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| irn | 8062 |
| master_filename | 001027_MIX_over_the_rainbow_queer_history_korero.wav |
| master_md5 | 560A1ABEEDDF95FAB9BABDD718C5E702 |
| master_duration | 1:22:02 |
| master_sample_rate | 44.1 kHz |
| master_bit_depth | 16 bit |
| master_channels | 1 |
| media_reference | 001027 |
| media_source | PrideNZ.com |
| copyright_position | In copyright |
| copyright_ownership | Gareth Watkins (PrideNZ.com) |
| copyright_ownership_note | |
| submitted_to_nlnz | 27-11-2025 |
| public_url | https://www.pridenz.com/over_the_rainbow_queer_history_korero.html |
| meta_url | https://www.pridenz.com/data/media/meta/8062.html |
| plain_text_url | https://www.pridenz.com/plaintext/over_the_rainbow_queer_history_korero.txt |
| production_date | 01-11-2025 |
| production_day | 01 |
| production_month | 11 |
| production_year | 2025 |
| recording_type | Event |
| series | |
| sub_series | |
| title | Over the Rainbow - Queer History Kōrero |
| description | Audio from the Over the Rainbow - Queer History Kōrero event. Will Hansen interviews Mal Vaughan and Scott Kennedy who have been managing and owning hospitality establishments in Wellington since the 1970s. They also talk about winning My Bent Friend's Wedding and getting married in Hawaii in 2003 (before same same-sex couples could get civil unioned or married in New Zealand). During the event Mal remembers Alexis, her quilt panel can be viewed on the New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt. A special thank you to the participants, event organiser Leilani Sio and Wellington Museum for allowing for this event to be recorded and shared. Details. 0:00:01 - Welcome - Leilani Sio, Public Programs Developer Wellington Museum Experience Wellington. 0:04:48 - Interviewer Will Hansen. 0:05:25 - Mal Vaughan. 0:39:30 - Scott Kennedy. 1:02:20 - Audience questions. 1:21:28 - Closing - Leilani Sio. |
| summary_computer_generated | Over the Rainbow – Queer History Kōrero is a vibrant, intergenerational conversation recorded at Wellington Museum as part of the 2025 Wellington Heritage Festival. Hosted by Leilani Sio, the event features veteran hospitality figures Malcolm Vaughan and Scott Kennedy, interviewed by historian Will Hansen. The discussion celebrates five decades of queer nightlife, love, resilience, and community leadership in Wellington, spanning from the 1970s to today. Leilani Sio opens with a karakia and warm welcome. She reflects on how spaces like the Evergreen Coffee Lounge once offered safe havens for queer people, and she honours Malcolm (Mal) Vaughan’s decades of service to the rainbow community through hospitality. Mal Vaughan recalls discovering his sexuality young, and how working in the Merchant Navy and hospitality trade helped shape his confidence. His early career included time aboard the inter-island ferries Rangatira and Aramoana, where he met other gay seafarers who became his mentors. After shore work at the St George Hotel and the Western Park Tavern, he managed the legendary Bamboo Bar at the Royal Oak Hotel. In that era, bars doubled as lifelines for queer people—safe social spaces before law reform or anti-discrimination protections existed. At the Royal Oak, Mal met Georgina Beyer before her transition. They shared a flat on Buller Street and became lifelong friends. The conversation offers a heartfelt portrait of Georgina—her humour, fire, and trailblazing leadership as the world’s first openly trans mayor and MP. Mal recounts how he and Scotty and a close group cared for her through her illness, helping fulfil her final wishes, and scattering her ashes across Parliament Grounds, Carterton, and Point Jerningham. He and Scotty ensured her legacy lived on, attending the naming of Georgina Beyer Way in Carterton and preserving the original street sign for display in their bar. Mal also speaks of the Afterlife Memorial Trust, founded in the early 2000s after witnessing the undignified funeral