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I am from the Wellington Leftist Queer Activist Group, queer Endurance and Defiance, um, I mc for, for the group at our rallies. Um, today we are meeting on the anniversary of Stonewall, um, as like a, a significant event in the fight for queer and trans rights. Um, we wrote a list of 18 demands for better transgender healthcare and ROA last year and presented it to [00:00:30] the ministers of health. Um, didn't really get anything good back from them. Um, there was another trans healthcare rally in early February, um, organized by another really great group of activists. Um, and we had heard from a lot of people at that rally, um, just about this intense struggles, um, they've had with the healthcare system. And from our own experience, we've, we've seen this as well. Um, so we wanted to come to Parliament, um, on like, you know, significant time, um, [00:01:00] and represent these demands publicly. Um, knowing that we're in the lead up to an election season where there's gonna be key. Um, and also recognizing that we're not really gonna get any of these demands without significant changes in increasing funding to the healthcare system as a whole. If you could sum up for me just in a couple sentences, if that's not too tricky a question, what the 18 demands are all about? Yeah. They basically boil down to two main things, which is, um, informed consent for hor replacement therapy, which [00:01:30] means that you go to a doctor, you tell your doctor, um, I, you know, your doctor ensures, makes sure that you know what you're asking for, and. Like, you don't have to go and get like a psychiatric assessment or an endocrinology assessment to get h r t. Um, so that's the first one. And then the second one is decent funding for, um, gender affirming surgeries. Because at the moment there is very little gender affirming surgery. And New Zealand wait lists for some procedures are decades long. Um, and we want [00:02:00] to deal with that, like increased funding and just have people trained to do them. Uh, we only have one person doing, um, genital reassignment surgery in New Zealand at the moment, which is not enough. Um, and for top surgery, um, for trans men, the situation is a little better, but it's not good enough either. Um, so that's the second one. Um, yeah. And then thirdly, just ensuring that teenagers have access to puberty blockers, um, with a kind of informed consent, but with some like assessment involved. Um, that's [00:02:30] cause it's a really important right. Um, puberty blockers are not really enough to transition, but they're an important start. Um, they. Um, allow people not to go through the wrong pivot. Um, and there are a lot of people trying to stare up fair mongering, uh, fair around blockies, so that's important too. Yeah. Cool. Do you have time for one more quick question? Oh, listen. Um, my last question was just gonna be, and why is Stonewall an important date to have this on? Um, so while Stonewall wasn't the start of the [00:03:00] movement for queer liberation, even in, in sort of modern times, even in the last a hundred years, um, it was a really attention getting time and it also has become a focal point and a symbol for the queer community. Um, and it's, it's, it's the reason why Pride is in June in the usa. Um, and it has started to, it has sort of become an internationally recognized occasion in recent years. And it was a time where [00:03:30] queer and queer people led particularly by trans women of color. Fought back against the cops, um, on their own terms. And that's something that in queer Endurance Defiance, we really value not waiting for the system to do things for us because they won't, but really fighting to do things for ourselves. Hi, I'm Al I'm, so, I'm an organizer with Q E D and also with the International BOL Tenancy. Um, I'm here today while we're just setting up, uh, for [00:04:00] a trans rights rally commemorating Stonewall outside of Parliament. Uh, so this is an event to, um, talk about the history of the Stonewall movement and the queer Rights movement in general, and, um, raised some specific demands about the state of trans healthcare in New Zealand to oday. Why are these demands important to you personally? I think these demands are important to most trans people. I guess the state of trans healthcare and New Zealand, um, pretty dire [00:04:30] right now. Access is extremely patchy in different regions. They're extremely long wait times, especially for gender affirming surgery. Puberty blockers are hard to access in most locations around the country. Um, and yeah, the government parties like to say that they care about us, so we just really want to, um, tell them if they care about us, this is what you need to do for us. Awesome. And can you tell me a little bit more about Queer Endurance Defiance and how that came about? Sure. [00:05:00] So we are a, um, radical queer rights group that came together back in 2021. Uh, that was out of conversations about the applied ADE and the role of the military police and copulates and that, um, in that event. So we came together to oppose the involvement of military and police outside events. Uh, we never actually did much on that issue because there has not been a Wellington Pride parade since 2021. But, uh, our first major [00:05:30] event was organizing as part of the B D M R R bill against a, um, meeting held by the, any trans group, speak up for a woman at the Michael Fowler Center. And we've, um, continued to run that kind of event in the years since then. And, um, Do a bit of other work around submissions to parliament, suggestions for supplementary audit papers, that kind of thing. But our main focus has always been on mass actions of this kind that we're doing here [00:06:00] today. And how does it feel when you come to mass actions like this? Oh, it feels pretty good. Yeah. To, um, to see the level of support that we have in this country, mobilized and turning up in support of, um, these demands is really good to see. And so you're standing in front of me in a fluro, um, vest today. Can you tell me, uh, what's the story behind that? There's a few fluro vests dotted around in a couple green ones too. And you're, you're in orange? Yeah. So, um, the orange vests are for Marshalls, the green vests are for medics. We don't expect [00:06:30] any, um, trouble here today, but it's just, it pays to be prepared in case. Can you tell me, um, what the scene you're seeing around you right now is? Well, I see a lot of beautiful people, um, mostly just reclining and waiting for two o'clock to arrive. Can you describe some of the, the signs and, um, outfits that people have gone on? There's a few pirate flags around. I noticed the pirate flags. Um, the ones I noticed in particular are, uh, in relation to healthcare, um, which really [00:07:00] resonates to me personally, um, because I would like to be treated fairly in healthcare too. Thank you very much actually. And I forgot to ask you, would you please introduce yourself and tell me why you are here today? Oh, well, um, um, I am Margot and I am a woman of transgender experience. Um, and I'd say I'm here today because this is an issue that affects me directly as well as a lot of my other brothers, siblings and babies. Mm-hmm. [00:07:30] Um, do you, have you already read the, um, health demands that Q E D have put out? I have, I have, and I actually agree with 'em wholeheartedly. Mm. Can you tell me, are there any in particular that strike a chord with you? Mostly choice. Um, I think the main problem is that, you know, we have sort of like a, a, a system where there's a, a considerable amount of like condescension involved from like healthcare providers. And they don't actually take our healthcare [00:08:00] into account. Preferring to, um, essentially preferring to like rely upon research, which is usually 20 years out of date. It's not fit for our, for purpose for us. And more than not, I don't think they, there's a lot of element of skepticism as to why we even asked for healthcare in the first place. And I think a big part of that is that I don't even believe that our identities are valid and they say healthcare is required. Um, so given that it is an election year, is there anything you'd, like any [00:08:30] politicians listening to this, um, this audio to know? Um, I would say the very bare minimum, don't start following what's going on overseas. Um, like we are very well aware that there is, um, a wave of anti-trans gender rhetoric going overseas. A lot of it with extreme success, um, and New Zealand should at least be an example where we are not going to fall down that road because it will only end up in misery [00:09:00] and de base our politics. Mm. Uh, Kiara, my name is Anne. Um, I'm a sort of activist about town and, um, yeah, this event today is to commemorate the Stonewall anniversary and to also hand over some demands about trans healthcare to the government, well, in an, in a symbolic sort of way. So, great stuff. Um, how, so you are wearing a, um, orange vest that I'm told is for the marshals. So are you a member of QE there? Uh, I'm not exactly a member, um, [00:09:30] but I'm kind of affiliated. I am a member of the, um, anti-fascist coalition here. So, um, we do, we do a