This text file contains detailed information about an audio recording on PrideNZ.com. It includes the following sections: DESCRIPTION, SPEAKERS, SUMMARY, KEY CONTENT TIMESTAMPS [HH:MM:SS], TRANSCRIPT WITH TIMESTAMPS [HH:MM:SS], HUMAN VERIFIED TRANSCRIPT, KEYWORDS, REFERENCES, RELATED CONTENT AND FOOTNOTE. 

## START DESCRIPTION
The title of this recording is "Stand Up for Trans Kids". It is described as: Audio from Stand Up for Trans Kids event, held in response to the government’s upcoming ban on puberty blockers (GnRH analogues) for transgender youth. It was recorded in Te Aro Park, Wellington on the 23rd November 2025. The duration of the recording is 58 minutes, but this may not reflect the actual length of the event. The content in the recording covers the decades 1930s through to the 2020s.
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## START SPEAKERS
This is a recording of an event and features the voices of Indigo Shaw and Will Hansen. These names are spelt correctly, but may appear incorrectly spelt later in the document.
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## START SUMMARY
Organised by Queer Endurance in Defiance (QED), the event responds directly to the New Zealand Government’s planned ban on puberty blockers (GnRH analogues) for transgender young people. Over the course of nearly an hour, speakers, poets, organisers and trans youth themselves speak out about bodily autonomy, mental health, gender-affirming healthcare and the deadly consequences of state-sanctioned transphobia. MC Indigo Shaw and organiser Will Hansen welcome the crowd on a sunny Sunday and quickly ground the gathering as both protest and community space. They outline safety information, point out first aid and water, and invite especially trans youth to take the open mic. From the outset, the chant “When trans rights are under attack, stand up, fight back” sets the rhythm for the afternoon, as Te Aro Park becomes a focal point for resistance to the puberty blockers ban and wider attacks on trans rights in Aotearoa. Will Hansen introduces the rally as a response to a government determined to restrict trans healthcare. This theme is taken up by speaker after speaker, many of them young trans people who have tried to access puberty blockers or hormone replacement therapy (HRT), or who have already been through the process and know how life-saving it can be. They emphasise that puberty blockers are safe, reversible medication which give trans rangatahi time to breathe, think and decide what’s right for them, instead of being forced through a puberty that feels unbearable. Several speakers highlight the mental health crisis already facing tamariki and rangatahi in Aotearoa, citing UNICEF data that places this country last in youth mental wellbeing among OECD nations. They link the ban on puberty blockers to increased suicide risk for trans young people, stressing that the policy is not about safety but about politics, control and transphobia. Trans teens describe suffocating dysphoria, years on waiting lists, strict psychological assessments, and being pushed into DIY HRT because formal systems have failed them. Others talk about forging parents’ signatures out of desperation, or waiting so long that the worst effects of an unwanted puberty have already taken hold. A strong thread through the event is bodily autonomy. Speakers compare the ban on puberty blockers for trans youth with the continued availability of the same medication for cis children with precocious puberty, exposing the policy as targeted discrimination. Some point to how easily cis people can access other hormonal medications such as contraceptive implants, while trans people face years of gatekeeping. One speaker sums it up bluntly: it was never about protecting kids, it was always about controlling them. Intergenerational perspectives deepen the protest’s message. An older non-binary speaker connects today’s fight over puberty blockers to earlier battles over the contraceptive pill in the 1960s and 1970s, showing how conservative Christian politics have long tried to restrict people’s control over their own bodies. They argue that the same unscientific scare tactics once used against the pill are now being recycled against trans healthcare, and that history shows these arguments do not stand up to evidence. International voices remind the crowd that this is part of a global wave of anti-trans legislation. Speakers who have fled the UK and the US for safety describe returning culture wars, discredited reports such as the Cass Review being imported into New Zealand debates, and escalating violence overseas - including acid attacks and street assaults. A number of asylum seekers and migrants explain how they hoped Aotearoa would be safer, and how betrayed they feel seeing similar policies emerge here. Poetry and art are woven throughout the rally. One speaker reads two poems about transition, euphoria and rage at systems that quietly sacrifice marginalised people. Others read work written for Transgender Day of Remembrance, reframing religious imagery through a trans lens and challenging churches and governments alike to confront the real consequences of their rhetoric. Another speaker talks about rage-painting swords and protest signs, channelling anger into creative resistance. The rally also includes the protest song “Boring transphobes”, directly calling out trans-exclusionary rhetoric and those aligned with far-right movements. There is a consistent call for solidarity and collective organising. Speakers urge health workers and unions to refuse to implement harmful guidelines, pointing out that nurses and other healthcare workers are already striking for a functioning health system. They frame workers’ power and union solidarity as crucial tools for defending gender-affirming healthcare. Others connect the puberty blockers ban to wider government attacks on Māori, beneficiaries, workers and children, insisting that there can be no trans liberation without ending colonialism, neoliberalism and breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Māori voices foreground the Crown’s responsibilities under Te Tiriti and warn that more Māori blood will be on the government’s hands if it continues to undermine the safety and mana of takatāpui and trans rangatahi. Speakers stress that under Te Tiriti the government has an obligation to care for all its people, and that this ban is yet another betrayal. In closing, Will Hansen returns to the microphone to thank the crowd - not as a courtesy, but as recognition that everyone present is part of a growing movement that refuses to be silenced. They link the puberty blockers ban to broader systems of inequality and call on attendees to stay organised.
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## START KEY CONTENT TIMESTAMPS [HH:MM:SS]
The following timestamps note when speakers or events begin in the full transcript: [00:00:01] MC Indigo Shaw starts. [00:01:02] Will Hansen, Queer Endurance in Defiance (QED) starts. [00:02:41] Speaker starts. [00:05:12] Speaker starts. [00:09:20] Speaker starts. [00:12:40] Speaker starts. [00:14:40] Speaker starts. [00:17:55] Speaker starts. [00:20:05] Speaker starts. [00:24:50] Speaker starts. [00:25:20] Speaker starts. [00:26:30] Speaker starts. [00:28:40] Speaker starts. [00:30:10] Speaker starts. [00:32:15] Speaker starts. [00:37:30] Speaker starts. [00:39:40] Speaker starts. [00:41:50] Speaker starts. [00:42:50] Speaker starts. [00:45:10] Singing Boring Transphobes starts. [00:46:40] Speaker starts. [00:48:40] Speaker starts. [00:49:50] Speaker starts. [00:50:40] Speaker starts. [00:52:10] Speaker starts. [00:54:30] MC Indy starts. [00:54:50] Will Hansen, Queer Endurance in Defiance (QED) starts.
