The title of this recording is "Speak Up For Women". It is described as: Speak Up For Women representative Beth Johnson speaks about the public meeting about to take place in the Michael Fowler Centre on 15 July 2021. It was recorded in Michael Fowler Centre, 111 Wakefield Street, Wellington on the 15th July 2021. Beth Johnson is being interviewed by Gareth Watkins.  Their names are spelt correctly but may appear incorrectly spelt later in the document. The duration of the recording is 3 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 Speak Up For Women representative Beth Johnson speaks about the public meeting about to take place in the Michael Fowler Centre on 15 July 2021. The meeting was attended by around 130 people. In response, a trans rights rally was held outside the MFC at the same time. The content in the recording covers the 2020s decade. A brief summary of the recording is: In the podcast titled "Speak Up For Women," recorded at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington, a representative from the organization, Beth Johnson, discussed a public meeting that took place on July 15, 2021, which drew an audience of around 130 attendees. Concurrently, a trans rights rally occurred outside the center. The content framed the issues within the context of the 2020s decade. During the discussion, Johnson detailed the organization's national tour that concentrates on the implications of sex self-identification within the Births, Deaths, and Marriages Bill. The group conducted events nationwide, and Johnson noted that there was a positive reception from those who attended and a peaceful protest expected in Wellington, similar to an earlier one in Nelson. Speak Up For Women's events attracted diverse crowds, predominantly women from various age groups, including a notable presence of lesbian and bisexual individuals, as well as men and transsexual supporters. The key message of the organization for this event focused on the significance of recognizing biological sex in the law, highlighting its relevance in single-sex spaces, services, and sexual orientation. Johnson stressed the necessity for significant legislative changes, such as the concept of gender identity replacing the recognition of biological sex, to be subject to rigorous democratic procedures, including a select committee review for comprehensive public debate. Founded in 2018, Speak Up For Women originally aimed to influence the government to reconsider the sex self-identification clause, which had been added to the bill without the opportunity for public submissions. Following the deferment of the bill by Tracy Martin in 2019, due to concerns outlined in a Crown Law opinion, the organization has persisted in advocating for public consultation on such changes under the new government. The organization's ultimate goal is to ensure thorough public discussion through a select committee review to reconcile the advancement of transgender rights without encroaching on the rights of women and girls. The organization asserts that it is feasible to support both without compromising either. In the face of opposition since its inception, Speak Up For Women has encountered significant pushback, including defamation attempts, being labeled as a hate group, and as anti-trans activists among other derogatory claims. Johnson articulates the belief that these acts aim to prevent the group's perspective from being considered in public discourse to ensure the unchallenged passage of the bill. Nonetheless, the organization perceives a shift in public opinion, noticing a growing recognition of their reasonable stance and genuine concerns, as well as an openness to collaborate on solutions. The full transcription of the recording follows.  It includes timestamps every thirty seconds in the format [HH:MM:SS].  The transcription begins:  Well, my name's Beth Johnson, and I'm here tonight representing Speak up for women. We are talking about the implications of sex self identification within the births, deaths and marriages Bill. And this has been a nationwide tour year of of of doing kind of discussions. That's right. Yes. This is our seventh event, I think, and part of our nationwide tour. And how have the, uh, events been received Really positive from the people that have attended the events. And, um, we've had preschool protests in Nelson, and we [00:00:30] expect a peaceful protest here later tonight. Can you, um, give me a sense of of who's in the audiences for these events and and kind of the the the demographics. Well, you're more than welcome to come inside and and hear and see. See for yourself. Um, we have a really mixed group of people, mostly women, um, of all ranges of ages. Uh, a lot of lesbian women. Um, bisexuals. We usually have some men and some transsexual supporter events as well. And what What are the key messages that you want to kind of get out tonight? [00:01:00] We're discussing the fact that biological sex sometimes matters in life and should remain protected in law. And this has implications for, um, access and eligibility to single sex spaces and services. It has implications for the definition of, um, sexual attraction and homosexual, for example. So, um, biological sex exists. It matters, and it shouldn't be entirely replaced by the concept of gender identity in our laws. And if that is going to happen, [00:01:30] this change a change this big must go to select committee so that we can have a proper, robust Democratic public debate about it. So was speak up for women. Um formed for this one issue? Yes. Speak up for women was formed in 2018, um to, uh, put pressure on the government to reconsider the sex self identification clause, which had been added into the bill after public submissions had closed. So Tracy Martin deferred the bill in 2019 when it became apparent [00:02:00] that this undemocratic process had been followed. So two years later, we have a new government who is intent on pushing the bill through to a second reading, and we're saying, have those fundamental legal issues been addressed? Tracy Martin identified them from a crown law opinion. Have they been addressed? Will the public have an opportunity to submit on these fundamental changes? And that's what we're discussing. And ultimately, what do you What? What? What do you want to see happen? Ultimately, we want this [00:02:30] bill to go to select committee so New Zealanders can submit. We want to have a conversation about how we can advance the rights and the life outcomes of transgender people without impacting the rights of women and girls. And we believe that that's possible and that that conversation can happen. It's not happening yet. Throughout the last events that you've had, um, there has been some opposition. Has that surprised you? Uh, no. It hasn't surprised us, because ever since we formed in [00:03:00] 2018, there's been a concerted smear campaign against our group. Um, our political opponents have vested in us not being heard because they want this bill to pass unchallenged. So there's been a lot of effort gone into not hearing our perspective. Um, I think that's changing now. I think people realise that we are reasonable. We've got genuine concerns and that we want to work on solutions. And when you say smear campaign. What? What? What? What? What's been happening? We've been called a hate group. We've been called [00:03:30] anti Trans. We've been called bigots. Um, you name it. It's been said, um, I won't name the organisations that have, um perpetuated it through the media, but it's been, um, pretty concerted, and it's been designed to, um, stop the New Zealand public from listening to what we have to say. 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: 2020s ; Aotearoa New Zealand ; Beth Johnson ; Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 2021 ; Crown Law Office ; Events ; Michael Fowler Centre ; People ; Speak Up For Women NZ ; Tracey Martin ; Wellington ; attraction ; biological sex ; cancer ; change ; conversation ; crown ; gender ; gender identity ; government ; hate ; hate group ; homosexual ; identity ; law ; lesbian ; listening ; media ; opportunity ; protest ; reading ; select committee ; self identification ; sex ; spaces ; support ; trans ; transgender ; women ; work. The original recording can be heard at this website https://www.pridenz.com/speak_up_for_women_15_july_2021.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.1089917. Please note that this document may contain errors or omissions - you should always refer back to the original recording to confirm content.