lot of overlap work and I mean, marshaling is pretty easy, so I was just like, yep, I'll, I'll try help out. And can you tell me more about that important overlap between, uh, the work that QE is doing and anti-fascist work in general? Uh, well, we can see that a lot of the current trench of fascism, um, a lot of it in the US and the uk, but also um, in Roach over here, a lot of it is [00:10:00] anti-trans. Um, and I mean, if you want to impose a colonial aggressive war like state, one of the ways to get people kind of hyped up to do that is to get them to feel really rigid about kind of, People's bodies and about their own bodies and constantly be doing that kind of policing. Um, so it's not really surprising that they're very rigid about gender. And also stuff like kind of, um, you know, control over reproduction. I mean, and a lot of the anti-trans panic around, um, trans masks. Of course there's a lot of [00:10:30] anxiety about fertility and like, no, the trans are stealing away these women whose role is to be pregnant all the time. So, um, yeah, like lots, lots of overlap. It's, um, yeah, I mean like trans people on the front lines of this at the moment, so, yeah. Um, and if you're okay with me identifying, uh, this, the last time you came up with the brilliant chant, boring transfers based on re Jacob, is that, is that correct? Yeah, uh, yeah. One of the, um, techniques that I've learned [00:11:00] through anti-fascism, I mean like I've learned this through being at protests over time as well, but, um, there's a great technique in anti-fascist organizing called Yarding, which is yelling at racist dogs. And instead of, um, So it's kind of like, instead of getting mad at the fascist, you, you get weird, like you say weird things and they don't know how to react to them. So there was a guy who came over to the last rally kind of trying to yell at us, and I just went up to him and started singing. And if those feet to an inch ancient times, walk upon England's Mountains green. And he, he was like, it's not fucking [00:11:30] England. Um, but they, they don't know how to deal with it. So like, it's fun. It's fun singing songs. It's fun making up parodies. So yeah, generally ENT Thirst, Koto Koto, Koto Koto. [00:12:00] Welcome to Remember Stonewall, A Rally for Trans Healthcare and Queer Liberation. It's a beautiful day and I'm really happy to see you all here. We are going to open with a cardiac here, followed by a safety briefing, and then we'll have some speeches followed by an open mic, and finally some music. So I will hand over to my comrade, Sarah to open us in the cardiac[00:12:30] queer endurance. Defiance [00:13:00] to queer endurance and defiance are left-wing activist group. Based into formed in 2021 last year, we drafted a list of 18 demands for transgender healthcare in alt odo, which we published via an open letter and also sent to both ministers of health. We have have some copies, um, to pass around who is passing those around? We sent this to both ministers of health. Last year, [00:13:30] each minister applied that trans healthcare was the responsibility of the other minister, so the matter went nowhere. Then on the 11th of February this year, another group of awesome trans rates activists led to marches for trans healthcare, one here and one in Tamma at the open mic that day, we heard speaker after speaker recount the impact that in inadequate healthcare was having on their lives from doctors gate keeping hormone [00:14:00] replacement therapy to surgery wait lists several decades long. Since that day, our group has primarily focused on countering transphobic rallies, but we cannot just be reactive. We have to be proactive in pushing for our rights. We've chosen today to make this demonstration as the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which lasted from the 28th of June to the 3rd of July in New York City u usa, and are commonly recognized as a turning point in the fight for queer liberation.[00:14:30] We have invited Will from the Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand to PU or art, um, and we had also invited Mel from New Zealand Council of Trade Unions. Uh, unfortunately Mel is unwell and was not able to make it today. Um, but will, however, will be here to talk about the history of queer rights activism, members of queer insurance and defiance will then speak. And present our demands and talk about how we, we feel best to achieve them. Before we [00:15:00] open the mic for anyone present to talk about your experiences trying to access transgender healthcare, um, parliament security have advised us we're not allowed to people crossing this barrier. So what we'll do for the open mic is we'll get people to come and speak just in front of the barrier. Um, and we will hand you the mic, um, after which we will have some music. Um, I am going to hand over to Will now. Thank you. Sorry. Sorry. Before I hand over to William, um, safety briefing, which we should have done earlier.[00:15:30] Thank you everyone for coming and my name is Lial. I'm one of the medics here today. We're a green vest. If you need a Marshall. They are an orange vests. We're not expecting anything major today, so keep an eye out for each other. Look after each other. If you see anything, let us know and we'll do our best to sort it out for you. If anything truly ba bad happens, call 1 1 1 straight away. Don't wait for us. And yeah, have a good, safe time. Look out for each other. Welcome will [00:16:00] Koto. Uh, my name's Will. I'm a trans man. I'm a trustee of AKA ro, the Lesbian Gay Archives of New Zealand, and I'm so proud to be here supporting QE d on behalf of the archives. So the Stonewall riots were a momentous event in our history, and super important, and I'm very proud that we're honoring them today. But queer activism in Al Tiera did not start with Stonewall, and it didn't start with gay liberation before Stonewall ROA was home to [00:16:30] communities of queer people. So consolidated that we had our own culture, our own gathering places, and even a shared language. We named ourselves camp, and camp meant all of us, not just cisgender gays and lesbians. Sex workers were a huge part of camp communities and trans women, especially Maori trans women, we're our leaders. We know about Kamen Rupe and Krissy. We Toko, who owned bars that created spaces for us [00:17:00] to be free. But there were also so many other lesser Owen Trans women and other trans people who were open, who were not hiding, who were proud. And these are the camp roots of our gay liberation camp. Activism may not have looked like marching down the streets with placards or writing petitions to Parliament, but it existed and it was powerful. Camp communities had no chairperson, no secretary or treasurer, but we came together for survival. When we were attacked, we [00:17:30] fought back. We made room for ourselves, our friends, and our lovers. Whether it was two tables at the bistro bar, a flattened new town, or a place to stand on Marion Street, we all know the indomitable Tuku who founded the first orphan gay liberation front, March, 1972, when she was denied a visa to the USA because of her sexual deviancy. And we have a hell of a lot to thank her for, but that isn't the full story. How did NYA find out about gay liberation in the [00:18:00] first place? From her friend Sally, a trans feminine person and sex worker. In her own book, Manah Maori Noya explains how she was part of camp communities. She writes with adoration about her friends who were trans, and she states that it was her friend Sally, who had learned about gay liberation on a visit to Sydney and suggested to NAIA that something had to be done. We don't know a lot about Sally. There aren't very many records of her. And the, the part she played in this history was small, but it was so [00:18:30] important and her story is no longer gonna be erased. Turfs have tried to bury this history, but our gay liberation found that now herself has made it clear that our communities are stronger together, that we have always been united. That camp means all of us together. I've printed a bunch of signs, uh, with a handful of various trans figures from New Zealand's past, um, that I think we need to honor. So while we rightly celebrate Stonewall and the Juah and Carmen and Chrissy, I want us also to celebrate [00:19:00] Sally and the countless others trans ancestors whose shoulders we stand on. Thank you Kia. Uh, I'm now going to invite Kate from Corian Defiance, um, to read our list of demands. Everyone [00:19:30] got 18 demands for you all here. Well, not for you all. You, you're not the ones implementing them, but, you know, um, we call on to far order Health New Zealand to implement the following urgent healthcare demands. Number one, hormone replacement therapy. Prescriptions for gender transition should be available in all primary care practices for patients aged 18 and over[00:20:00] two. These H R T prescriptions should be provided on a basis of informed consent alone. I e No therapists letter should be required. No appointment with an endocrinologist should be required. Comprehensive advisory H R T prescription guidelines should be developed and made available to both doctors and patients to help [00:20:30] doctors and patients without prior experience in this area. Judge medication options dos, risk factors, et cetera. Funded H R T prescription options should include all reputable H R T medications and use internationally hormone blocker. [00:21:00] Prescriptions should be available in all primary care practices. Hormone blockers should be prescribed to all trans youth on the basis of informed consent and a therapist's evaluation. Comprehensive advisory hormone blocker prescription guidelines should be developed and made available to all doctors and patients.