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## START TRANSCRIPT WITH TIMESTAMPS [HH:MM:SS]
Hi everybody. Oh my God. Thank you all for coming out on this beautiful Sunday. Um, unfortunately, we are all here because this government is doing some really gross stuff and we are here to tell them that that's not okay. Um, just before we start, um, Kiara Kota, my name is Indy. I'm your mc for this day. Um. I am a trans, intersex, non-binary woman, and [00:00:30] if that doesn't make sense, then I don't care. Um, so we are gonna have a few speakers today, um, and then we are gonna open up the mic. So if you have anything you wanna say, especially if you are trans, and especially if you are a trans youth, then please come up and share a little, some, um, and keep it like around three minutes would be great. We also have a chalk available if you wanna draw anything on the pavement. It's free for [00:01:00] whatever you want to do. Kia, thank you so much for coming. My name is Will, I'm part of QED career Endurance for Defiance. We organized the rally today, uh, with trans rights are under attack. We're the fight back. Awesome. So a bit of a safety. Um, there's, uh, toilets down on Taranaki Street and um, oh, a deep liberator just here. Actually, I don't check these toilets with No, no, these toilets don't work. So go down to the ones on Taranaki Street. Um. We are not [00:01:30] expecting any, any trouble today, but if we do have any counter protestors, look for your als. We're operating under, um, ura, the Cloak of Peace that has been laid down by Tara Nui. Um, so we, uh, peaceful protest today. Um, and, uh, yeah, follow what your ALS are doing. Just ignore anybody if they're causing any trouble or sing a song. And we might, we might do some singing practice soon. Um, other things to be aware of. Uh, there's, um. First aid kit. Water snacks down by this, [00:02:00] um, uh, PA system over here. Li Leo's waving, waving her hand. Um, and yeah, I think just have a fantastic day. I might start us off with a, with another new chance. If I say you ban our care, you cut our rights, you reply, and we Oh, you reply. Stand up. Fight, fight, fight. All right. All right. So. We ban, you ban our care, you cut our rights, ban off. Fight, fight, fight. Five. You ban our care, you cut our [00:02:30] rights ban off. Fight, fight, fight. Thank you. Awesome. Woo. That's nice. All right, so we do have our first speaker coming up. Um, please come up. This is Beil. Woo woo. Awesome. Hello, beautiful people. My name is Beil and I'm a proud transgender person. Woo. But I'm also so much more than that. I'm also [00:03:00] somebody's child. I'm somebody's sibling. I'm a cousin, a niece, a grandchild, a friend, a classmate, and so much more. I am also five times more likely to commit suicide because of my transgender identity. I'm four times more likely to be murdered than a cisgender person. So for that reason, I have to stand here today and speak for those who no longer can for all those sons and daughters, sisters and brothers who couldn't take it any longer. [00:03:30] Access to puberty blockers can lower a transgender person's likelihood of suicide by 30%. Access to puberty blockers and hormones saves lives. There is no if, ands, or buts. Last year, I stood here to demand the government cease their restrictions on puberty blockers For transgender people like me, not only did they ignore this, plead, they furthered their restrictions on transgender healthcare. They take access to puberty [00:04:00] blockers, which are a completely reversible form of transgender healthcare. I am sick of waiting. I am sick of being denied healthcare because of who I am. I'm sick of being offered half measures. I'm sick of begging to be seen as a human, and I guarantee you every other trans kid who now rests under a gravestone feels the exact same way. So I ask all of you, I ask Christopher Lex and Winston Peters and that other weirdo they've got, [00:04:30] I ask roa, how much longer will you stand for this? How much longer will you stand by? Because I know my answer. I know that I will stand for no more dead kids. I'll stand for no more dead sons, daughters, kids, kids and classmates. And I'm begging all of you for this to be your answer, to give us the healthcare, the hormones, the puberty blockers that we deserve. And get your grummy hands [00:05:00] off my healthcare. I'm gonna hand you back. Nice to meet everyone. Thank you, Bezo. Okay, we have another speaker coming up. Uh, mem did you wanna come? Woo. Thank you. And thank you Bazel for that powerful speech. My name is m I'm with Joint Defiance into the mic like that. Yeah, my name is maam. I want to talk about how we can [00:05:30] fight this thing. Part of the effect of attacks like this is to make us feel helpless, especially to make our trans youth feel helpless and trapped and isolated, but we are not helpless. There is a path forward for all of us, for each and every one of us out of this, and in fact, we are in a strong position in this country to fight and win. Over years of organizing, a layer of people has been built all [00:06:00] around this country who want to take action to fight for trans rights. That is a strong starting point and in the general public in this country, trans rights are still, trans rights, still have popular support now on puberty blockers. Opponents can confuse the issue, can make inroads because teenagers are not meant to have the same rights as everybody else. [00:06:30] Of course, that is a road that leads to the rollback of rights for all trans people, for all queer people, and as Allans has been pointing out very effectively, all weak for all women too. So we have two jobs. As this layer that wants to fight for trans rights, we have got to bring in and organize with as many of us as we can. We have got to bring everyone into this fight. We have got to plan action at a national scale to [00:07:00] get these changes reversed, and we have got to avoid being siloed while we organize among ourselves. We have got to avoid being siloed into only talking to ourselves. We have got to reach people who don't agree with us yet. Who aren't sure who can't. Who Who can see both sides. We have got to clarify the issues. We have got to make an argument at a scale where it cannot be avoided or ignored. That denying access to puberty blockers, and I would say to [00:07:30] HRT as well, is denying the basic democratic right of young people to control our own bodies. Woo. QED is organizing a town hall meeting on the 2nd of December to talk about the issues and plan action. It would be great to have everyone here there. It would be great to build that meeting as big as possible. It would be great for everyone here to talk to us, to get involved, to join our Discord server, to talk to [00:08:00] everyone you know about how we can pursue this fight. I would like to say one thing more now, the government regulates healthcare, but health workers control healthcare nurses are striking this week. Health workers are striking on the 28th because they understand they are responsible