The title of this recording is "Peter and partner - Out in the Park (2016)". It is described as: Peter and partner reflect on life before homosexual law reform, their civil union and attending Out in the Park. It was recorded in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand on the 12th March 2016. This is an interview with an unidentified interviewee (or possibly interviewees) conducted by Gareth Watkins. The name is spelt correctly but may appear incorrectly spelt later in the document. The duration of the recording is 7 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: Peter and partner reflect on life before homosexual law reform, their civil union and attending Out in the Park. The content in the recording covers the decades 1960s through to the 2010s. A brief summary of the recording is: This abstract summarizes a poignant audio recording capturing reflections from two individuals, Peter and partner, on their life experiences relating to LGBTQ+ issues in Aotearoa New Zealand, spanning from the 1960s through to the 2010s. The recording, titled "Peter and partner - Out in the Park (2016)," is an interview conducted by Gareth Watkins in Wellington. It opens with Peter expressing joy at attending the 30th anniversary of Out in the Park, a significant contrast to the challenges faced 30 years prior. During the 1960s, the interviewee recounts harrowing experiences of bullying and harassment, which were especially severe prior to homosexual law reform in the country. They describe the intimidation felt during marches and protests, incidences of public hostility, and personal attacks, such as having objects thrown at their home. The police, while somewhat understanding towards their plight, could offer limited support since the LGBTQ+ community's existence was deemed illegal at the time. The interview paints a vivid picture of the social climate before and after law reforms that impacted the LGBTQ+ community, highlighting the particular adversity faced during the parliamentary process of the Civil Union Bill, where the couple had to endure "loud and awful" protests from opposition groups. The civil union of the couple is touched upon, indicating a long-term, committed relationship since 1980, and their decision not to convert their civil union into a marriage, viewing both as equally valid forms of partnership. One of the individuals discusses the broader context of their life, such as coming out at the age of 12 and suffering severe bullying at school, which ultimately led to leaving education early. They reflect on the profound changes in societal acceptance over the decades, yet they still acknowledge persisting challenges such as queer bashing and bigotry. The acceptance and presence of young people at events like Out in the Park offer hope and stand as a testament to the progress made for future generations. An intimate glimpse into their personal life is also shared, including their decision to not have children but to adopt abandoned and abused pets, thus creating their own family unit. The one cat they have becomes a significant part of their life and is affectionately named "little girl." When considering current and future challenges for the rainbow community, the interviewees point out the remaining bigotry and the need for continued outreach and support to those still facing adversity. The conversation also turns to the particular issue of aging within the LGBTQ+ community and the need for safe environments and elder care facilities that are accepting and supportive, recognizing this as an important next step for inclusivity. The recording ends with a hopeful note, imagining an ideal future where they can age gracefully and happily in a supportive environment, surrounded by caring individuals from their community. The full transcription of the recording follows.  It includes timestamps every thirty seconds in the format [HH:MM:SS].  The transcription begins:  Hi. I'm Peter. And I'm at the, uh, out in the park. 30th anniversary. Uh, and, um, it's been great. I really enjoyed it. And it was so nice to have a nice, happy march here compared to what we did 30 years ago. Yeah. What was it like 30 years ago? Oh, it was a bit horrifying. Going up Queen Street in Auckland. We used to live [00:00:30] in Auckland. Um, a lot of, you know, odd looks we got from the so called straight community. Um, much better now, of course. Um but you did feel the intimidation back then. Um, no, I love it. I just love it. What I see here today, yes. What's the thing that stands out for you the most? Um just all the people, the acceptance. And, [00:01:00] um, I think it's just fabulous nowadays. Yeah, no, just good. Um, years ago, when we lived in Auckland, we were harassed in our own home and, uh, you know, things thrown at us, and it was just shocking. But, um um, you carry on Peter. What was I mean, Was that due to, um, law reforming, you know, Or was it prior to law reform? it was prior to law reform. [00:01:30] So you couldn't really do anything because you were doing something illegal. Basically, although the I think