The title of this recording is "Stephen Donald". It is described as: Stephen Donald from New Zealand talks about attending the human rights conference. It was recorded in Wellington Town Hall, 101 Wakefield Street, Wellington on the 16th March 2011. Stephen Donald is being interviewed by Jim Whitman.  Their names are spelt correctly but may appear incorrectly spelt later in the document. The duration of the recording is 8 minutes. A list of correctly spelt content keywords and tags can be found at the end of this document. A brief description of the recording is: In this podcast Stephen Donald from New Zealand talks about attending the human rights conference. The content in the recording covers the 2010s decade. A brief summary of the recording is: This summary encapsulates the essence of an interview with Stephen Donald, recorded at Wellington Town Hall on March 16, 2011, as part of a podcast discussing a human rights conference. In the interview, conducted by Jim Whitman and lasting eight minutes, Donald shares insights from their work and experiences within predominantly Maori communities in rural areas of New Zealand's North Island. Working in a community-facing ministry in a close-knit environment where personal details are openly known, Donald highlights the non-issue of their sexuality, emphasizing the local emphasis on performance rather than personal attributes. Their involvement extends beyond spiritual guidance, encompassing leadership roles on the board of an organization and particular interests in intellectual disability and sexual health, areas that they note as having overlap with Maori community needs. Addressing the lack of visibility and health services for sexually diverse communities in provincial and rural areas is a priority for Donald, which entails innovative integration of sexual health promotion within existing community initiatives, such as in schools and men's health programs. The approach discussed is one of forming strategic alliances and utilizing existing networks to fund and support these endeavors. During the conference, Donald found resonance with discussions on utilizing scarce resources efficiently and the global applicability of the principle that supporting the most disadvantaged benefits all society levels. They reflect on the conference's broader context, revealing Donald's international perspective, fluency in Tongan, and connections in Pacific nations such as Fiji and Samoa. These connections have allowed for the exchange of varied experiences and the formation of an enriched understanding of the issues faced by the broader Asia Pacific region. An intriguing topic of the conference for Donald was the perception of the church by people of sexually diverse identities. With a personal history unmarred by prejudice in their religious role, Donald recognizes the differences in others' experiences and highlights the need for the church to reframe its understanding of sexuality. Donald plans to convey these insights in a forthcoming article for their diocese magazine, drawing upon the views presented at the conference, particularly those by Marvin Ellison, to aid in articulating the necessary shifts in perspective. On a personal level, the conference allowed Donald to feel a sense of inclusion in a larger community, a sentiment amplified by their rural residence. It has emboldened them to embrace their identity more openly and engage in activism in later life, addressing the particular challenges faced by those in rural areas who are sexually diverse and often invisible. The conference facilitated the expansion of Donald's support networks, creating opportunities for ongoing in-person and virtual interactions with new contacts within New Zealand and across the Pacific. The full transcription of the recording follows.  It includes timestamps every thirty seconds in the format [HH:MM:SS].  The transcription begins:  I, um I work within predominantly Maori communities. Um, I come from a settler settler family, um, on the east coast of the North Island, a place called to bay. Um, and that's the community I'm based in these days. And but I'm working mostly with, um, Maori, um, communities, some of whom, um are closely connected with with their and i others who, um, live in remote [00:00:30] rural areas. Um, and on farms. Well, over an hour off the main road. Um, I work, um, in a very much community facing ministry and a place where everybody knows everybody. Um, and they know know everybody's business. They know that I'm gay. Um, this is, um, not been an issue. Um, you know, race, gender, sexual orientation. Um, age [00:01:00] are irrelevant if you get on and do what is required, um, to make things happen, and, um, to be an effective priest within those sort of communities and spirituality here is not your only focus. Certainly not. Um, I'm a member of the board of, um, to, um the token. Um, token park hour. Um and I, [00:01:30] um, have a particular interest in two areas. One of them is in disability and particularly intellectual disability, Um, and in sexual health. And, um, those are that has some definite overlaps for here, Um, and that within the health board area, East Coast, nobody is doing effective work with men who have sex with men. And so we're investigating some ways into that within those communities, because the [00:02:00] there is, there is no visibility to, um to gay or lesbian sexually diverse communities within what is a provincial and rural area. And so we're having to find we're going to have to be clever about how we do that. Um, we're looking at integrating, um, some of the work into what we already do with sexual health promotion in the schools. And also, um, probably the most effective place is [00:02:30] to have a sexual health component within the men's health programmes that we're that we're running. I was interested, particularly today. We had a, um I went to Vaughan, um, session on making