for a functioning healthcare system. The nurses union has already gone to bat for us in the press. We have got to say [00:08:30] healthcare workers, we support you and we need you to support us. Fight these guidelines. If it comes to it. Refuse to implement these guidelines. That is our strongest method, our strongest tactic, workers solidarity for trans rights. I'm gonna hand off to the next speaker, but I just wanna say again, we can do this, we can fight this, and we can win. [00:09:00] Thank you. Thank you Maram. Alright, before I bring up our next speaker, um, we do have an open mic, so if you have anything you wanna say, just make your way overhead towards our fabulous will in the hives and we can get you on the mic. All right, I'm just going to bring up our next speaker. Um. Come along Jack, uh, [00:09:30] Koto. Can you hear me? Um, called Jack ua. Um, I'm a trans man and I work in primary healthcare. Um, ROA already has a youth mental health crisis and may this year, UNICEF released their 19th report card on the wellbeing of Tamari for countries in the eu and the OECD and ROA was ranked last out 36 countries for youth mental wellbeing. To be clear, being trans is not a mental health issue, and puberty blockers are not a mental health treatment. For decades already, they have been used [00:10:00] to safely hit pause on the physical changes of puberty for both cis and trans tamari. But in taking away this crucial healthcare for trans kids, these puberty blockers which give many trans tamari the time they need to determine their identity without having to suffer the mental distress of experiencing bodily changes that may not align with it, we will see an increase in poor mental health outcomes for trans tamari. What does this government plan to do to meet the increase in need for mental health support? Already every day in primary care, we struggle to support [00:10:30] young people who can't access the mental health services that they need or the gender affirming care that they need. But unfortunately, we already know that this government doesn't mind having the blood of children on its hands. Banning these puberty blockers is not about the safety of our tamari. It was about if it was about safety, the negative impact this ban will have on the mental health of our trans tamari and wider AU would be taken into consideration if it was about safety. This exact same medication that is being banned for trans tamari only. Wouldn't still be available to si [00:11:00] tamari. If it was about safety. The government would recognize that the decision to use puberty blockers is one to be made between the child, their doctor, and their guardians, not by the government, and certainly not by a health minister who has no background in healthcare and who's and who is pro-con conversion therapy for trans and other rainbow whanau. Uh, but it's not about safety. It's about transphobia and it's about politics. Simeon Brown does not have the imagination to conceive of Transi, who are happy, who know themselves, who have autonomy over their bodies, [00:11:30] and who will persist and exist despite him. This ban marks a reprehensible government overreach, and it follows on a long line of government attacks on marginalized communities. But we as trans people will outlive the shitty excuse for a government. We will keep fighting to protect the wellbeing of Al's trans tamari, and eventually we will see a day where trans people don't have to fight for the healthcare we need and the death. Mo. Thank you, [00:12:00] Jack. Oh, I like that noise. I think that there have been some people trying to make some noise, but I think we can be a bit louder. So I'm just gonna do a little chart. I think you might know this one. When trans rights are under attacks, stand up. Fight back when tra rights are under attacks. Stand up, fight back win. Tra rights are under attacks. Stand up, fight back. Ooh, that was good. Alright, I'm just gonna bring up the next speaker. Um, [00:12:30] I believe it's Charlie. I'm Charlie. Um, I'm a trans dyke. Uh. All righty. I wrote things down. I learned from last time and I wrote it down. I often hear trans people in speeches like this talk about how transness is normal and natural and has been around for as long as humans have, and that sex and gender are gloriously, are so gloriously [00:13:00] diverse, and how other animals defy binaries. In short, saying that we aren't a threat. All those things are true, but the thing is, we are a threat. The only lie being told about us is what kind of threat we are. We are a threat to one of the underpinnings of capitalist society, the bourgeois family, our inability to fit neatly into that mold challenges the centuries old idea that our bodies are the moral property of our parents, our bosses, our government, our bodies are a battleground in the war of autonomy. [00:13:30] This is not a question of saying the right words to make Gary at work less un uncomfy about my beard, my beard and boobs. This is a question of drawing a line in the sand and refusing to let trans kids' bodies be the next on a pie of hate that keeps working people more afraid and hateful of each other than the leeches that are pulling their strings. I say working people because it is our responsibility to refuse to enact Tyra radical policies. As a public servant, I call upon my comrades in healthcare and the unions they make up to not let [00:14:00] any government, especially this one encroach on your scope of practice, do not allow them to deprive people who depend on. On you of care that we all know is backed up By reliable medical research, trans activists and our allies are bastions in a fight, in the fight for autonomy. Our fight for healthcare is everyone's fight for healthcare. We are a threat, and the threat is this. Our bodies belong to us, not our parents, not our teachers, not to the church, not to God, not to our bosses, and not to any government. Thank you.[00:14:30] Thank you, Charlie. Alright, I'm going to bring up our next speaker. Please come up K. Kia, my name's Kay, and I'm usually seen as a woman, but I've been identifying as non-binary since I was 10. In those days, we didn't have the language in those terms, and I now have a gold card. But I [00:15:00] want to echo what Marin was saying about seeking allies and sharing information that other people can relate to. In the 1930s, experiments were done on animals to show that hormones could control reproductive cycles and poors the their cycles. In the 1960s, scientists were offering contraceptive pills to those women who. Wanted to control their own reproduction, but the laws actually [00:15:30] pro prohibited that it wasn't until 1969 that they removed obscenity laws that allowed doctors to actually say, yes, you can use the pill in NI in Ireland. That didn't happen until 1980. The whole control of people's bodies, particularly women's bodies. It's been part of an agenda of a conservative Christian minority that says you do not have rights [00:16:00] over your own bodies, our bodies, our rights. That is part of the whole