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Gareth, you recently asked the question about queer ancestors and who has inspired you. And it's such an interesting question because actually when I started looking back, I started seeing these wonderful people kind of come into my mind. Um, maybe if I just give you a little bit of context, first of all. So, um, I founded the website, pride nz dot. Com in 2009 and it contains over a thousand audio [00:00:30] recordings of events and interviews relating to, to rainbow communities. So in fact, it's the largest online audio repository of Rainbow Voices from. One of the whole things about Pride NZ is making rainbow stories and experiences easily accessible and also visible. And the internet obviously gives us a, an amazing opportunity to do that. And when I was looking back, thinking about the five. People that have really inspired me, uh, [00:01:00] and I think probably inspired how Pride NZ has developed, uh, through their activities. So these are activists and documentarians. Um, they're actually all still alive, so, um. I would say they are my five living queer ancestors because they're all, uh, thankfully still with us. Um, they have all in their own ways, a, a, a at the time of an event that's happened, they have documented, uh, that event or been part of that event, [00:01:30] uh, they have then. Catalog the event or described it or preserved it, and ultimately all have made it accessible in some way. They've shared that information, uh, for the betterment of all our communities. And these are precisely the things that, you know, pride NZ is, is kind of underpinned by. Um, they wanted that material out there. Um, they wanted it to be reused in, you know, obviously appropriate ways. Um, but they. All of them have carried [00:02:00] forward, uh, the voices and experiences of people that are no longer here. And if it wasn't for these five people, we would be so much the poorer. So who's on your list? Here we go. These are, these are the five people that have been incredibly influential and I would say while they're not blood ancestors, uh, we are still connected by this real desire to kind of capture and preserve and make visible all of these, [00:02:30] um, amazing stories and, and, and people from our past. So. The first person I would like to mention is Linda Evans. Now Linda is a activist, uh, based up on the company coast, uh, uh, from the kind of Wellington region. Uh, she's an activist historian and has been involved in feminist, lesbian, and gay rights organizing from the 1970s onwards. Uh, she's also, uh, a curator, uh, for the Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand. So that [00:03:00] is now Ka mahara. It changed its name, um, a, a year or two ago. When I was, uh, researching about my queer ancestors, I, I wrote to Linda, um, just to get a few more details because I was really interested in her work, uh, when she worked at what we now know as Radio New Zealand in the 1970s doing the, the press clippings. And, uh, she gave me a few notes. She was saying that, um, she worked in the library, uh, between 1977 and [00:03:30] 1990 and managed it from about 1983 onwards. And it was called the Broadcasting Reference Library, uh, which was part of the BCNZ. And it, it kind of provided print research services to journalists and program makers for Radio New Zealand, TVNZ and the listener. Uh, one of the key things that Linda was doing in that role were the daily press clippings. So, uh, this actually literally involved going through all of the, uh. Daily newspapers of the time [00:04:00] and clipping out news stories and then filing them by theme. Uh, this was incredibly important because, um, this was a, at a time when, you know, it was, uh, typewriter and paper documentation rather than computer databases and, and internet searches. So physical newspaper clippings were incredibly important and to actually have them. Uh, historically curated together and filed in, uh, these were big, they were brown paper envelopes. Huge folders. Yeah, huge folders. Um, and [00:04:30] so it was done thematically. It was done for, um, notable individuals. Uh, just a wealth of information. So when I first started at Radio New Zealand in the early 1990s, I. Came across these press clippings in, uh, what was then called I think Info Find, which was the Radio New Zealand library. And it was the first time I'd really come across, uh, coverage of homosexuality and the struggle for homosexual law reform. You would think, oh, well, okay, that's the eighties. [00:05:00] It actually dated right back to the 1960s. And so right from the 1960s onwards, you had media mentions of homosexuality and homosexual law reform, and sadly, a lot of, uh, the mentions of homosexuality were to do with, um, criminal. Uh, cases. This was more about, um, being with, with homosexuals, being the victim of a crime, uh, whether it was a killing, a beating up, uh, a black male attempt and so on.