silk stockings and high-heeled shoes. "His face was made up with cosmetics and his hair was dressed in a feminine style.". Links: WorldCat, Google Books

11 January 2004

12 January 1985

  • A lesbian camp is held (Christchurch)

12 January 2011

  • Television news report: Condemnation of Cook Island's treatment of a worker who is HIV+ (New Zealand). Features interviews with Patrick Holmes and Dr Jason Myers. One news, ref F203457. Links: Nga Taonga Sound & Vision, University of Auckland

13 January 1983

  • Newspaper report: Air New Zealand distances itself from gay clientele (San Francisco, United States of America). Link: Bay Area Reporter

13 January 2011

14 January 1981

  • Television: Pornographic videotape cassettes being brought into New Zealand (New Zealand). ref: TZP31196. Link: Nga Taonga Sound and Vision

15 January 1945

  • Poet Ursula Bethell dies (Christchurch). Bethell dies in Christchurch and is buried in the Rangiora cemetery. Links: Te Ara, PrideNZ.com

15 January 1952

  • Maata Mahupuku dies (Palmerston North). Mahupuku is buried in the private burial ground of the Mahupuku family at Kehemane beyond Martinborough. Links: Te Ara, PrideNZ.com

15 January 1997

16 January 2005

16 January 2011

  • A lesbian couple's business is burnt down in a continued serious of hate crimes at Mangawhai Heads

19 January 1996

  • The play Eugenia premieres at Taki Rua Depot Theatre (Wellington). Eugenia is written and stars Lorae Parry. It's based on the life of Eugenia Falleni. Link: Wikipedia

20 January 1915

  • The Evening Post reports Lindsay Campbell pleads guilty to unlawfully wearing female clothing in a public place (Adelaide, Australia). Link: Papers Past

20 January 2018

  • So'oalo To'oto'oali'i Roger Stanley dies (Samoa). Stanley was the founder and President of the Samoa Fa'afafine Association. Links: Express, Samoa Observer

21 January 1942

  • Writer and activist Pat Rosier is born Link: LILAC

21 January 1966

  • Television report: artist Theo Schoon talks about the gourd art (New Zealand). Ref TZP115473. Link: TVNZ

21 January 2012

  • Out in the Square is held in Civic Square, Wellington It is the 27th annual gay and lesbian fair to be held in Wellington

22 January 1896

  • Poet Walter D'Arcy Cresswell is born (Christchurch). Cresswell was later shot by Charles Mackay, mayor of Wanganui. Links: Te Ara, GayNZ.net

22 January 2016

  • Trans Prisoner Day of Action is marked (Wellington). Link: Indy Media

23 January 1964

  • Charles Aberhart is beaten to death by a group of teenagers in Hagley Park (Christchurch)

23 January 2012

  • Roman Skorek is stabbed to death in Kuirau Park, Rotorua Four young men were charged with his murder

24 January 1966

  • Carmen Rupe appears in court charged with behaving in an offensive manner (Auckland). The charge relates to Rupe dressing in female clothing in public. Rupe challenges the charge. Links: WorldCat, Google Books

24 January 1990

  • Expatriate New Zealander Richard Johnson is murdered by a gang of youths (Sydney, Australia)

25 January 1996

  • Composer Jonathan Larson dies (New York, United States of America). Larson's musical Rent was just days away from opening on Broadway when he passed away. Link: New York Times

26 January 1942

  • William Preen is arrested in the women's waiting room of the Timaru Railway Station (Timaru). Preen is suspected of being a spy when he is seen dressed in women's clothing. The court later hears that Preen's "lapse was the result of some craze to see how it would feel to dress like a woman". Link: Papers Past

26 January 1966

  • Justice McCarthy dismisses the case against Carmen Rupe (Auckland). Justice McCarthy's decision notes that he is "quite unable to find anything in our law which says that it is unlawful for a male to attire himself in female clothing.". Links: WorldCat, Google Books

26 January 1987

  • Television news report: MP Norman Jones leaves hospital (New Zealand). Jones had been undergoing treatment for an inoperable brain tumour. 6.30pm news, ref F92071. Link: Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

27 January 1996

  • The Spectrum website is launched (Nelson). The website is one of the earliest group websites for gay and bisexual men in New Zealand. Link: Spectrum

30 January 1917

  • Writer W. Somerset Maugham and his lover Gerald Haxton briefly visit Wellington en route to Tahiti (Wellington). Links: Wikipedia, GayNZ.net
URL:http://www.pridenz.com/timeline/january.html