[00:21:30] Gender affirming surgery referrals should be available in all primary care practices. Gender affirming surgery should be provided on the sole basis of an informed consent process over an appropriate duration. Yay. Funding for [00:22:00] gender affirming surgery is including for genitals, chest and face, and extending to all safe. Gender affirming surgical procedures should be widely available. Gender affirming surgery funding should match demand training for gender affirming surgery practitioners should be planned to match modeled future demand[00:22:30] where demand for gender affirming surgery exceeds national capacity Funding should include international travel fee fees, and pricing of reputable overseas surgeons. Comprehensive advisory, gender affirming surgery guidelines should be developed and made available to referring doctors and patients.[00:23:00] Voice therapy and hear removal services should be available and funded throughout New Zealand. With provides with providers for both available in urban centers, voice therapy, and hear removal. Referrals should be on the basis of informed consent. Solely principles should be developed at a national level for respectful [00:23:30] and non-discriminatory treatment of trans patients to be implemented in all sections of the health system. These reforms should be carried out under the responsibility of a national trans health leadership body formed for this purpose and in consultation with trans communities around the country. Yay at our demands. But how do [00:24:00] we achieve them? We're not going to get all of our demands without a radical change to the healthcare system because the system is chronically underfunded as it is. Our nurses worked tirelessly and selflessly to get us through the first critical stages of the Covid Pandemic. We would've had thousands more deaths without their efforts, and yet the government has not paid them fairly for this work[00:24:30] has acted in bad faith throughout recent pain negotiations with the result that many alert nurses have left who are better paying jobs overseas. The last time I had to visit the emergency ward at Wellington Hospital earlier this year, the fruits of the shortage were on display with insufficient beds and far too few staff who, despite their best efforts, Had to leave patients waiting for hours in corridors or crowded wards for urgent care.[00:25:00] Our nurses and doctors deserve better. This is not good enough, and we recognize that our community is not going to get the significant increases to transgender healthcare provision that we so vitally need without a new approach to how we fund and staff the whole of the public health system. We are absolutely not proposing taking money away from cancer treatment and similar services to [00:25:30] fund trans healthcare. We want better healthcare for everyone. The fact is, neither parliament nor street action can achieve this alone. We can vote in the upcoming election for parties who say they will treat health workers and the health system better, and I encourage everyone to do so, but we know from past experience that they will only keep those promises if we show up in public to raise our [00:26:00] voices and make sure they deliver. Woo. We also know that anti-trans conservatives and antique conservatives are already targeting gender affirming policies for children and adolescents. At a recent evangelical political summit in Auckland Family First Leader, Bob McCroskey outlined a plan for this country's anti-trans hate groups to follow the strategy of the anti-abortion campaign in the usa, beginning with what they [00:26:30] see too, right? They proposed beginning with what they see as small winnable fights, and they have identified gender expression in primary schools as the first of these, followed by secondary schools Supreme. They have targeted letter writing and social media campaigns against schools running Pride weeks. They're also clearly targeting the provision of puberty blockers. We saw this in [00:27:00] Brian Tam's. Ridiculous claims that the warehouse was selling blockers if only an attempt to stir up baseless fair. If we end up with a conservative government later this year, or more conservative government, they're likely to target blockers and force trans teens to undergo the wrong puberty for their gender. Blockers are already a compromise. They allow us to put off puberty until 18 much later than when [00:27:30] most people go through this process. I would've loved to have had this compromise available to me 20 years ago, and yet this compromise, despite being acknowledged by Tofa aura as safe and reversible is the target of a fair campaign. Tofa Aura admitted that they took down from their website their own sound advice, that blockers are safe and reversible, purely because they've been bombarded with complaints from Transphobes.[00:28:00] And despite the fact that Tofa Order acknowledges the advice they removed is correct, our enemies are already celebrating Victors victories in this area to push back. We need to make our voices louder. We need to drown out their complaints with the sound of our own existence, our own endurance, our own defiance. We are going to have to stand up to email officials. To complain to [00:28:30] media organizations when they print misinformation, even knowing that each individual complaint or email will be ignored. We need the weight of our numbers, the power of our love in solidarity to prevail. To expand on this, I invite Vera to speak now, um, Koto. Uh, my name is Vera Ashburn and I am a member of Q E D [00:29:00] and also of the international Bolshevik tendency. It is very, very strange being on this side of the fence. Uh, please ignore the flags. They do not represent me in any way. Our demands, as you have heard, uh, for a radical overhaul of trans healthcare under the oversight of a national organization, both representing and working closely with trans communities. That can [00:29:30] only happen as part of a broader increase in resourcing for healthcare in New Zealand. On a broad scale, what I'm gonna talk about is how we think we should get there. We need to build a movement with mass support, advocating for our reforms to the government and opposition parties, and also supporting grassroots efforts in the healthcare sector to improve queer health. Now, I don't like [00:30:00] this any more than you will I, I am a communist, and my first instinct is always going to be overthrow the state. But if we want to achieve reform without needing to go through an entire revolution, first, we need to get politicians to take up this issue. Now part of that is mobilizing numbers and showing that trans lives and health are an issue that people care about. Part of it is [00:30:30] mobilizing our connections, getting organizations who work with Parliament to raise these questions. The goal is to convince politicians that it's in their interests to deliver real and meaningful reforms, because we won't go away until they do. And therein lies the problem. How to convince them that they need to make us go away. Obviously, demonstrations are one method and one that we partly [00:31:00] endorse. You're all here at one that we called, so I'm well on you. Um, demonstrations make a point, but there needs to be something behind them. Ideally it would be more militant forms of collective action, some kind of force such as striking to back up the demands. But we're not there yet, apart from anything else. Most forms of militant struggle, that is to say effective struggle are illegal in this country. So instead, we are aiming here essentially to apply pressure on [00:31:30] the political system through legal means, which means protests, but it also means petitions. Writing letters to politicians and other means to present ourselves as a significant enough block in civil society that parliamentarians feel a need to take us seriously. A, a lot of that is just making ourselves look as big as possible, and that means inevitably we need to build alliances and form coalitions. Although we will undoubtedly be its main leadership, this isn't [00:32:00] really a fight that trans people can wage just by ourselves. We're a small minority. It shouldn't be on us to bear the entire weight of that struggle. And if it's just us, we're unlikely to win. If we're to be successful, we have to build as broader base of support as possible. Q e D was founded as a coalition of members of various groups, um, and ideologies around a common commitment to queer rights through struggle that has in turn [00:32:30] sought to build coalitions with other forces to achieve meaningful change. We've had quite a lot of solidarity from the unions and, um, quite a number of broader queer