[00:05:30] But at least, uh, those mentions were there and it gave you breadcrumbs to discover more. Um, this was at a time when I wasn't out, so, um, actually. I didn't know of any kind of rainbow voices in the media, but they were there. I just wasn't kind of, um, open to that, I guess. And I, I, I mean, I'm guessing you've had a similar experience where you can actually have quite parallel [00:06:00] lives running where you are not out, and so you don't see things that are actually right in front of you. Mm-hmm. Yeah. There be a whole lot of things happening that, um, maybe subconsciously, you know, somehow has. Relationship to you or is relevant to you, but not, uh, it's not sort of staring you in the face as though this is, this is the big issue of the day for me. Yeah. And it wasn't until, you know, kind of the mid 1990s that I realized there is such a rich [00:06:30] history of, um, rainbow voices in all types of media here in art, but particularly in kind of. Activist newspapers, things like, um, pink Triangle, uh, that just stunning amounts of information that we can really learn from. Uh, so yeah, if it hadn't been for Linda's work in the 1970s and, and through the eighties, um. All of that stuff would've been very hard to find. Uh, I mean, [00:07:00] even now you imagine having to google search or search through newspapers that may not have been digitized. Um, and, and pull out every kind of mention of homosexuality. So, um, Linda did, uh, an amazing job there. Um, and Linda's team, of course, it wasn't just Linda, um. We did an interview, uh, with Linda on Pride nz about her involvement in law reform activities and um, this one's by Jack Lynch. And we've got a [00:07:30] short clip of Linda talking about a protest action, uh, against the Salvation Army. During homosexual law reform, one of the ones that I particularly enjoyed was we went to the Salvation Army and asked for our money back 'cause it was being used against us. I mean, it was just a, you could never, you would never get it back. And we didn't. But we had a, we all in Wellington, we went along at lunchtime and queued up outside their office in Cuba Street and asked for our money back. The money From where? From, from the collections that, you know, because the [00:08:00] thing is, they, they, that was what was so, um. Uh, damaging about them taking the petition around that people were used to them coming around. They were used to them collecting many people. Um, did sell the Salvation Army as basically socially benevolent, doing good things. And so, and so, we said, well, we gave our money to their collections and now we wanted it back 'cause it was being used to fund this campaign against us. So just things like that. We just sort of turned it around because some of it is the, the activist [00:08:30] stuff of, of, you know, having actions that will be. People will, um, enjoy to do. Um, and I mean, and but also, and then there's also that kind of tradition of humor and, and of camp stuff in our communities. So we wanted to build on all of that. You know, when we had a dress up picket, which I don't know is crazy, but outside the Citadel, um. In, uh, Webb Street, the people dressed up as victims and oppressors. So, I mean, it was just like trying to keep things [00:09:00] moving, keep ourselves going, make a point and be out there. And, and I think, you know, and we were not going to be silenced. We were not going have other people speak. We wanted other people to speak for us and with us, but we were not going to pull back and say they should take the lead. One of the other people documenting queer life in the 1970s. And another one of your queer ancestors was a photographer, Kim Strati. Now Kim is amazing. Uh, Kim was born in Auckland in the 1950s. Uh, now lives in Sydney. [00:09:30] Uh, but he runs a Facebook page called So Far From Kansas. And so every day he posts a daily image from his really comprehensive photographic archive, his photography kind of. Begins in the early 1970s and covers queer communities in Auckland, Wellington, Sydney, Melbourne, and San Francisco. He's really captured, uh, a large number of large events, including things like, uh, the Hero parades in Auckland. Also Pride marches, uh, but he's [00:10:00] also really interested in documenting everyday queer lives. Among, uh, his, I, I would say tens of thousands of images. So these are both, um, physical negatives and, and also digital images. Um, he's got a whole collection of images relating to the late Georgina Bayer, Georgina, Bayer being the world's first openly transgender mere and world's first openly transgender member of Parliament. And Kim, uh, photographed Georgina right the way from the 19 early [00:10:30] 1970s, right the way, uh, into the two