feminist, um, history that older women. Have sometimes forgotten. They need to be reminded. What did older women walk in the streets for? It was controlling their own bodies, their reproductive history, not having men saying what hormones they could or could not use to give themselves independence and freedom. The arguments that have been [00:16:30] used now to say puberty blockers aren't safe. Are identical to the arguments that we used then to try and prevent the use of contraceptive pills. They talked about bone density, they talked about, um, fluctuation. They talked about not being able to resume, um, a, a hormonal cycle after they had stopped using it exactly the same. So unscientific arguments that over time we would tell them, [00:17:00] Hey, that's ridiculous. More evidence means safer medicine. So you need to have brave trans kids now taking those meds to actually enable the meds to improve so that they can work with doctors and scientists to actually say, Hey, the next generation will be taking the safest, best medicine for them. And that partnership should not be interfered with by conservative Christian politicians [00:17:30] who have no understanding of what it means to need your own control over your bodies. You know, we need to be talking to people about history as well as the future. Thank you. Thank you so much, Kay. Alright, uh, Saskia. Hi [00:18:00] people. Um, some of you might know I'm fleeing from the UK where uh, it's really shit to be trans right now. And, um, how do I say it? How do I say it? Um. I thought I was getting away from this and I am angry and I don't know about you people, but this is bullshit. And the UK fucking cast report, which is bogus and discredited, is being relied on for this kind of rhetoric Here. It's I imported [00:18:30] culture war. It is bullshit. I'm very angry. You should all be very angry. Fuck this. This is gonna have a death toll. People will suffer because of this. I, I, I'm, I'm, I'm mad. I'm sorry. I You're allowed to be angry. Yeah. Yeah. I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore. Yeah.[00:19:00] Fuck the government. No trans race, human rights. Um, they're not gonna win here. They're not gonna win the uk. This, we've been through this before. It fucking sucks. It's gonna continue to suck, but we're stronger than this. We, we got this. I don't know. Get mad, fight, yell at someone in the street. Um, thank you, [00:19:30] Saskia. That is a very pertinent point as well. If you are not pissed off, you are not paying attention. Woo. I feel like we need to get a bit of energy up in here, so I'm gonna do another little chant. Um, when I say what do we want? We say trans rice. When do we want it? Now, what do we want? Trans rice. When do we want it? Now, what do we want? Trans rice. When do we want it? Now what do we want? Do we want it? Period. [00:20:00] Okay. I'm going to bring up our next speaker. Uh, please come on up, Eden. Hello. Um, if my voice is shaky, I'm shitting myself right now. Um, you got this. Thank you. I just wrote down some bullet points. Can we all hear me? Yes. Yes. Brilliant. Okay, so I was a trans teenager. Yay. What a great time we live in. Celebrate. [00:20:30] It was a very, very difficult time for me, and HRT as we know is lifesaving medication and I can't explain how, how suffocating it is to be in a body, which you know, is actively changing in puberty, that you are not allowed to access the healthcare to prevent that from happening. It's horrible. So you face discrimination as a trans teen. You turn to your doctor for help and support. As your friends and family may not support you. You are then denied healthcare. Boo boo. [00:21:00] This pushes us to D-I-Y-H-R-T, getting HRT illegally. This is not regulated. This is not good for our bodies. We can mess up our hormones. I know I did. It's not good. But that's what we have to do. We have to find, find friends and chosen family that actually support us when this government has turned out back on us. In comparison to the uk, I have a very close, uh, someone who's very close to someone I know that [00:21:30] has tried to go on HRT in the UK and has been, uh, put on wait list of 10 plus years. Has then had to spend all of her life savings to get private healthcare to get on hormones. This is what our government is deriving from. This is what they want for us. They don't want to support us. They want to penalize us. They want to like have us face discrimination. Sorry is the point. Cruelty is the point. They don't want to see us in public life. And that also, uh, brings me to banning. Healthcare [00:22:00] does not make us invisible. We will always be here. This is an attack justified under the guise of safety. This is not safe. There will be a death toll, as Saskia was saying previously. Puberty blockers for precocious puberty for cis children are still allowed. What kind of bullshit is this? This is so clear to us that it's just us, that they don't want to have this medication. It's targeted. It's targeted. This [00:22:30] study that this, uh, this justification has been based on, uh, it's a study that will end in 2031. So they want to see results from this study to then justify, oh, maybe it is safe for us 2031. Are we gonna wait six years for that shit? No, we're not. No, we're not. No, we're not. Six years is horrible. Um, this also, this kind of legislation doesn't just stop here. It doesn't just stop with banning trans children and trans teenagers from accessing this [00:23:00] healthcare. This will go on and they will use this same justification to ban healthcare for people over the age of 18. Imagine for all of you on HRT currently, if it was then illegal to access that from your gp, what would we do? Fight Exactly. Fight. HRT is lifesaving medication, and I can't stress this enough, my struggle as a trans teen to try and get on hormones. Uh, I'll, I'll just share this briefly to end, um, as I'm sure it will like ring a bell or [00:23:30] with like so many people, um, who tried to access healthcare, uh, trans healthcare when they were younger. Um, I had to have a two and a half hour, uh, psychological. What's it called? Like evaluation? Evaluation. Evaluation. Yeah. We all know, period. Um, we had to, I had to have a two and a half hour psych eval. I had to have a therapist that I was going to for six months, other than the therapist I was already seeing. I need both parents to sign off on things. Thanks for the signatures I forged. Ooh, yikes. [00:24:00] Um, because I had no other option and this is fucking horrible. So, um, HRT is lifesaving medication. It definitely saved my life. Uh, it sucks for all the trans youth that can't now access, uh, puberty blockers as this does save us time. I think a lot of the rhetoric, it's about, yeah, fuck you two. Yeah, fuck you. I think a lot of this is down to like, they want, they, they want safety for the children because they can't make up their mind. Puberty blockers are that time for them to make up their minds if we just like don't have [00:24:30] puberty blockers. Bitch. Like that's just fucking ridiculous. Do I need, I