organizations are interested in our demands. Uh, rainbow Wellington, I think has a petition going if you haven't seen it. Um, and that's, that's all to the good. Um, for us in the international swar tendency, these kinds of alliances are on a broad base, are called United fronts. They're organized on a demand or a set of demands that we agree are [00:33:00] necessary, and we invite anyone who supports those demands to work with us, to campaign for them. Now, and this is the point that all that stuff was building towards. So sorry for drawing it out. Um, that doesn't have to be just leftists either. Even if, as TRS said, most of q e D is leftists, um, this isn't just a fight for leftists to wage. Um, the point of these kinds of united fronts is to bring in as wider group of people to fight for the demand as possible. Um, [00:33:30] that's civil society unions. So civil society groups, the unions, uh, people not otherwise political and even people that we might otherwise consider political opponents should be considered potential allies if they agree with our demands and they'll help us campaign for them. Ultimately the aim of this is to make a block so large that it can't be ignored by the politicians, but it's not enough simply to get their attention, nor just to vote for the ones making the bigger promises. [00:34:00] Winning a campaign like this is a matter of ongoing pressure. Even if the parties you think are likely to make positive change for trans people win the election, I guarantee you that they will not see us as a priority unless we keep on showing up until they can't ignore us anymore. If this campaign is to have any success, it has to go on longer than just the upcoming election [00:34:30] period. This is long haul work. If you're interested in lending a hand to that work, come talk to us. The more of us there are, the stronger there will be. And um, one final thing before I hand the mic back over. Next week I have my first appointment forum, voice therapy. It took me 15 months from the date of application to get here and 12 of that was just trying to find out [00:35:00] whether my referral had been accepted. This is not good enough. We need change. Thank you, Kiata. That was amazing. I would next like to welcome my comrade, Sarah to talk about her experience as a healthcare provider. Koto [00:35:30] Coursera, are she her pronouns? I'm a member of the International Socialist Organization and of Queer Endurance Defiance. I'm queer and I'm proud of my identity as a transgender woman. Thank you. I'm also a critical care paramedic, and I'm here to make a contribution to the corridor around healthcare, around the healthcare system. I'd like to draw on my experience working within that system to highlight four critical weaknesses and [00:36:00] touch on what we might do to address them. First, there's an insufficiency of training for healthcare workers specific to gender identity and recognition, acknowledgement, healthcare needs and healthcare solutions. This is beginning to change thanks to our visibility and ongoing mahi advocating for acknowledgement of our humanity. But overall, the pace of improvement looks and feels glacial. Second, and I'm sorry to say biological essentialism is [00:36:30] baked in into many aspects of the healthcare infrastructure. An example is a pre-hospital electronic patient documentation system that despite half a decade of feedback, has stubbornly remained as only identifying patients by sex from one of the following four categories, and I apologize in advance for how this is gonna sound, but they are male, female, unknown, and indeterminate. This is honestly a tone deaf failure to recognize [00:37:00] social progress. ROA Stats New Zealand has developed a significantly better, though it still could be improved categorization approach, which could immediately be adopted across the health sector. Third, the under resourcing and resource mismanagement prevalent across the healthcare sector leads healthcare workers to be overworked and overstressed. The result is what's called compassion fatigue. Our clinicians have often not had their own mental and physical health needs adequately met, [00:37:30] and they are exhausted. Fourth, there are insufficient patient guided treatment approaches and inadequate referral pathways. Health is complex and no single worker could ever be an expert of every single aspect of healthcare. That's okay. S but two solutions are needed for that challenge. First, clear guidelines can empower GPS and their patients to keep many of the decisions within the primary health setting. And when a patient is [00:38:00] referred to a specialist, that pathway needs to be able to accept a patient and continue care within a reasonable timeframe. Trans people currently suffer from a lack of functioning of either solution, and you've heard some stories of failures in both of those respects just today. So what can be done? The training of new healthcare workers must include significant material, acknowledging the existence and the healthcare needs of transgender people.[00:38:30] Health infrastructure needs to be bought into the 21st century, including ways of documenting people's identities that aren't demeaning. We need to employ way more staff across every field of health, and we need the working conditions of those staff to be dramatically improved so they don't burn out and. We need good [00:39:00] patient-centered guidelines for the treatment of transgender patients within primary health and good resourcing of specialist fields to ensure we don't die of old age while waiting for a referral. Now, I'd love to see executive managers, board members, and government ministers be held accountable for decades of gaslighting healthcare workers for failures that are systemic. I'd love all areas of the healthcare system to be honest with the public about its failures. I'd love to see the government tax capital [00:39:30] gains tax, housing portfolios, and luxury yacht, wealth and tax companies, and then use that money to properly fund our health system for the benefit of all. None of QEDs healthcare demands needs decrease anyone else's quality of healthcare. In the process of ensuring there are enough resources to meet these demands, the government can ensure the healthcare system is funded to meet everyone's needs. We can demand and increased [00:40:00] resourcing of the entire healthcare system. We can demand a better life for everyone now. So we're gonna have an open mic now. Um, what I would ask is that, um, the person speaking stand here, um, if you want to, to speak, um, rather than just have people put, put up their [00:40:30] hands and try and like pick them out in an order. Um, if we could have people stand. In a queue like this, that would be awesome cuz it makes our job a lot easier. Um, so we have a first volunteer to speak, um, and anyone else who wants to speak, um, essentially come along here and, and that'll be great. Thank you for everyone to come here and I'm an international student. Come China and I come, I arrived in New Zealand just [00:41:00] two days ago. I, I attend this meeting just for the people who suffered in China for this China's fuck damn policy, this policy block, the transgenders medicine, you know, that kind of medicine from import and chi mining, transgenders in China, suicide due to this social pressure and their feminist pressure and their, those pressure. And many guys in the China and also France [00:41:30] is suffered too. And they, and many of them also suicide and they will be, Send to some, you know, some organization to do some convert, and they must force them to change their identity. That is intolerable. Fuck you, Chinese government, fuck you, and this terrorist. And I'm not afraid to stand here and [00:42:00] express myself, and I think it is my duty to do this. No, I'm the person who, like the person who liked, you know, standing in front of a tank safe for Steward Force M Square, 1989, just like that mess. Stand in front of a tank and that tank will please, we just run over from you. And [00:42:30] if they want, attack trans rights and attack the LBTs, right? And attack rights. And just over many people, not many people who. Intend to show that you know, some, you know, you know, gay or LGBTQ is made by some political reason, white left or something else [00:43:00] that's fuck conservatives do. But the really thing is that more than medication were murders. Biological proofs show that the LGBTQs people's gender and their sexual orientation is formed before they are know their gay or their transgender, and this, and if they know about their sexual orientation or gender, is no way to return this and no way to converse this. This is a scientific proof and we [00:43:30] should accept that, and this is the final weapon for the discrimination and the evidence to prove ourself. And for another reason is we need to change this social, whole social system. Um, a libertarian socialist and anarchist. It is too hard to organize in China, but I must speak my voice. I must be by voice over brought to you that many people know the situation about LGBTQ people in China. Don't [00:44:00] be cheat, don't be treated by the Chinese government. They are bunch of bastard and they just, they totally terror state should