thousands. Really fortunate I was to be able to interview Kim a couple of years ago when he was here in Wellington. And he really talked about, um, how he was entirely self-taught and how he prioritized his kind of, um, instinct over technical perfection to kind of grab the shot. He saw the, the camera as both, uh, a shield and a bridge. So when he was at a event so that it kind of allowed him to participate in an [00:11:00] event, but also he was an observer, which I thought was really, really fascinating. So he's a very short clip of Kim talking. My camera didn't gimme a license to behave in a certain way, but it filled in for something that I can't. Quite often bridge myself and I'll find myself going and doing it because we only come together like this once and I don't process that thought. [00:11:30] But I have that in my th thoughts all the time as we, now that I'm older and we've lost so many people. And that we should not be wallowing in our loss about those people that we've lost, but we should value this today that we've got with each other and we shouldn't lay shit on other people. 'cause life's, life's really, really precious. And, and you know, I mean, you, you look through the archive that I've got [00:12:00] spanning about all those years, and I get people that come onto my site, on my site, on Facebook who go, oh. Just love all your photographs. It's just a, a shame there's so many. We've lost so many, and yeah, we have, we must not let our loss become more important than what those people brought to our lives or what they brought to our community, and some of them were assholes. That's Kim Strati, the, uh, amazing photographer. [00:12:30] What I saw in Kim as a photographer was somebody who was really weaving, um, community memory and sustaining that community memory. Uh, and not only taking the photographs, but then also displaying them, um, on a kind of a daily basis. Uh, what I found with Kim was, uh, an incredibly generous person, uh, for making his images available. To the community. So when. Georgina Bayer passed a few years ago. We, we [00:13:00] held a, a large memorial event, a celebration, uh, of Georgina at the Embassy Theater in Wellington. And by far the majority of images, uh, that were projected on the big screen were Kim's. Um, and it was only because Kim had, uh, been with Georgina for so many years, photographing her, um, and then making those available. Uh, it was in, it was incredible. Uh, he's, he's incredibly generous. Um, and I, I think that. Is again, something that feeds into pride nz, the, the, um, the [00:13:30] sense that actually we are collecting these stories, these Tonga, but we are really caretakers of them and, uh, we are, we are caretaking them for the future and. They're meant to be heard. They're meant to be used, um, in obviously in the, in the right ways. Um, but it's not about locking them down. Um, Kim's collection stretches across, uh, an incredibly significant time period for rainbow communities. So documenting gay liberation in the [00:14:00] 1970s, uh, the first appearances of HIV AIDS in the early 1980s. Um. The way that, um, living with HIV has changed, uh, from then to now. Uh, also the homosexual law reform, marriage equality, a whole range of things. So, uh, it's an incredible archive that Kim has. Andy is very generous with Peter Noland, uh, is a broadcaster. An amazing [00:14:30] broadcaster. If we go back to the mid eighties, Peter was out there during homosexual law reform activity, so like, um, pro and anti rallies and marches and demonstrations, and he was there with his audio recorder, which I think was a. Cassette recorder at the time. Um, technology has changed so rapidly. Um, but he was recording, uh, the actuality from those events. So these, these were things like chance [00:15:00] and speeches, um, and atmosphere and interviews. Um. Quite remarkable. Just to give a bit of context. Uh, so Wellington Central MP Fran Wilde introduced the homosexual law reform bill in March, 1985. Now it's set out to decriminalize homosexuality between consenting males over the age of 16 and, and also make a, an offense, uh, to discriminate against someone based on their sexual orientation. Oh, the legislation. [00:15:30] I'm sighing even just thinking about it because the legislation took 16 months, uh, before it got partially passed by four votes in July, 1986. So if you can imagine a. Almost nightly on the news. There were stories about homosexuality and homosexual law reform, so it was incredibly draining for everyone involved. Um, Peter was making his audio recordings for broadcast on Wellington Access Radio. [00:16:00] Now, Wellington Access Radio is the first permanent community radio station in New Zealand. So it was established in 1981. Um, and community radio, like, uh, the, the name suggests is all about empowering anyone to make radio for their