say more. Anyways, thank you everyone. Thank you Eden. Alright, our next speaker is a fellow activist, extraordinaire, and organizer. Please come up Al. Thank you, Wendy. And I'm gonna keep it real short 'cause. I was young a [00:25:00] long time ago and puberty blockers, they are the compromise. What we want is HRT on demand for anyone shot and sweet. Alright, our next speaker is Ben. Can I just say how amazing it is to see all these faces out here today? I heard about this about 20 [00:25:30] minutes before it started, so I'm glad that I could make it and it's very, uh, it's very heartening seeing so many faces that I don't recognize as well. It just shows me that there's such a large community here that, uh, we all feel the same way. We all know that this is bullshit. I'm not gonna take too long 'cause there's a bunch of lovely speakers gonna come after me. So I just have a list of things that I reject and that we reject. First of all, we reject the infantilization. We reject the idea that kids don't know that they're trans and they don't know what's good for them. We reject. We [00:26:00] reject the idea that someone can sit out there in an office seeing queerness as something you only observe as a curiosity and will make decisions about healthcare that will impact thousands of people across this country. Most of all, honestly, I think we just, uh, reject the fact that they think everyone here is gonna take it lying down, that we're gonna be quiet, that we're gonna go away, and that transness is just something that'll fade into the history books. Well, that's not gonna happen. We reject that. We are here to stay. That's it. Thank you.[00:26:30] Sorry. Alright. Our next speaker is the wonderful pedal. All right, cool. Hi, my name is Pedal. I'm 20 years old and I wanna say safe that I yoke here as much. Have you seen the actual process that these youth have to even try to go to to get puberty blockers? As we've already heard, therapists, psych evaluations and these public wait lists are gonna be taking years. I've seen people wait five years. I [00:27:00] was told I would wait four years. I tried to get on blockers when I was 16. I never got through to the public department. I was called back when I was 18. I already had HRT from a GP by then, and that is the sad reality is that they say we're doing it to protect the kids. The kids who are being protected, quote unquote, are the ones who need it the most. They've gone through all this hard work to get it, and again, you are ripping it from them. You are attempting to strip it because I don't like that. And that's really what the reality is. They don't like [00:27:30] that we are gonna change it because stuff you, that's why. There are so many people who can't even get HRT and they are being hurt. The people who can get HRT, they are being hurt, not only just from the process, but now we are taking away that process. We want them to suffer, and I think that is saying we should all think about, no matter how you think about the process, whether you think it should be easier, whether you think it should be harder, we think it shouldn't be a process. This process existed. The people who got it were safe on it, yet they took that away. Why? Why? [00:28:00] What does this do? Can anyone tell me what does this do other than her kill kids? Kill kids. Kill kids. Exactly. So why the fuck are they doing it? Because they don't care. 'cause they hate us. Exactly. And that is what really? So from this scale, but they don't like anyone, the economy, they haven't fixed the economy. People like me can't get jobs yet. They care about removing our healthcare. How does this make sense? Thank you.[00:28:30] Very well said. Oh my God. I love, we actually have so many people here to talk because us trainees, we've got a lot to get off our chest, some of us literally. So our next speaker is the amazing, the beautiful Athena. Woo. Thank you. Uh, hey everybody. My name is Athena and I started transitioning when I was 17. Um, so it's been nearly a [00:29:00] year now. I only figured out I wasn't cis at the age of 14, after the worst of male puberty had already come to me, and I didn't come out until two years later. Going through male puberty really messed me up mentally and emotionally, and I know many of my trans siblings, uh, feel the same as me. While I probably wouldn't have gone on puberty, puberty blockers, even if they had been available to me because I'm indecisive. Um, I, I know that there are many of us who would, and many of us, um, who know who they are way earlier than I did. And to the people to whom this statement [00:29:30] applies, the concept of delaying their onset of the onset of their puberty, to allow them time and space to mature and finally make the best decision of themselves for themselves later, it's a lifesaver. Puberty blockers are lifesaving, completely reversible medication that give us the gift of time. Time to think, time to breathe. What the government has recently done is not okay, and they need to know that. Uh, thank you for your time and give 'em help. [00:30:00] Okay. We're just rapid firing through them now. Next up we have the beautiful Sarah Athena. I realized that I was a transgender woman quite late in my life, so it was too late for me to get puberty blockers, but I know from what I went through that puberty is. A terrible thing when your body doesn't match what's up here. I know that if I had known earlier that I [00:30:30] was trans, that I would've tried to get these puberty blockers, and this government wants to take that opportunity away from thousands of people just like me and you. That is not okay. Yeah, this dystopia sucks. Exactly. A friend of mine was diagnosed with pre precocious puberty and they were allowed to get puberty blockers for that. Yet when they were finally done with them and they wanted them [00:31:00] because they were transgender, the government decided then that, no, you are done with them. You can go through the wrong puberty. Now, in what world does that make sense? It was clearly safe for them to go on them the first time. So why is the second gonna be different? Exactly. Yeah. They, they want to tell us that it's not tested, that no one knows what might happen to us, but we do [00:31:30] know we have decades of proof of what happens and proof that it is only good for us. So why does Christopher Luxon get to tell us that actually it's wrong? Why does Winston Peters get to tell you? That he knows better than you what your body should be doing. He's a massive cut. Why does that other third guy who no one cares about get any say in this at all? [00:32:00] Exactly. There are a bunch of cuts or, alright. I'm just coming up here and now it's another person. And walk off again. Next up we have Rochelle Kia. I like your dress. Oh my God. Uh, so you may be able to tell from my accent. I am from the United States. I recently got here back in April, [00:32:30] and I am currently in the asylum process. The US has become a transphobic, fascist hellhole. Violence unfolds really frequently. Uh, I'm from the state of