be over by the working people and the working people should established their all everyday and they established coming government, the state now. Thank you. Thank you for [00:44:30] speaking. Welcome. Hello. Let me just step over that. Um, I'm Vida. This is my support puppy and, uh, partner Quinn. Um, and I use he him pronouns and about since I was 10 for, so for about six years now, I've known that I was trans. From the day I came out to my class, to the day I came out to my parents, I was immediately shut [00:45:00] out trans healthcare and not being able to get, it isn't just about the doctors or the law, it's about everybody around us who, for how many years we've been here, still don't think we're here. So regardless of what they say, regardless of them denying our existence, we're here and we're loud. Just two months ago, I moved out from my parents' house and I'm in a safe environment and the first thing I thought that would, [00:45:30] that I would be able to possibly even maybe get. Was access to be able to start blockers start t. But no, I'm still through therapy. I'm still trying to get the help I need and it's been, what, six years to get any recognition possible. There was one point that I was told my gender identity is because of my trauma. I'm more than my trauma, more than my gender. I'm a human fucking being, and I'm [00:46:00] proud. I promise you all. We may not be outta the words, but we will be soon. And in the words of a nineties activism group, queer nation, we're here, we're queer, get used to it. Got it. So that was beautiful. Um, one thing I do want to acknowledge, like we, because we are talking about experiences with the healthcare system, [00:46:30] and often those are pretty dark cause they, they treat us not very well. Um, if, if anything, you know, I want people to encourage, to speak openly, um, about what you're going through. Um, if anyone in the audience, like is, is struggling with what we're talking about, just like with the depth of it, um, or if it triggers anything, um, I'd recommend like welcome you to approach the marshals if you're struggling and you need any support. Um, yeah, because [00:47:00] we will, we need to look after each other cuz no one else is gonna do it for us. Um, and we are here to do that. Kiara, Kiara, uh, my name is Caden. I go by he, him z Zm and she her pronouns. Um, I am a trans mask, non-binary person. I have been transitioning for. Uh, about six or seven years now it's getting to that point where I don't even remember where it [00:47:30] started. Um, and I'm in a queer relationship with a trans woman known as Gwen. She could make it today cuz she is busy working. But, um, she works as, uh, she works as a mental health care nurse and she has had her own difficulties with, um, dealing with getting, uh, mental, I mean medical healthcare. Um, she fought [00:48:00] for several years to get a prescription for progesterone, um, going back and forth with the, um, with Wellington's own, um, endocrinologist who would often just say, no, no, we can't do that. There's not enough, there's not enough studies into, into this. We don't know if it really works and the risk is too much. Even though Gwen, who is a nurse and [00:48:30] has, uh, access to uh, scholarly studies on progesterone for transgender women would present all the evidence in front of this endocrinologist. It still wasn't enough. Thankfully, Gwen is now on progesterone. Yeah, and it's been, it's been really, it's been really great for her. Um, but she still [00:49:00] struggles a lot with, um, her other problems with dysphoria and such. Um, at the moment, she's really trying to find a way to get laser hair removal to help with her body dysphoria and stuff. Um, with my own, um, with my own. Struggles in, in trans healthcare. Um, I, I am booked in [00:49:30] on 12th of July for my hysterectomy, which is a huge thing that I have wanted for a very long time, where before I even came out as trans, I went to my doctor as a 20 year old and said, Hey, um, could I get a hysterectomy? I'm terrified of childbirth. I don't want to have children. And they said, no, wait till you're older. What if you, what if you have, what if you find a [00:50:00] person who wants to have kids with you? As if, as if my body is something for them to decide what I do with. But now I'm getting it, which is great. Unfortunately it has been quite a weight though, which not so great. Um, and as far as I know, only Wellington and Auckland offer offer hysterectomy as gender affirming care [00:50:30] should be the whole of New Zealand. Yes. Um, I also want to speak to other gender affirming, um, surgeries. Um, as in the future, I hope to one day get phalloplasty done, which is very hard to find any surgeons who will do that. Yes, I, I was hoping that I could maybe one day go to Thailand cuz everybody says that Thailand is the place to go for your gender affirming. Uh, surgeries, but then I found out [00:51:00] that they don't act, they don't even have phalloplasty surgeons there. So now what? So, um, I will let you all know what happens with phalloplasty in the future, but um, yeah, I just wanted to speak to how, um, difficult getting medical care is in roa, um, for both trans masks and trans feminine people. And that even if you have all of the like credentials, even as a [00:51:30] healthcare professional and worker, um, they will still gatekeep you out. But yeah, that's what I wanted to speak to. Kiara, thank you for everyone. Okay, welcome. Step over the sign here. Woo. I'm a little chilly, but thoughts don't freeze, so I'll be fine. Um, I'm your basically favorite, uh, pixie pirate, [00:52:00] non-binary bisexual. So in other terms, I'm just a whore. Um, that's a joke. I've actually been with the same partner for the past four years. Um, she is, I I love my girlfriend. She's amazing. Uh, she is trans, uh, trans woman. Uh, she came out last year to me about it and I was like, oh, fantastic. You know, I get the best of both worlds. It's great. Um, and, [00:52:30] um, Her journey's not been great. Uh, she, she's from a conservative family and she's worked very hard to be where she is at. She's on her hormones and she's gorgeous and she's grown boobs, which are great. Sorry. And, um, but Teddy, sorry. Um, exactly, exactly. And um, but the problem is she [00:53:00] hasn't had proper access to therapy. She hasn't had access to voice therapy. She's had to sink $300 into laser hair removal, and that's only on her face. She does not have the care that she needs. To be happy. She suffers with dysphoria every single day, and it's so crushing to watch my girlfriend not like herself and not love herself. So the healthcare system needs to change. [00:53:30] I love my girlfriend. For me, I as non-binary, I suffer with really bad chest dysphoria today. I was having a good boob day, hence the, uh, you know, corset. But I'll probably go home today and be like, oh shit, I really wish I hadn't done that, but, and I would love to have top surgery. I would love it. I know people who would want to have a hysterectomy. And my brother is here with me today. Sorry. I know I'm talking about you. I love you. Um, he wants a [00:54:00] hysterectomy. He wants top surgery, and he was very fortunate to be fast tracked on hormones because my dad is a doctor. And so with our connections, we can do it, but no other person could. And that sucks. We need to have things fast tracked. We need to get the care that we need, but we need to look after our doctors and our nurses. My dad at the moment is working five days a week, eight plus hours a day because his practice is understaffed. He comes home, [00:54:30] he's stressed. He's tired and it makes my mom hate him a little bit because he's just, you know, a grumpy old man. But I love him. He's okay. Uh, my mom is a nurse and she's a fantastic nurse and I love her so much. And she works at private hospitals where she does look after people who have had top surgery and who have hysterectomies, but she wants more trans care in her hospital system. And my dad wants more trans care in his doctor's practice, but he is met with [00:55:00] transphobic homophobic practice managers, which stop him from being able to do his job. I think I just wanna say that we just need to have a radical change in the whole health system, but it starts with looking after our doctors and our nurses so that they are happy and that they can do the job. Fulfillingly. Thank you. Oh, welcome.