communities. So there, there was no external editors saying you couldn't, could, or couldn't do. Do something or say something. So in the mid 1980s in Wellington, we had the Lesbian Community Radio program and uh, [00:16:30] hacking back to Linda Evans. Linda was one of the key members of the Lesbian Community Radio program, and we also had gay bc, which is the gay broadcasting collective. And these two shows were incredibly vital for connecting our rainbow communities together because this is at a time when there was no, uh, social media, uh, there was, you know, the internet for most people, um, didn't exist. There were no cell phones very much. Um, so this is a, a, a way of connecting, [00:17:00] uh, rainbow communities together. Also at the time, um. You could discriminate against gay people. Uh, people could lose their employment. Uh, people could lose their accommodation simply for being perceived to be gay. There was no, um, anti-discrimination measures in place. And so a lot of people were actually in the closet. So actually listening to the radio and getting that sense of community, uh, kind of privately was maybe the only way they were, they were connecting. So off Peter [00:17:30] would go to these, uh, these events with his cassette recorder and capture, um, all this actuality. And years later, uh, in 2006, I was actually working with Linda on a preservation project for what was the lesbian Gay Archives of New Zealand. And we were preserving Peter's tapes. And my goodness, they are pure gold. So while state media, so uh, things like Radio New Zealand and. Television, New Zealand were capturing [00:18:00] politicians, debating law reform. Peter was really capturing the essence of what it was like to be standing up and demanding change. He was right there because he was actually part of the community as well. So he had this, this kind of, um, amazing, um, access. He also saw the importance of capturing viewpoints from both sides. So this wasn't, um, about kind of platforming anti, uh, queerer rhetoric. Um, but it was knowing that actually in 30 years time, [00:18:30] you need to have the anti's argument on tape, um, to, to make documentaries. Actually, that's incredibly important. And so where you, when you hear that really, um. Uh, nasty MP Norman Jones, um, talking about, you know, gaze going back into the sewers. Um, it's much stronger when he is screaming it out than, than somebody reenacting it. Um, so, you know, Peter really saw this and, and thank goodness he was able to capture the stuff. So in [00:19:00] 2 0 0 6, uh, again, um, this is the, uh, is it the 20th anniversary of homosexual law reform? 2006. Yes. Um, I made a, I made a documentary called 20 Years Out. Um, and this is the first time, uh, that a lot of Peter's work had been broadcast nationally, uh, on radio New Zealand prior to this point. Uh, it had been, uh, heard on, on things like, um, community radio. Um, but this is the first time when, [00:19:30] uh, people nationally heard this material and it had a huge impact. I mean, people. Literally, um, you know, stopped in their cars to listen because Peter's material is so raw and, and you kind of listen to it now and you think, I can't believe, I can't believe a member of Parliament would say that kind of stuff. Well, Linda, uh, mentioned a bit earlier. Uh, about an activist action. I suppose we'd call it an activation these days, uh, during law reform where people went to the Salvation [00:20:00] Army to demand their donated money back. Uh, and Peter Noland was there and he recorded it. So let's take a listen to some of that. We gave our money because we considered that the Salvation Army helped all people, and you took our money under false pretenses. Your money doesn't help all people. It helps the ones you decide you're going to help. And that doesn't include queers. It's a major departure. I mean, we. We were had only TOI think that you were going to follow your normal policies and the kind of [00:20:30] services you've always provided. We weren't to know you were going to make this major departure from your previous policy and use the money in this way. And I think a lot of people would give money to the Salvation Army not asking for receipts because they just trust it's a small amount, as Bill said, and, and it doesn't really matter. You know, you're not worried about that for tax purposes unless you're giving hundreds and thousands. But also you trust that the Salvation Army will do what they've always done with it. Let, let's come back to the core issue. That was the question. Right at the start of the proceedings. You have requested for your, your donation back we'll [00:21:00] back. Okay. Uh, I, I'm saying to you again, you'll have to put it in writing in your, well put it, request it now. Uh, will you, you up something? We'll sign up. I'm sorry. I can't do that. Individuals