of their transgender friend Alexis Kennedy, whose family refused to recognise her gender. That experience drove Mal, Scotty and friends to establish the trust so rainbow people could “die with dignity.” Later renamed the Chrissy Witoko Memorial Trust, it honours another Wellington icon—the Evergreen’s founder—and has since assisted over 20 funerals, sponsored a HIV/AIDS documentary, and continues to support community initiatives. The conversation moves through the AIDS crisis years, when funerals were weekly and stigma ran deep. Bars became places of mourning as much as celebration. Mal describes how Wellington’s gay nightlife evolved—venues like The Toledo, Bojangles, Pound, and The Dome—each one a labour of love. He and Scotty even hid a time capsule under the floor of the old Dome Bar (now the Welsh Dragon Bar), sealing photos, articles, and a joint “for future archaeologists.” Scotty Kennedy joins the stage midway, sharing the story of how he and Mal met. Their paths crossed for years before fate finally united them over a pool table at Casper’s Bar in the early 1990s—“our first kiss over the table.” Together for 33 years, they have become pillars of Wellington’s queer community. Their relationship gained national fame in 2003 when they won the ZM radio competition My Bent Friend’s Wedding. The playful campaign, broadcast live across New Zealand, sent them to Hawaii to marry before civil unions or same-sex marriage were legal here in New Zealand. Amid bomb threats and backlash, their radio wedding and cheeky humour—complete with a poem asking “Why should we have to go overseas to wed?”—captured hearts nationwide. It also inspired some families to reconcile and shifted attitudes toward marriage equality. In 2005 the couple opened Scotty and Mal's Cocktail Bar on Cuba Street, a landmark of Wellington’s queer nightlife for nearly two decades. Their “Wall of Fame,” inspired by Melbourne’s Prince of Wales Hotel, memorialises community members lost to HIV / AIDS and honours icons such as Georgina Beyer, Chrissy Witoko, and Alexis Kennedy. The bar remains a welcoming, mixed space where allies and queer patrons mingle under one roof—“If you’re homophobic, there’s the door.” Mal and Scott’s anecdotes range from hilarious to heartfelt—elderly patrons caught in compromising positions, Paul Holmes drinking sambuca until dawn, and the endless rhythm of karaoke nights, drag shows, and charity events. They recall running nightclubs like Pound, where on the closing night of the club, queues stretched to end of Te Aro Park, and drag performers such as Polly Filla packed the house until sunrise. Through every success and setback—including losing thousands in failed ventures and rebuilding after COVID—they’ve stayed true to their ethos of community care and safe celebration. They credit their longevity to hard work, inclusiveness, and the love of their patrons. From training generations of bartenders to collaborating with nearby eateries and hosting community events, they’ve made S and M’s not just a bar but a cultural home. Now entering their 19th year in 2025, Mal (who turns 70 in March 2026) and Scotty continue to run the venue together, though they joke about retirement. “We’ll keep it going until someone else takes the reins,” Mal says. Over the Rainbow – Queer History Kōrero stands as a lively, emotional journey through five decades of Wellington’s rainbow culture. It honours pioneers like Georgina Beyer and Chrissy Witoko, recognises the power of queer nightlife in shaping identity and activism, and reminds listeners that visibility, acceptance, and love are hard-won achievements worth protecting. |
| interviewer | Will Hansen |
| voices | Leilani Sio; Malcolm Vaughan; Scott Kennedy; Will Hansen |