Pennsylvania, the city of Harrisburg. Not long after I left, there was a trans person attacked in the street. They only got saved by a bar bouncer from across the street in the city of Philadelphia. One of the most left aggressively left-leaning cities in the United [00:33:00] States. A trans woman was walking down the street and had fucking battery acid thrown in her face. By children three suspects, ages nine to 12, got a car battery from a junkyard, drained the acid out and threw it in her face. This is the kind of violence that these people are ignoring when they say, oh, just calm down. Just wait. They also try to tell us that kids don't know they are trans. I am [00:33:30] 44 years old. I knew in 1987 when I was six, nobody was telling me I should be trans. There was certainly no representation on television or in the media. But I knew I wanted to be like Velma Dinkle when I grew up. So as the original run of Scooby-Doo, part of the trans agenda, I realized Velma's a lesbian. Now we all knew that back then, but that's got nothing to do with me being trans.[00:34:00] Uh, today I would like to read two poems out. One I wrote fairly early in my transition and one I've written more recently. Oh, of course Ms. Green Lock. Hold on. All right. The first one is called Skin. My Skin is not my own. A stranger's mask worn too long. It clings to me like shadows makes the light of day feel so wrong. This body [00:34:30] birthright of a cage, my reflection cold and stark. I've walked in borrowed flesh lived stories, void of spark. But deep within a fire burned a quiet, fierce demand to shed this costume of a man and become what I had planned. Each step, a painful climb through doubt, through fear, through shame, but with each cry, a piece of me emerges from the flame. The [00:35:00] mirror shifts. The image clears. As layers fall away, the dawn of self begins to rise and night turns in today. I craft my form with careful hands, a masterpiece renewed each line, each curve. A testament to the truth that I've pursued. The euphoria of becoming a flesh aligned with soul is a symphony of freedom, a dance of self made whole. Now, as I stand [00:35:30] unshackled in a body that feels like home, I embrace the warmth, the truth, the light. My skin is now my own. Thank you. This one, the second one I wrote after I started to get more angry. It's called Magneto, was right in the holes of power. Wait, your turn. We're told while they plot and [00:36:00] scheme, they're evil. Getting bold. They chart our lives with lines drawn too tight. But I see the patterns. Magneto was right. They tell us, be patient as the clock hands decay a tomorrow, forever just slipping away. They polish their chains and laugh at our plight. Yet freedom still calls Magneto was right. A world built on lies on the blood of the meek, where the powerful [00:36:30] prosper and the powerless seek. They promise us mercy. But justice is slight. And justice won't come. Magneto was right. We begged for our place. We asked for our share. They offered us tables, but never a chair. They expect our quiet, our anger gives fright, but silence won't win. Magneto was right. A bridge made of bones cannot bear. The storm's weight and the kindness [00:37:00] that kills cannot alter our fate. The dream they uphold is a gilded delight. But the dream's just a lie. Magneto was right. So I stand in defiance with steel in my veins, refusing their prisons and breaking their chains. If they call me a villain for joining the fight, then it is what it is. Because Magneto was right. Thank you very much. Oh, you've got my hat. Thank you. Thank you everybody. [00:37:30] Thank you Rochelle. Alright, our next speaker is River. Uh, Kyoto. My name is River. I was an adult when I realized I was trans and I. But it still took me two years on a public waiting list to access my HRT that did irreversible damage to my mental, mental [00:38:00] health as I continued to get dysphoria to the point that I was not able to even talk, that talk that much, and it delayed delayed my Genji RS. I, I want, want to use what I, I can extend with our ranta here in Tamari to try and get back what was, what they are, the government is stealing for them [00:38:30] and the government like those, those free clowns need to know that there's going to be blood of trans kids on their hands. If they don't, if they don't stop this now we see the same pattern in other parts and in u especially in the UK and the US where I've seen friends escape to here and now that having to probably think about what do I escape somewhere else? Do I start my life at a [00:39:00] second or third time again because I don't, I'm not safe here anymore. Fuck that. Oh, this trans, uh, access to trans healthcare is already impossible to get. And we know, as everyone has previously has said that they're coming for HRTN. So we are going need [00:39:30] to stand and fight with our own tahi and fight, but the government. Thank you. Woo Toko. Alright, our next speaker is Leaf Woo. Uh, my name is Leaf. Um, I was 15 when I got my first period, unfortunately. Uh, and I went straight to my doctor and I said, this shit ain't right. Uh, and I really, [00:40:00] I don't want this anymore. Um, and I asked to get on puberty blockers. Um, it was legal. I was in a DHV where I should have been allowed to do it. And my doctor denied me that healthcare because she thought it was too late for me. 'cause I had just gotten my period. However, I did not have childbirth in hips and I do not think it was too late for me, but I dunno. Anyway, um, man, fuck this one to in government A Alright, I have a, I have a poem I wanted to share. Uh, I wrote this poem [00:40:30] for Transgender Day of Remembrance. Um, it's a bit sacrilegious. Sorry. Um, I'm not sorry. I spent November 20th with St. Mary of the Angels. She sat beside me in the back pew with her head down, hair unkempt Adam's apple pointing into the ether. I whispered soft words to her like, blessed be the fruit of your throat mother and blessed be the halos. Round our necks mother. And she laughed cursing my womb as she did. I spent November 20th [00:41:00] thinking about a trans girl bearing the name I once rejected. I thought about Christian Love and the hands that prepared it, and the knives that prepared it, and the holes in his hands and his feet. And the 28 holes carved into her chest. I thought about people in power with their lies and their laws. Lord, forgive them for they know not what they're saying. Only they did say grace before eating those words, and they left me hungry. So I took my body and I took my blood and I ate in front of the TV because God said, let there be light.