have to have to write in, we'll do it individually now. No, I'm sorry. I, I've got an engagement anyway, which I'm already late for at one 30 and I'm gonna have to slip away. We've had, uh, what? Three quarters of an hour of discussion. I'm sure there's someone else that can help us. Well, there's no one here. I just saw a woman go through the back door. Oh, well I don't know anything about that. I, I wouldn't know. Doesn't she work here? Uh, she, somebody probably came, someone broke in then. Oh, come on. Now. Why [00:21:30] would people wanna do that? No. Well, I'm saying if you dunno who she is, I mean, she just came through. Well, there may have been one of the secretaries put her head in the door out. Well, why can't she expedite this? Uh, I. Prepared. It's ridiculous for you to say that you're, you're closing the office now? No. No, I'm not. And we've got some action on this. Uh, and I'm asking you that if you like to write a a, an next No, I think you should be more helpful than that. I think you should give us something. I will give you a, a stamped address envelope to, to send back your will you, will you we you'll give us the stamped address envelopes now? No, no, let's not. What I'm saying. You write in why not? And, and request. Why can't we have the [00:22:00] stamp to do stamp floats down then? I think we're going around in a bit of a circle. No, why should we speak? You mean you want us to use a stamp writing to you? I'm sorry. There's no more to be said. We've covered the ground. Alright, that's over to you to reply in writing and we will action. So the, uh, well also documenting these events was the photographer David Henley. David, uh, another stunning photographer, uh, was working for the, um, activist, uh, magazine, pink Triangle, which was, uh, based in Wellington. And so he was going out [00:22:30] and photographing street marches and demonstrations. Particularly outside places like the Salvation Army, um, and other rallies. Uh, there's a great sequence of images. Uh, one of a, uh, a meeting that was held in the Wellington Town Hall where it got very rowdy. A lot of finger pointing. Um, and there's another series of images, uh, at, was it the Knox Church Hall in Lower Hut where, uh, the anti reformers had, um, were, were [00:23:00] holding a meeting and some pro reform activists came to the meeting and said, actually, we want equal time to tell you about, um, you know, what, what actually the law will actually mean. Um, and the aunties didn't want it. And, uh, and so I think Bill Logan. Got up and, um, you know, uh, got people to throw change at the stage. So they kind of bought half the time. Um, and there's some really fantastic, um, kind of fast moving images, uh, from both, uh, the town hall and the, the, [00:23:30] the, the Knox Church, uh, rallies. Um, and David had this, uh, amazing eye of being able to compose in camera, uh, these fast. Paced kind of action, um, events that you just don't know, you know, what was gonna happen next. Um, he actually also developed his own black and white film in, in his laundry flat apparently. So, um, you know, um, full of, full of lots of talents. The big thing with David's images is that he [00:24:00] has been so generous about allowing other people to publish them and republish them and show them in exhibitions, um. You know, very, um, he, he's very open to, to having, uh, this material out there. And it's an incredibly, uh, generous spirit. And these are some of the, I guess, I guess now iconic images from the period which, um, people repeatedly go back to, um, a few years ago you interviewed David? I did. I was, I [00:24:30] was really interested in. Just understanding how he got that access. Uh, I mean, there were, there were shots that he took when he was on stage looking back at the crowd. Um, how, how did he get that kind of access and what was, uh, what, what, what, what were those kind of events actually like? So here, here's a bit of a short clip of, of him talking. People were generally accepting, uh, of the fact that they were being photographed. I think they knew that they were involved in something which was very, very newsworthy, which was quite [00:25:00] a big historical event. And so generally people accepted that some people were very, very happy to be photographed. Other people were quite uncomfortable. Uh, and occasionally you had to. Uh, really size up how you were going to take a photograph and then grab it when the opportunity came because you knew that the person wouldn't, uh, otherwise allow you to do it. And I guess at this time when homosexuality was illegal to actually have a published photo of yourself in a gay magazine, that must have been quite [00:25:30] challenging for some people. Well, it absolutely was because of course, this was before the days of discrim, anti-discrimination legislation and things like