[00:55:30] Um, I'm Alex. I'm 15 and I'm gender fluid, so I go by any pronouns. Um, I'm so nervous, but I just wanted to talk about, I grew up in a very Christian Presbyterian town, a rural town, Stratford in Taranaki, and everyone was very, um, interesting when I came out and started, um, experimenting with different things and also my parents were like, oh no. Um, [00:56:00] I am no longer living with my parents and I'm here. And still I've experienced a lot of, like, I thought Wellington would be a lot different. It's not, there's still a lot of, um, hatred and it's really encouraging to know that, um, sort of communities like this, we just push through it through love. And that's a really, like, I think you should all be very proud of that for rather than hating and hating and hating, we are pushing through with our [00:56:30] love, which is the best way to fight it. Um, and we've been doing it for ages. We've been doing it for ages. And I think our words, I think that, um, I think it's really awesome what's going on. And I, I, I really hate that there is so much injustice in this country to do with, um, sexual assault victims who are [00:57:00] trans. I've found a lot. It's too much. It's too much. Um, I've experienced it. I know people have experienced it. People who will not accept anyone else for their body or what they want with their body. And it's dumb. I hate it. I hate it so much. And I wish that. We would have more acceptance because that's all we need. We don't need to, no one needs to be us. No one needs to understand us. We just need to be accepted and for our [00:57:30] existence to be equalized. So we should stand proud and we are proud and I, I'm glad that we are. So that's all. Thank you. Um, I'm just gonna count how many people we've got. Uh, 1, 2, 3, 4. Okay. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. That's awesome. It is getting colder. So we've got five people. Um, if anyone else desperately wants to [00:58:00] speak as well, we, we've got room for one or two more people to join the queue. Um, otherwise we will start some music after the next five people. If anyone is freezing cold, um, and needs like a warm some warmth, um, talk to one of the marshals and we will do what we can. Uh, I've got a towel that someone can wear if you're really cold. Um, yeah. I'm so sorry. It really was beautiful before the sun's just going right. Um, welcome. Uh, hello. Hello. My name's Amanda. [00:58:30] I'm she, her, I figured out I was trans on midnight of New Year's Day 2020 New Year, new me. Um, I was browsing Reddit because I was trying desperately to like stay awake so I could see the clock tick over and like, I found this place called egg i r l, and uh, I was like, that was really relatable, huh? I got very lucky with my medical [00:59:00] transition. I, um, it took me exactly one, one year and four months to receive hormones and apparently that is very fast. I didn't know that at the time. I, um, I'd just like to say now in my modern day, in my modern form that. I'm a lot happier with how I look now. I can actually look at myself in the mirror after a [00:59:30] shower. I can actually like, put on nice outfits and feel good about them instead of wearing the same. Thank you. When I put on this outfit this morning, I actually like danced. I was like, yes, I love this. And I was like, do you know how often I danced when I was a man? Like I, I was so boring back then. Um, but yes, even if like medical [01:00:00] transition was not necessary, which it is, but even if it wasn't, we all deserve to have this level of happiness. I, I hope you all, if not now, then in the future achieve this level of care with yourself and the ability to look in the mirror and dance. Thank you. This is my friend Asami. Hi. I am Amanda's friend. [01:00:30] Um, all righty. So my name's Asami. I use she, her pronouns. I'm gender fluid too. I, so I also use the name Rowan with they them pronouns and sometimes she, her and I sometimes use the name Reese with he, him, or he, they pronouns. Um, anyway, today it Saami Girl Day. Anyway. I'm Trans fm. Um, and long story short, it took me like a whole year to get hormones. Now here's the thing. I was at Vic Uni, so they have a thing where like it's a bit more, you can get hormones a bit quicker with the informed consent model. [01:01:00] However, they were su I had a GP who was suspicious that I might have bipolar and thought that that might prevent me from being able to consent in the first place. So I spent a whole year without any end date inside. First they got me to see counselors. Once I was finished with my counselor and the counselor was satisfied with me, they said like, okay, well we're not sure. We're just gonna get you to see the psychologist at Wellington Hospital. Then I had to wait for a date for them to book me in, which I didn't even know when, when that was gonna happen. [01:01:30] Took me a whole year. I first, well, first point where I decided to, um, get H r t was September something. I forgot the date, but I remember the first day I got h I got prescribed h r T was, uh, Whatever the day before the 1st of September was. I forgot whether August has 31st or not, but yeah, day before that I got prescribed and then like I took my meds for the first time following day, but like a whole freaking year. Like, come on, [01:02:00] like our healthcare, our gps need proper training across this stuff. It's ridiculous. Like I've heard a lot more horror stories about this and it's ridiculous how long it takes. Like, come on New Zealand. Come on. Al Alterra. Yes. Okay. Fuck. Hi, I am Rosie. I go by they, he. Pronouns. This is my very cool partner, [01:02:30] Felix. Um, yay. Um, I just wanted to talk a bit about like my, like, own transition. I came out like probably at 2021 or something. Um, well early 2022 and I still have not received any medical transition care. I have been trying for about a year. I was, I decided to go through my GP instead of university because I didn't know how long I was gonna be [01:03:00] at university for, and I, they said, oh, it's gonna be four, four months on the waiting list. That was three months, which was good on the waiting list to be on the waiting list. I am now, I've now been on the wait actual waiting list for about, for about. About 10 months to a, to a year without where I am persistently told by my GP to just [01:03:30] wait and to just st. Just, and that she knows that it's a hard wait, but maybe I should just go to uni, my university student care instead, instead of going through the pub, instead of going through the public health system where I would have to get diagnosed for, with gender dysphoria to be allowed hormones. So, yeah, and now I'm gonna have to move there, but I just wanted to, to, to the university, [01:04:00] um, student healthcare. But no, I just wanted to say that we, that trans people deserve help, deserve informed health, consent, healthcare. We know what we want and it's not that. It shouldn't be the government's choice. Decide for us. So yeah. How many people have do we have waiting this week? 1, 2, 3, [01:04:30] 4. Um, we are getting, it's getting a little cold. Um, so we want to get through everyone who wants to speak. Um, we're probably gonna have to call the line where it is now. Um, then we'll try to have a little bit of music. Um, but we don't want anyone to get hypothermia, so we're gonna try and, you know, try, try and not take too long. Um, but I also want you to have the experience, you know, the opportunity to share your experiences. Welcome. Uh, hello. Um, sorry. My name is, uh, Declan. I [01:05:00] use he, him pronouns. Uh, and I'm a transgender man from the United States. Thank you. Uh, and, um, I'm, Talk, gonna talk about my experience with healthcare, which is abnormally positive. And I think I wanna share it because my experience should not be the anomaly, it should be the norm. For context, I came out as trans in January of 2021. By April of that same year I was on hormones and had a double mastectomy top surgery. A [01:05:30] and that is not the norm. There was a lot of circumstances that made it work, including being from a state that uses an informed consent model and does not require you to access, uh, a therapist to give you a diagnosis of gender dysphoria to get a surgery or hormones. And you can just, if you're an adult, you can be like, yeah, I want this. And they're like, bet. Cool. Do it. Um, and since being able to medically transition, uh, it's about, so that's about two years since starting hormones and having cop surgery. I [01:06:00] genuinely feel like I'm at a place where I have achieved gender euphoria. I feel very comfortable with myself. You know, I go to the beach without a shirt on. I feel very confident with who I am and how I look, and I feel like I am perceived the way that I want to be perceived. And that should not be an anomaly for trans and queer people. That should be the fucking norm. That should be baseline expected. Like that shouldn't be like a one in however fucking many chance that should be [01:06:30] expected. And I guess the only other thing I wanted to just bring up, I guess, is I said I did that two years ago, and at the time I was like, wow, things are really looking up, like it seems like things are going better for trans people in my country. Um, and in the, even in the two years since then, the amount of just rollback and going in the wrong direction that we've seen, I think. A lot of times because New Zealand is generally better than the US and other places in some regards like that, it's never a good [01:07:00] idea to get complacent. Where we are is never good enough and just because things might seem like they're good enough or maybe like, oh, well this thing is better than it was, so maybe we should be grateful. No, you just have to keep fighting and demanding. Even if things are keep improving and we start getting demands, you really have to keep at it and keep pushing on it because as soon as we get complacent or just protect, like, act like we don't need to push forward or just let other people speak for us, [01:07:30] things can