[00:41:30] Thank you. Yeah, that, that one's called I would be a Christian if Mary was a trans woman. Thank you. Also, Jesus was probably trans too. Just say you. Alright. Our next speaker is refi. Uh, my name is Refi. I use he, him, he pronouns, ihu, awa. [00:42:00] Um, we know that this government already does not respect te, but this is just another way that they are undermining the rights of our trans. They're disrespecting our, they have a responsibility to look after us, and they are not doing that. And we know that they don't care. But under Ang, that is why they are sitting in that building and they are betraying us and they will have more blood of Maori on their hands and we will not stand back. We will [00:42:30] not sit down and we will fight back because they have a responsibility. They agreed to it and they are letting us down. Kda. Thank you. Alright, we have another speaker. Please welcome Tasn. Hey, everybody. Uh, yeah, like everyone else who's here I am pissed the fuck off. Yeah, [00:43:00] I, uh, I remember, uh, hearing about, uh, you know, about the purity block of a, and it, I remember it bringing, bringing back feelings from when I was younger when I was. 14, 15. Um, and just starting to, uh, to realize that I was trans. I was in the frozen puberty and I remember imagining [00:43:30] seeing over and other, again, in my mind, the. Bonnie is the person that I wanted to be, is drifting further and further away from me. And, uh, puberty blockers as imperfect as they are, they represented hope for me at that time, uh, enough hope that, uh, I was willing to risk Kay to my parents in the hopes that I [00:44:00] might get on them. Uh, and. You know, sadly that did not happen. I spent years suffering, uh, the horrible abuse and bullying at the hands of my own mother. Um, and I'm fortunately, I'm doing better now. I, uh, I was able to access HRT in secret without them knowing and to move out of their house. It just thinking, [00:44:30] uh. Back if this had happened, back then, how I thought, and I, I don't know what I would've done. You know the point, the point of this, it's not about anyone's safety, uh, it's about them. Is wanting us to go away and to die, but we're not gonna let that happen, are we? Hell yeah. Yeah. Thank [00:45:00] you so much. Woo. Thank you. So before we move on to our final speakers, we're gonna have a little bit of a break. Um, we're gonna have a bit of fun though. And Elle's going to lead us on a little song. Woohoo. Yeah. This is one of my favorites, especially when the turfs are out in force. So let's go into it. Boring trans [00:45:30] folks. Boring trans folks. Go away. Go away. You are aligned with Nazis. You aligned with Nazis. Shame, shame, shame, shame, shame. Shame. Boring trans folks. Boring, transpose. Go away. Go away. You align with Nazis. You align with Nazis. Shame, shame, shame, shame, shame, shame. [00:46:00] And I'd like to say David Seymour isn't one, but fucking hell. He makes it hard to tell the difference. And then let's do one more round. Boring trans folks. Boring trans folks. Go away. Go away. You align with Nazis. You align with Nazis. Shame, shame, shame, shame, shame, shame.[00:46:30] Okay. Do we have another speaker? Rachel's on the line? Yes, we do. We have Lee. Hi, I am Lee. Um, I am, as you can probably hear originally from the us I'm from Kansas, right in the middle of the Bible belt. Though I've been here longer than I can remember, but I could not go back home, uh, without the fear of being arrested [00:47:00] or, and I also cannot get a new passport without the fear of all of my documents coming back to me burnt and destroyed as they have with other trans people. So I'm here though, and I thought here was better and we are better, but it's starting to feel a little bit like maybe not. Uh, it's a scary thing and. I, this is my home though. I am here. I will actively try to make it better the ways that I can. Earlier this year, I spent a night [00:47:30] rage painting my wooden sword. I got secondhand to say protect trans kids for the previous march and rally, and on Thursday night I learned about the news a bit late because I'm always behind on stuff. I spent the night rage banking, a bunch of posters and things just because I am an artist and I knew I wanted to do something. I'm not usually moved into rage that often by things, but stuff like this, it guess [00:48:00] to me, and I just need to make things. That's where I can channel my rage into something productive. And it's important. If you can make something, if you can do something. It's important to make this place better and do what you can, even if it's small, even if it's just drawing something and sharing it. Anything can help. And I think that's important because I want to make my home a better place. If I can't make the place where I was born better, I can make this place better or at least try. Yeah. Thanks.[00:48:30] Period. Alright. Our Nick speaker is Sarah. I'm Sarah. Um, I'm gonna keep this short, but I was on puberty blockers. Um, and I'm fine. So, yay. Um, I was lucky enough that my mom was really supportive, um, when I came out as a teenager, uh, [00:49:00] and helped me get on blockers because she saw how important it was to save my life. Um, I was trying for ages, like she was trying to help me get on hormones. Um, but I knew that every second I wasn't on hormones. My body was changing in a way I didn't want it to. And I think we need to afford teenagers more autonomy. Like we know what we're fucking doing as teenagers who are coming out like. Yeah, if, if teenagers can choose to kill themselves, they should be able to choose to [00:49:30] have the medication that saves them, you know? Um, but yeah, are awesome. Free Palestine trans rights. Woo is Rachel. Woo. My name is Rachel and I have a Nexplanon implant in this arm. It has several [00:50:00] risks, you know, his hormonal dysregulations, or blood clots. When I set up the appointment for this, I got it within a week. My friend Ruther, as he said, took two years to get on HRT. Why do you think that is? It's because this was never about protecting kids. It was about subjugating them. I didn't receive a lecture about the risks or a psychological assessment. I just got it because I'm a human and it's my body, not yours. This should be the standard for everyone.[00:50:30] Your choice, period. I mean, that's what all this is about is bodily autonomy. It's our bodies. It's our choice. Our next speaker is Esther Kia. Kia. My name is Esther and I am a trans team. Unfortunately, I realize why it hurt to be in in my body too late for Huey blockers, [00:51:00] but I am also, or was. The leader, I leader of ultraviolet my school's queer straight Alliance. In that role, I mentored trans kids through mental health struggles, trying to coax them into healthy patterns and to not hurt themselves over the body that they were born in. What government is doing is taking away those kids' ability to be in a body that doesn't hurt them. [00:51:30] So for the government. I'm speaking to them, those kids, the kids who can't be here, the kids who aren't alive anymore, the kids who don't know why their body hurts, I'm speaking so that when they need the help, they can actually get it. So fuck this government, fuck everyone who says transcripts. Dunno who we are. We do. Thank you.