that, so people could potentially be thrown outta their jobs, thrown outta their flats and things like that. Um, and that did happen from time to time. Uh, this was also, uh, the days of, uh, police entrapments of, uh, police going round and, um, hassling people in gay bars and, and that type of thing. So there were definitely the potential for repercussions for people who were [00:26:00] photographed. I've gotta say these, these shots that you've taken, uh, are beautifully composed, and I'm wondering how do you, how do you compose shots in such a, a fluid situation as, uh, protests or rallies? I think the, the key is really just being prepared to take the photograph when you. When the, the absolute moment is right, and so you just have to be primed and ready to just kind of, uh, click whenever you need to. I think that one of the other things is being in the middle of things and just getting a sense of [00:26:30] how activities are developed, seeing how things might develop, looking at two protagonists, walking towards each other and thinking, right, there's gonna be something happen here. So I'll get ready to take the photograph. Um, I'd, I'd also like to urge anyone who's taking photographs now to store them very carefully and to print them out. One of the advantages I had of taking photographs with film is that I have the negatives and, uh, leggings will have the [00:27:00] negatives. And so there's a record, there's a permanent record there. One of the great dangers with digital photography is people take a great photograph, but don't print it out. Don't store it properly. It gets deleted. There are some events which have actually been very well covered with photographs, but there aren't any photographs left because they were all taken digitally and they've since been erased. So if you're taking images of something which, uh, may have, um, value in the future, then for goodness sake, save it. And that was David Hinley [00:27:30] talking. I think the last, uh, queer ancestor you want to talk about is and acknowledge is the filmmaker Peter Duncan. Peter Duncan. Gosh. Okay, so we're moving just a bit later in time. So we're in the late eighties, early nineties now, and Peter. Is a filmmaker and he was, um, filming people in Rainbow communities here in Wellington. Uh, he now lives in Australia, so he was, uh, filming things like, uh, the annual lesbian and gay fair. So that, uh, [00:28:00] began in 1986. It still continues today as out in the city. Um, he filmed the devotion festivals. Uh, so these are back in the early 1990s. Uh, the Love Parade, uh, and. A really poignant unveiling of the New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt at the Michael Fowler Center. Uh, to give you a, a little bit of context about, uh, HIV and AIDS in New Zealand aids diagnosis is peaked in 1989 in New Zealand with 71 [00:28:30] cases and deaths peaked in 1992 with 66 people. Dying from AIDS related conditions. And so Peter was documenting at a time when it was a really significant kind of, uh, health crisis for rainbow communities. I mean, not just rainbow communities, because we know it's not. Confined to rainbow communities. Uh, but Peter was focusing on the rainbow communities. One of the really significant moments, uh, that Peter filmed was the Beacons of Hope Memorial held at [00:29:00] Frank, its Park on the Waterfront in 1993. And, uh, this was the 10th anniversary of, um, AIDS Memorials. Uh, they started back in the us um, and this is the 10th anniversary of, of those. And so the Beacons of Hope in Wellington was actually leading the world in terms of AIDS memorials for that year. So. Uh, thousands of people attended. Uh, they carried torches and candles. Torches were carried for each person that [00:29:30] had been lost to, uh, AIDS related conditions and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Youth Choir performed. And Rod, you were, you were actually at Beacons of Hope. Yes, I was there. Um, I, I remember it pretty clearly as a very, um, moving. Uh, and somber occasion, but also incredibly epic and powerful, ma mainly because of [00:30:00] the, the torches, uh, and the calling of the names of, uh, people who had passed on, um, towards the. But I also remember maybe strangely, I don't know, it's a strange feeling, but I remember feeling really proud to be there. And that's because at the time I was working for the New Zealands at the orchestra, it was my first job after graduating from uni. And uh, the orchestra were. [00:30:30] Playing at this event. Uh, and they were playing a piece of music by a New Zealand composer, Kenneth Young. And in fact, he was conducting the orchestra and they had the National Youth Choir singing. And I just remember being so proud that this organization, the orchestra that I worked for, was really backing. It was really backing. This was really, um, 100% in support