| tags | gay; 1970s; 1980s; 1990s; 2000s; 2010s; 2020s; adoption; allies; Aramoana (inter-island ferry); backgammon; bars; bingay; bomb threat; books; Catholic school; civil unions; closeted; coming out; community; COVID-19 lockdown; death; death threat; drag; drag kings; ferry; funeral; graffiti; grief; history; HIV / AIDS; homophobia; homosexual law reform; hospital; hospitality; karaoke; legacy; lei (garland); marriage equality; mayor; Member of Parliament; merchant navy; merchant seaman; parties; pink dollar; poetry; police; pool; public speaking; public toilet; radio; rainbow crossing; Rangatira (inter-island ferry); threats; time capsule; wall of fame; wedding; wedding proposal; wills; 20 Buller Street (apartment); Avalon Primary School (Lower Hutt); Bamboo Bar; Barney’s (bar); Bojangles; Casper's Bar and Cafe; Club bar (Royal Oak Hotel); Club Exotic; Club Exotique; Club Ivy; Eagle Bar (Auckland); El Matador; Evergreen Coffee House; Georgina Beyer (site of ashes - 1); Georgina Beyer Way (street); Hotel St George; Kisa (Wellington); Kitty O'Shea's Irish Bar; Oaks Coffee Shop; Oaks Complex; Ombra (Wellington); Parliament buildings; Parliament grounds; Pound nightclub; Rainbow Crossing (Wellington); Royal Oak Hotel; Scotty and Mal's Cocktail Bar; Tavern bar (Royal Oak Hotel); The Dome; The Purple Onion; Toledo bar (Royal Oak Hotel); Wellington Museum; pridenz.com; Aotearoa New Zealand; Auckland; Carterton; Carterton District; Cuba Mall; Cuba Street; Dixon Street; Hamilton; Mt Dick (Wairarapa); Rose garden (Parliament grounds); 91ZM (Wellington, radio); Afterlife Memorial Trust; Alexander Turnbull Library; Chrissy Witoko Memorial Trust; Downstage theatre; TV3; TVNZ (Television New Zealand); ZMFM; Civil Union Act (2004); Mayor of Carterton; Mr Gay New Zealand; My Bent Friend's Wedding; Carterton Daffodil Festival; CubaDupa (Wellington); Wellington Heritage Festival; World Pride 2023 (Sydney); cracking it; slag do; Alexis Kennedy; Chrissy Witoko; Donald Trump; Elizabeth Kerekere; Gareth Watkins; Georgina Beyer; Grant Kereama; Grant Pittams; Iain Stables; Jack Johnson; Karen Morris; Leilani Sio; Louisa Wall; Malcolm Vaughan; Mark Blumskey; Nick Tansley; Pasi Daniels; Paul Holmes; Pauline Gillespie; Phil Smees; Polly Filla; Rion McKenzie; Ron Mark; Scott Kennedy; Will Hansen |
| tags_computer_generated | lesbian; transgender; programme; theatre; sex; Homosexual Law Reform; family; Wellington; straight; law; Christchurch; venues; support; library; music; research; Wairarapa; social; Waikato; Australia; unions; marriage; Melbourne; military; Sydney; school; parents; friends; transition; documentary; organising; Coming Up; dignity; respect; children; Green Party; alcohol; over the rainbow; murder; Bay of Plenty; painting; trust; love; The Edge; reading; queer; government; food; nightclub; council; heterosexual; homosexual; culture; mana; shame; difference; peace; spaces; rainbow; naming; building; hospice; university; Stuff; fun; minority; Tonga; Alexander Turnbull; mary; memorial; running; change; rangatira; Hawaii; mourning; iwi; kink; power; trans; suit; french; pants; lawyer; top; bottom; career; heritage; rent; survivor; walking; choice; Newtown; march; economy; cafe; closet; other; army; navy; honour; letter; wairua; taonga; broadcasting; shopping; Wellington City Council; listening; horse; future; work; vote; website; airport; blood; workshop; eating; sleep; security; environment; karakia; Job; God; competition; epidemic; coffee; Vivian Street; Space; touch; whenua; bus; the other side; dressed up; hit; barman; wine; stables; hell; stepfather; tough; People; Events; primary school; birthday; Cuba; flying; board; knowledge; Wales; prince; Christmas; organised; treat; time; hotel; waka; Rongo; piano; earthquake; David; pou; postcard; LGBT; sea; night porter; jazz; blessing; filming; sad; belief; dj; camera; period; seat; steak; trade; Deputy Mayor; Mary Potter Hospice; kidney transplant; The Warehouse; purple; memory; take over; ia; AIDS; orange |
| location_name | Wellington Museum |
| location | 3 Jervois Quay |
| broader_location | Wellington |
| location_lat | -41.28535669574016 |
| location_long | 174.778075926947 |
| precise_locality | true |