[00:52:00] Thank you. Okay, next up we have Lara. Come on. Okay. Hello everybody. Can you all hear me? Yes. Yeah. Um, so I wasn't initially thinking about coming up here. Um, I only found out about this protest at one 30. But, um, you found out before half of baster. Yeah. Um, but I wasn't [00:52:30] initially gonna speak, but hearing the amazing stories, um, it really touched me. Um, so when I was 14, uh, I started puberty blockers. I'm 25 now. Um, I was one of the youngest people to do it at the time, so much so I actually had, um, a case study written about me at the time. I don't know if that actually happened or not. Um, when I was 15, I was the youngest person to change my birth certificate to female. [00:53:00] Um, and I. Really, I guess what I'm trying to say is I made it out the other side. I flew to Thailand when I was 19. I was incredibly lucky, incredibly privileged, um, to have an amazing family, to have an amazing support system. And I would like to say I'm, I guess, seeing the news, uh, this last week, this week, um, it brought back a lot of memories, a lot of pain. [00:53:30] Um, I think about how lucky I got the fact that I didn't have to be on a wait list at the time. This was 10, 10 years ago. Um, a I felt a lot of survivors guilt. Um, thinking about all the LARAs who are 14 now, who aren't gonna be, uh, the 25-year-old LA uc. Um, so it was, it really hurt, but I just wanted to say that. [00:54:00] I think if we keep fighting, if we keep trying, we will make change. Um, hope is a very dangerous thing to have, but it's good to have, it's good to hold onto hope, uh, to never stop fighting and. Yeah, sorry. Okay, so we are gonna close it off with our [00:54:30] final speaker. I just wanna say thank you all so much for coming out here. It's very hardening to see because holy hell, it is tiring and exhausting to be living through this hellscape that they're doing it on purpose as well. Ugh. Okay. Our final speaker is the fabulous, the wonderful, the talented will. Good. Thank you so much Andy Ran applause for in, for being such an excellent nc. Thank you so much. Takes a lot of energy to [00:55:00] rally everyone together and we really appreciate it so much. Will, I've been part of the crew organizing this. Um, I really wanted to say thank you so much to all of you for being here, both as an organizer, but as a trans man myself. It's really heartening, but I also know that thank you is not necessarily appropriate 'cause you're not here as a favor for me. You're here because you care about trans healthcare, because you care about trans kids. We've heard from so many of you, we've heard the passion and we've heard the rage. And I hope you all feel the power that [00:55:30] I feel of all of us standing here together. We know that the government is trying to distract us, divide us, and demoralize us, and they don't want us to draw links between their anti-trans agenda, their attacks on Maori, their attacks on beneficiaries, their attacks on workers, and their attacks on children. But we know that all of this is connected. There can be no transgender liberation without an end to this neoliberal capitalist system which sees the rich get richer and the poor [00:56:00] get poorer, and which pollutes the land. There can be no transgender liberation without an end to this colonial government. Without true recognition of T and without Maori sovereignty, it can be really easy to feel powerless under the weight of all of this when we are facing these relentless attacks, one after the other, but you are not [00:56:30] powerless together. You and I, and all of us are not going to let the government get away with this. Change is not going to come from this government, and it may not come from the government we have after because we've seen under this one that any law reform we achieve can be in danger of reversal. In a society where the rich can buy elections and have mps in their pockets, permanent liberation for trans people, for Maori, for workers, for all of us can only happen. When you get [00:57:00] organized, you've shown up today, and that is a powerful first step. You'll send on the flyers that we've been handing around today, that QED are holding a public meeting on the evening of the 2nd of December, location to be confirmed. And all of you are invited to come. Bring your ideas, bring your energy, bring yourselves, and commit to fighting for our trans kids. And this is just the next step. There will be more and you can get involved. So 2nd of December, keep an eye on your socials for the location and I'll [00:57:30] see you all there. Trans kids. Trans kids will have access to puberty blockers, and it will be because all of us, because all of you are committed to fighting for it. The fight is just beginning. We trans rights are under attack. Stand off that got and get home safe. Go on Pierce. Thank you.
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## START KEYWORDS
1930s, 1960s, 2020s, Bible, Christopher Luxon, Coming Up, David, David Seymour, Free Palestine, God, Indigo Shaw, Ireland, Kay Jones, Palestine, People, Philadelphia, Space, Spark, St Mary of the Angels, Stuff, Taranaki, Te Aro Park, Thailand, Tiriti o Waitangi / Treaty of Waitangi, Transgender Day of Remembrance, UltraViolet club (Wellington High School), Will Hansen, Winston Peters, Youth, abuse, access, agenda, allies, anger, animals, artist, asylum, attack, banned, bear, beneficiaries, birth certificate, blood, bodily autonomy, books, bouncer, building, bullying, career, change, chant, children, choice, church, cis, cisgender, coming out, community, compromise, conservative, cruelty, culture, dance, death, defiance, difference, discrimination, drawing, dream, dyke, dysphoria, eating, economy, endurance, energy, escape, face, family, fate, fear, feelings, fire, first aid, freedom, friends, fruit, fun, future, gender, gender affirming healthcare, gender dysphoria, government, guilt, hair, hat, hate, health, health care, hell, history, hit, hope, hormone blockers, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), hormone treatment, human rights, identity, imagination, intersex, justice, kindness, language, law, legislation, lesbian, liberation, love, march, mary, mask, media, medicine, mental health, minority, mirror, my hat, news, normal, opportunity, other, pa, pain, painting, parents, partnership, passion, passport, peace, period, plan, poetry, politics, posters, power, promise, pronouns, protest, puberty, puberty blockers, public servant, queer, race, rage, rainbow, rally, recognition, reflection, remembrance, representation, research, respect, rhetoric, sad, safety, secret, servant, sex, shame, siblings, silence, singing, solidarity, soul, sovereignty, speech, straight, stress, struggle, study, suffering, suicide, support, teenage, television, the other side, the pill, therapist, time, trans, trans children, trans man, trans woman, transgender, transition, transphobia, truth, understanding, unions, violence, voice, waiting list, walking, water, wellbeing, women, work, youth.
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## START REFERENCES
The original recording can be heard at this website https://www.pridenz.com/stand_up_for_trans_kids.html.
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