the police were pretty understanding anyway. But we, um, had to get over that, I think, um, when I was thinking back 30 years ago walking, marching in Queen Street, there was a lot of, uh, hostile abuse, but nothing as bad as what we experienced [00:02:00] at Parliament when the civil Union bill was going through and we had to face up the Destiny Church there, which was very loud and awful. So it's really nice to be here and feel free and see all the young people who are never going to have to go through what we went through and their happy faces. Yes, it's It's amazing to think about that for a lot of people under 30. Um, it it's very hard to kind [00:02:30] of comprehend what it what What? That was like. Yes. Yes, I will agree. Um, when I came out at the age of 12, it was in about 1967 I suppose, um, very hard at school. Difficult. All through those years, I was, um I was uncoordinated. Very bad at coordination and a bit fairy like, if you know what I mean. So I was [00:03:00] teased a lot at school, and I finally left school at 16 because I was harassed so much. So, um, from then on, I went into a sort of a 17 year, which ended, Um, And then in 1980 I met Peter, and we've been together ever since. And we both had a civil union, Uh, seven years ago. Um, and we're great. We're great. [00:03:30] We wondered if if we should get actually married, so to speak, but, um, we think perhaps not civil unions. Just as good, I think I don't think we're going to adopt kids or anything. Children, I should say. Not kids. No, just pets. How many pets have you got? Uh, just the one cat who was a, uh, a abandoned, abused cat. So she took a while [00:04:00] to decide she would accept us, but she definitely wanted to live on the property. So first thing she do is jump on his knee, and she's been there ever since. That's very sweet. What What's her name? A little girl. We We didn't know whether she had another name. So we were just calling her the little girl and she got used to it. So she's a little girl, so that's our our child. But over the years I think we've been [00:04:30] We entered a lot of younger people coming through, and, um, I guess the some still experience some of the things that we did. It's not totally clear of the woods yet for that sort of thing. It's still bashing and things that goes on, but by and large, it's much safer for gay people than it was before. What do you think some of the issues are nowadays facing kind of rainbow communities? Uh, I think there's [00:05:00] a lot of still a lot of bigotry, and, um uh, people who have fears about themselves and sort of use bullying other people who are scared will try and intimidate others and do things, And I think those people sort of have to be reached out to and be comfortable who they are. I think it probably takes generations and generations for it to really clear up. [00:05:30] But what happened in the last 30 years is good and, you know, maybe in the next 10 or 20 years, it will be totally good. And I want to ask you in 30 years time, What would be your kind of ideal world? What? What? Just to be together? I'm happy to by the pool and the rest home. Why wait to the rest home with some nice gay nurses to look after us? I. I imagine that must be quite I mean, that that is an issue, [00:06:00] isn't it kind of ageing as that would happen? I had my mother in a rest home and I thought, God, there's no way I would be there. If it's like this, if you're a little bit different or anything, it would be awful. So I suppose things will change in that way, and they'll be, you know, good places for elder gays to go. Uh, and I'm sure, uh, gay community [00:06:30] people are very supportive of their own, so that would be good. But I wouldn't have liked to have been a resident, a gay resident, and the rest time my mom was there, So yeah, that's the next big thing because there's a lot of us ageing gay people and very, you know, in the next 10 or 20 years, we will be headed in that direction, so we need a safe environment and one where we can be [00:07:00] happy and accepted and be ourselves. 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: 1960s ; 1980s ; 2000s ; 2010s ; Aotearoa New Zealand ; Auckland ; Destiny Church ; Out in the Park (Wellington) ; Out in the Square (Wellington) ; People ; Waitangi Park ; Wellington ; abuse ; acceptance ; adoption ; ageing ; bigotry ; bullying ; cats ; change ; children ; church ; civil unions ; community ; elder care ; elder issues ; elders ; environment ; fairy ; fat ; gay ; harassment ; homophobia ; homophobic bullying ; homosexual law reform ; love ; march ; marriage ; other ; parade ; peace ; pets ; police ; pool ; queen ; queer bashing ; rainbow ; rest homes ; school ; straight ; time ; understanding ; unions ; walking ; youth. The original recording can be heard at this website https://www.pridenz.com/out_in_the_park_peter_and_partner.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.1089733. Please note that this document may contain errors or omissions - you should always refer back to the original recording to confirm content.