of, of the event, of the [00:31:00] occasion and showing their support for the whole memorial occasion. And this is, this was a national arts organization and, um, I, I just remember feeling very, very moved and, and proud that, that this national organization that I worked for was right there, right behind really supporting, um. This, this really powerful event. There were also speakers at their event. Uh, so people like, [00:31:30] um, Horst, the, the, uh, girl from Australia who had come over from Australia with her mother, um, also Catherine O'Regan, who was the Associate Health Minister. And this is just prior to the Human Rights Act. Going through Parliament. And so Catherine was, uh, campaigning to have it a, uh, within the act that, um, you could not discriminate against people with HIV, uh, [00:32:00] and among, among other things. Uh, so that was really amazing to my knowledge. Uh, uh, apart from television snippets I've seen of Beacons of Hope, I think Peter has. Maybe the only complete and comprehensive footage of, of that event, and it was such a significant event. And so Peter filmed it. I think he filmed it on eight millimeter and also video. And he's made that, that footage available. Um, and that is just [00:32:30] incredible. So we've actually got a little bit of audio from, uh, the Beacons of Hope film that, that, uh, Peter Duncan filmed. Our next speaker is responsible for introducing into parliament the current Human Rights amendment bill. And has often put herself and career on the line in the fight against discrimination. Please welcome the Associate Minister for Health, Katherine O. Reagan[00:33:00] Beacons of Hope. Beacons of Hope. And candles, which will lighten the lives of many ahead of us. Today, we commemorate those who have died of aids. We join with families, with lovers, with friends throughout New Zealand who have had to cope with grief, with prejudice. And always with anguish tonight, [00:33:30] we affirm the rights of people with AIDS to be treated in a compassionate way, to be free from the stigma the disease brings with it. And to live their lives in dignity. Let us ensure that for the future we speak freely of hiv aids without fear and without prejudice. For my part, I shall do all in my power to amend the human rights [00:34:00] legislation and all I ask of New Zealanders. Is for them to open their hearts and their minds to the suffering of those people and to let prejudice be gone. So that's, uh, just, just a, a little bit of audio from the Beacons of Hope, uh, event, which happened in 1993, uh, at Franks Park on the waterfront. And, [00:34:30] uh. You know, Peter Duncan, filmmaker, uh, not only, uh, filmed it, he edited it. He's preserved it by, uh, making it, uh, into a digital format, and he's sharing it. And, uh, all of these elements, I, I just am, am so, uh, I guess humbled at that. He's so generous with his material. Um. All of the five people I've talked about, I think in the, over the last, um, few minutes have got aspects that have really shaped me and shaped the development of Pride nz. [00:35:00] And I'm eternally grateful that these people stepped up and saw that there were significant moments in rainbow history happening. Documented them, preserved them, but then made them accessible as well. I think it's, it's just such a gift. So in so many ways, this is a tribute to those who have documented and archived history, our history, rainbow history. I've got one final question for you, [00:35:30] and that is, in the future, people will look back on your life and works. So how would you like to be remembered? It's a, it's an interesting question because, uh, like we both work in, uh, the, the kind of cultural heritage sector and we see on a daily basis, sometimes collectors from the past, um, are. Boxed into various boxes and you know, it's either dug, either good or bad, [00:36:00] uh, depending on, you know, which way the wind's blowing. Um, and, and are seen in a very kind of, um, superficial light. I, I think the thing with everyone is that we're all really complex. You know, we have good, and we have bad, and I think. Uh, if I was to be remembered at all, I would, I would like to be kind of shown in that complexity rather than just good or bad. I mean, I'm hoping I'm just not bad. Um, but, but you know, [00:36:30] like, um, I, I, I think, uh. We do our best with what we've got to make the world a better place. And um, you know, it's, it's really hard to think in 50 years time how people are gonna judge you for what you did or didn't do. All I can say is I tried my best with the privilege that I have because we all have privilege and my God, we are living in New Zealand. Um. Uh, with the privilege that I had, I tried to make [00:37:00] the world a better place and, um, I, I, I hope that's how I'll be judged.
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