do with making a little go a long way. Um, and I was interested in the way he was talking about forming alliances and my experience both within the health area and in the church and our community facilitation is just [00:03:00] what he was talking about. Where you you form alliances. You other people fund things if you're out there and prepared to do it, um, and almost queue up to help you, Um, if you've got the right approach and the right community networks already in place and the conference itself Have you learned anything from it? I have. I've Well, I've met lots of people. Um, I've, you know, formed some good networks, [00:03:30] I would say already, Um, I've seen the dimensions of, um, of what I'm involved in on a local and regional level, Um, has a more national international global focus as well. Um, the whole, um, notion that I've always understood that if you support those who are the most disadvantaged, that everybody, um, in society wins, and that is the case for on a local level and a national and international [00:04:00] level. And so I've been really interested in what happens within the Asia Pacific region. I have connections with with the Pacific already. Um, I've lived in Tonga and, um, actually a fluent Tongan speaker. Um, and I've spent a lot of time in Fiji, and, um, I already have connections with with the group in Fiji, who some of who the guys are. Some of them are here. Um, and I've been able to meet up with others from Samoa and other places while I'm here. And to get a different [00:04:30] dimension on that has been really useful. Um, I'm interested in the the, uh, the, um debate. Um, which I have might have a different view from what's been promoted. Um, but, um, interesting angles, Um, and that also that the other angle I've been particularly interested in is how the church is perceived. Um, by many, um, people of sexual sex, diverse [00:05:00] sexualities. Um, I've never, um, had outright prejudice or or blocking of of of anything of my own, Probably because I've been prepared to do things that no one else would do. Quite often go places and work places where no one else would be. Um, but, um, the experience of other people is not that. And, um, I you know, I. I cut myself fortunate for that, but that doesn't mean to say that we don't have [00:05:30] a lot of work to do in the church as well. And I'll be writing a, um, a report well, an article for our diocese and magazine on the conference. And, um, part of that will be about the whole area of, of how we have to reframe a lot of our, um, understanding of of sexuality within the church and and Marvin Ellison's, um actually, that was really helpful to give some language to that. I wish [00:06:00] I'd had him around as my consultant to help me write my big coming out speech at Diocese and Synod. But he would have had to do it in five minutes, not 25 forgetting if you can. But the work you do, which is a big part of your life, obviously has that. Has the conference meant anything to you at a sort of basic personal level? Yes, it has. It's made me feel part of a a bigger community. Um, especially from living in a rural, isolated [00:06:30] rural area. Um and, yeah, it's been a really helpful thing on that from that angle. Um, and I'm you know, I'm probably more open now with claiming that identity than I would have been some years ago. Um uh, and I ended up being somewhat of an activist in my fifties which I never expected to be. Um, most of the people [00:07:00] that that were part of all that activism stuff of my age group have done that long ago. Um, and but it's quite interesting to come to it at this point with with, um, maturity and experience to be able to use, um, and relate that to context that I think is often forgotten. I think those of those who live there within an urban context have no idea really about if they've come from the country, [00:07:30] they've escaped it early, Um, and have no idea how that might be for those people who live pretty invisible and closeted lives. Um, and, um, I'm not one of those who does either of that, but, um, there is hardly a community around me that supports, and this has been helpful for that building the networks for a wider support network and you'll keep in touch with people by visiting them. Have them visit you. Yeah, I already do a bit of that. Anyway, um and [00:08:00] I will I will do that more. Um, because I've made contacts with all sorts of people or some people that I've only ever been introduced to on Facebook. Facebook does work. Um and, um, they, you know, I've been able to actually meet them in person, and, um, both from New Zealand and around the Pacific. The full transcription of the recording ends. A list of keywords/tags describing the recording follow. These tags contain the correct spellings of names and places which may have been incorrectly spelt earlier in the document. The tags are seperated by a semi-colon: 2010s ; Asia Pacific Outgames (2011) ; Fiji ; Pacific ; People ; Poland ; Stephen Donald ; Stuff ; Wellington ; Wellington Town Hall ; activism ; board ; building ; church ; closeted ; coming out ; community ; conference ; connections ; disability ; family ; gay ; gender ; health ; human rights ; identity ; language ; lesbian ; march ; other ; prejudice ; race ; running ; rural ; sex ; sexual health ; sexual orientation ; sexuality ; speech ; spirituality ; support ; time ; touch ; trauma ; understanding ; urban ; visibility ; work ; writing. The original recording can be heard at this website https://www.pridenz.com/apog_stephen_donald.html. The master recording is also archived at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington, New Zealand.  For more details visit their website https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.1089490. Please note that this document may contain errors or omissions - you should always refer back to the original recording to confirm content.