start going in the wrong direction very quickly. And it's important to stay vigilant and to stay advocating for our rights. Hi. I'm glad I took my anxiety reads this morning. Um, I tend to rainbow when I'm nervous. I'll try not to talk too long, but, uh, I'm Cade, I go by they them pronouns and have for the last six years. And I'm here with my comfort support girlfriend, um, who unfortunately has been on the [01:08:00] waiting list for the waiting list or for what we don't know. No one's talking to her for over 10 months. And, um, honestly, I've heard the horror stories. I haven't even bothered to go try through the health system because I know how long it can take and how difficult it can be. And that should not be the case. I come from a very small town, uh, actually in the Hut Valley, and I [01:08:30] grew up admiring this woman because she was so gorgeous and pretty, and she was great at everything. And I had to tell myself that that wasn't allowed. That I wasn't allowed to admire and have a crush on this woman two years older than me because of how people are raised in this fucking society. I, that is, that is the thing people should not have to go through, especially everyone here and everyone who [01:09:00] can't make it here today. And unfortunately that's the case for a lot of people who can't make it out of their homes because they can't support us or themselves because of the situations they are in. And that is just something that has to stop. Uh, Kiara. My name's Anne. I'm a anti-fascist, a tenant organizer, and a non-binary. [01:09:30] Um, I'm also, I'm also a early childcare worker, um, just casually. Yay, ece. Um, And what I think you were saying about family first, kind of trying to attack the, you know, like get the children, um, reminded me of experiences I've had there and like this does have a positive end, so stick with me. Um, the kids at my work, I prefer working with the sort, sort of three and four year olds. They do learn gender at a depressingly young age. Um, they know that it's weird that I have a beard. [01:10:00] Um, you know, it's a lot of like, well you got a beard, are you a boy or a girl? And I'm like, well, it's really hard to explain cause I'm like, yeah, I'm not a woman. But not for the reason that you think. Um, I mean, kids also say a lot of weird stuff. There's a, um, one kid who asked how old I was and when I told him, he said 32, that means you're nearly ready to be dead. That's great. Um, I love him. But, um, yeah, at the, um, at the workplace, I'm, I'm doing a lot of stuff out. I went and asked my manager, like, how do, how do I deal with this [01:10:30] like, weird level of harassment from four year olds? Um, and she gave me a lot of really great advice, like the, the workplace is a positive one. Um, they have a child there who's two whose parents want to use they them pronouns for them. At another place I worked, there was a child who was trans. And that mean, I mean they're like three or four. That means their parents are being supportive. It means the schools are being supportive. There are so many like young people transitioning defecting from the system of colonial gender, like whatever you wanna call it. [01:11:00] Like this is a tidal waves that can't be rolled back and it's wonderful. So, yay. My name's tricky. I use they them pronouns and as is very obvious, I'm fas. When I was first referred to endocrinology, they asked me if I wanted a gastric bypass rather than hormones. They referred me for the gastric bypass and delayed my [01:11:30] getting on hormones for another six months. With the BMI limits that a lot of surgeons have in New Zealand, I may never get the surgeries that I want to live my affirming life, and that fucking sucks. Removing BMI limits from healthcare would make so many things easier, not just within trans healthcare, but within healthcare in general.[01:12:00] Yeah. Hello. Um, my name is Benny. I use any pronouns and I am a Q s A leader at, um, a high school in the suburbs. And I have been in the unfortunate position that I have seen so many people come into the Q S A that I run that, [01:12:30] um, haven't been able to, um, get on hormone blockers. And it's just awful to see because, um, the qsa that I run is mainly a safe space, um, for queer people. And, um, yeah, it's just really awful to see how, um, the terrible situations that, um, trans people are in and yeah. Thank you. [01:13:00] Also, I'm part of the Wellington Queer Students Association. If, um, And so we advocate for queer youth around Wellington and yeah, we're starting to do big things and I'm excited. Ra? Yes. 1, 1, 1 more person. T Um, I'm actually sis so I thought I shouldn't [01:13:30] speak before the trans people, but I also run a qsa, I work at Hut Valley High School and run a QSA there. Um, and I really see the effects with my students of the difference between support from their au the difference between, um, Receiving healthcare. I've got, um, a trained student who is 17 who is on hormones and is getting top surgery these school holidays, so that's so awesome. Um, but I also just really [01:14:00] wanted to do a shout out. I dunno if there's anyone here from them to, uh, Bo Antifascist coalition, they sent me an, they sent me an email as a heads up that, um, resist gender education and evil organization, um, had published details about where our trans support group at school meets and when and publish that widely on their website. So fuck them. Um, but yeah, I just wanna say, um, I know like [01:14:30] it's not just trans people in this fight. There are a lot of cis people who have so much utter half for you guys and what you're going through. And I find it hard hearing the criticism as a cis person. So it must be so hard for you people, um, who are. Who it's about your identity as well. So much rahar to you all. We're all in this fight together. Kiara, thank you all so much for coming. Um, it got cold on us really quickly, so if you're feeling really cold, um, [01:15:00] you know, look after yourselves, that is the most important thing. Um, if you feel you need to run off to get warm, awesome. Um, we're gonna have some music to wrap up, um, but we don't really have more to do. Um, so I'm gonna, um, do you want me to post? Yeah. Um, so I'm good. Gonna do a closing. AK here. Um, same one that Sarah read before. Um, this Kara represents coming together from a diversity of different backgrounds to build something together.[01:15:30] Home. Hi, that is it. You're all amazing. I fucking love you all so much. Hi, I'm Ray. Um, I'm a gender queer, gender freak wellingtonian. Um, and I've just come to a rally for trans [01:16:00] healthcare at Parliament with all of my lovely friends from various places. And can you tell me a bit about what happened at the rally today? Um, lots of people spoke some really beautiful words. There's some music going really hard in the background. It got really cold. Um, people spoke really emo about their experiences of healthcare discrimination. Um, people spoke about beautiful experiences of positive things that have happened in trans healthcare and trans lives and trans communities, and people spoke about [01:16:30] the necessity of organization and community support in furthering and protecting the rights that we have. How did it make you feel to be at this rally today? I feel like who I am and my gender is really built foundationally on my community and the support that I have and the history that comes behind me. So anytime that I'm in a space with other trans people and anytime that I'm thinking about trans history, especially local trans history, I feel so much more grounded and [01:17:00] connected to myself. And that's something that's really important to me actually. Yeah, that's a good point. Would you mind telling me, um, what you're up to this morning? What was I up to this morning? Oh my goodness. Um, I was volunteering at Leg Ends at the Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand. I have been putting away some shirts from the New Zealand AIDS Foundation and the Burnett Foundation, and also looking through many of Georgina Bayer's news clippings that she took throughout her life. Um, especially ones from 1994 to 2017. Um, [01:17:30] it was really special. It's so meaningful to look through those things myself, but especially to do it with other people, which is why I love doing it at the workshops where I get to talk to people about the beautiful materials we're holding and seeing. So, um, given that today was held on the anniversary of Stonewall and given your, um, passion for history, um, what does it mean to you to be, to be, um, honoring Stonewall with the healthcare demands? 18 healthcare demands. Stonewall is a really precious and important, um, [01:18:00] moment in the world's queer history. It is quite meaningful to be here on this day. Um, it's especially meaningful to me to have come here after just being at New Zealand's Trans and Queer Archives to see all these beautiful posters that you have made of New Zealand's trans and queer figures in our history. Um, I feel that's really important when we do work like this to keep in mind those who have come before us so that we can remember that we're not isolated and we are part of this massive web [01:18:30] across time and across space of trans and queer community who have been fighting for the same things for the longest. Ke my name is tricky. Um, I am at a. Um, gender healthcare rally and everyone appears to be having fun. We're, um, talking about our experiences with our, with healthcare within the New Zealand system, which is a rollercoaster. And so can you [01:19:00] describe, uh, the scene for me, what's going on around currently? A lot of people are chatting. I'm assuming people are either talking to friends or making new friends. People are dancing to the music that's going on, and we're also packing up a little bit right now. Um, so you got up and, and spoke and had a really wonderful speech. Can you tell me more about, uh, why it was important for you to share your experiences to the crowd today? I think it was important to me to share my experiences because there weren't many people talking about the perspective of being a fat trans person in New Zealand and [01:19:30] also just, um, kind of a. Middle to older person. There are a lot of young people who are having a lot of experiences right now and it sucks for them and it sucks for us too. I, I really resonated with what you said about the VMI stuff cuz that shit's so fucked. Um, so I was really happy that you got up and, and spoke about it. Um, can you, um, what do you think about the 18 demands that Q E D [01:20:00] have laid out? Honestly, I don't have a very good memory, so I don't remember a lot of them. But, uh, when they were being spoken, I did cheer for most of them because it makes sense that, uh, making trans healthcare more accessible and just an easier process for us to go through is a good idea. Um, currently, uh, we aren't a priority and making ourselves a priority is the way it has to go. And also [01:20:30] making sure that, um, The rights of healthcare workers are respected. It's just all around good things. I think, um, given that it's an, it's an election year, um, what would you like to say to any politicians listening to this audio recording? Realize that your trans constituents are people. Prioritize healthcare for them. Make sure that you are not caving to the demands of people who hate us. So I [01:21:00] am Anna. Um, I used to give context, I'm from Latin American, from Mexico, and with Be we made the group Latin queers, which is basically Latin American people coming together because there's not many places where there's the intersection of both being Latin and being queer is very rare. So what brought us to this, basically trans rights, of course, um, healthcare for everyone. In my case, I am disabled. I am also in the trans umbrella. And. These two things, even though people see it as separately are very, [01:21:30] there's no liberation if everyone is not liberated, basically. So while I am Belen Pedro from Argentina. Argentina, and yes. So basically we have this need to, uh, gather as a community since, for us it's really hard to find spaces where we feel completely comfortable because we think that the queer in here is, uh, quite close. So there is no much space for Latin America. [01:22:00] Uh, and also we come from very difficult spaces, countries, and also we have a huge history of activism. Uh, if you research a little bit about the trans feminism in, uh, Latin, in Latin America, it's a huge, huge movement. So basically we want to give. Our experience, uh, as a political movement being Latin American and queer. So for everyone is invited also, um, to [01:22:30] come to our space. You can find us. On social media as Latin queers, which is l a t i n, queers spell as the Spanish, uh, which is c u i r S. So everyone is welcome. We will be doing quite a few things and everyone is welcome again. Thank you. That's fantastic. Can you, um, if, if I can keep you for a little bit longer? Yeah. Can you tell me more about, um, when you founded this group and, and how the kind of conversations behind getting this group started? If, if, if you're okay with. Talking about that. Yeah, of course. [01:23:00] Yeah. Um, so basically, well, Anna and I have been friends, uh, for, uh, for quite, quite a few years now. Well, of course I'm queer. I'm, uh, I'm a lesbian. And we had, again, this need to find us and we started meeting queer people, Latin American queer people, but we could never gather in one same space. So that's why we wanted to start something new. And because I'm a big fan of films and I specialize specifically in [01:23:30] Latin American films and queer films, so, um, I wanted to start doing this, uh, film screening showing showcasing Latin American queer films. So, and we are doing that, uh, that once a month and suddenly we discover that we all have this huge, huge need together and to create these huge nets of care and support because we are feel very lonely. Um, so basically that's how it started. It doesn't have, um, a very long [01:24:00] time. We only started quite a few months ago, but it keeps growing and everyone who comes, it's, uh, immediately feels welcome and happy because it's, again, it's really hard for us. Yeah. Yeah. We would also like to share our knowledge as activists in Latin America, which is a completely different context, but there's definitely some theory that we could use in Altera. We would really like to see a bit more of a political movement in the queer community as. It stands right now. It seems very white. It seems very, [01:24:30] um, straight size, able bodied. Um, when, where we come from. Activism is really important. Everything is politics. So being here and not seeing that was also another catalyst for us to get together to be like, oh, we need, it's not only that I'm gay and I'm beautiful, oh, everyone can tell I'm beautiful, but let's make it political. Let's make a statement out of it. Yes, I am. And also, so we are here celebrating and also fighting for, uh, what this, this movement started right in the [01:25:00] states that, uh, 28th of June. And we also have to remember that one of the, uh, pro Taiwanese of the leaders for the movement was, um, Latin American immigrant is Sylvia Rivera. So we also want to bring all, all of all, all of our experience and knowledge from that. And also we can't forget that queer. Movement, queer community. It's a political movement, and we really want [01:25:30] to highlight that we are a political movement and we have the strength to to, to change reality as we know it. So I think that's the, the most important thing. Um, are there any particular Latin American activists or groups that you look up to and so many, so many, well, especially, um, all, all the, all the big ones. I mean, Lona, Berkins, um, she was a, a Travis Stite, as we call [01:26:00] in Latin America, uh, activist, uh, Vienna Shan, he was part, he create the homosexual organization in Argentina, and he was the one. Who, who did the, who organized the first, uh, pride, um, protest in, in Argentina. Also, uh, one other interesting thing that in Argentina, for example, we celebrate the Pride parade in November, not in June. And that was because [01:26:30] when everything started, this was like late eighties, the beginning of the 19th in Argentina, the same as happened here. It's cold weather, very cold weather. And because there were a lot of people who had AIDS and they were H HIV V positive, it was really hard for them to go out in the cold weather like us now. Um, so that's why they decided to move the protest to November. Um, so there are like those specific things that we, we would love to [01:27:00] bring and share with people here in Otte Ottawa. Well, I, I don't wanna keep you on the call too much longer, but, um, when I, uh, came over to ask you to interview, I rudely interrupted a dance circle, and so I just wanted to ask you, you know, um, what it feels like to be at a rally here commemorating Stonewall, bringing the Latin Queers group to Parliament lawns. How, what, what are the feelings like for you both? Um, it's, it's really cool for once the fact that we got to play reggaeton in the parliament. Pretty cool. Yes. Um, [01:27:30] very proud. Yeah, very proud of that. But also, um, it's just a lot of joy because we have, there's an activist that I love, NA Guerrero from Mexico, and she says, one foot at the party and another in the protest in which something that we really carry in Latin American, which party, both party and protesting is not a, is not in fight at each other. Like we can do both. Uh, the system constantly wants to take away our pleasure, our happiness, our existence out of here. So us by dancing, by being loud, by being [01:28:00] here, that's us being like, you know what? Taking space. Exactly. Taking space, taking the public space. It should be ours. We're being like, you know what? I know you all in Parliament. Ignore us as migrants, as gay people, as disabled people. Well, we're still here and we're not gonna go anywhere. And we're having fun. We're having fun. Exactly. Yeah. I'm not gonna be at home crying. Exactly. So we can't, we can't, uh, we, we can't let the, the whole system to take away from us the joy and the pleasure. Mm-hmm. And, and all of those kind of things. That's [01:28:30] also, those ones are also human rights. And we have to celebrate and we have to be aware of that. Yeah.
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