27 Aug 1901

"THE DEAREST WOMAN..."

"She is the dearest woman with the most beautiful face and expression I think I have ever seen." - Frances Hodgkins describing fellow artist Dorothy Richmond

1 Nov 1915

"ONE LAST FAVOUR..."

"One last favour I would like to ask and if you love me please grant me this, a picture of yourself." - Katherine Early writing to Dr Hjelmar Dannevill

1969

"ONLY MEN SO DRAW ME..."

"Only men so draw me that I want to be part of them, to lose myself in them, to become them." - Journal entry by writer Charles Brasch [exact date unknown]

15 Mar 1972

"LET'S START A REVOLUTION!"

Auckland University student Ngahuia Te Awekotuku is refused entry into the United States because she is a known lesbian. Te Awekotuku had been awarded a student scholarship to study in the US but came up against the State's policy of actively prohibiting "sexual deviants" from entering the country. Te Awekotuku recalls "It was open-mic day in the university quad and I grabbed the microphone and yelled out what had happened. I said, 'Let's start a revolution!'" This call to action became one of the catalysts for Gay Liberation in New Zealand.

1 Sep 1976

"WE WILL NOT JUST GO AWAY!"

Writing in Salient magazine in September 1976, activist Alan Seymour stated, "We will not just go away, back into our closets to lead an oppressed existence. We refuse to put up with the humiliation of the pallid tokens of liberal tolerance any longer. We demand acceptance, to be allowed to live our lives the way we choose, to be allowed to fulfil ourselves as human beings."

1984

"I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HONEST..."

"I've been in the army, I've been prison, I've stood for the Mayor of Wellington and I have no regrets. What I like about myself is that I have always been honest." - Carmen Rupe [exact date unknown]

1993

"TO BE JUDGED FOR WHO I AM..."

"I seek to be judged for who I am, for my work and for my successes and my failures, not on the basis of prejudice." - an unnamed gay man writing to MP Katherine O'Regan in the early 1990s [exact date unknown]

2011

"TO LIVE AN AUTHENTIC LIFE..."

"I believe with a passion that every person has the right to live an authentic life. Respected and valued with the skills and knowledge to live a life with meaning, dignity, love and purpose." - activist Mani Bruce Mitchell [exact date unknown]

16 Mar 2011

"WE RECOGNISE EACH OTHER..."

"We don't need to label ourselves anymore because we recognise each other without the labels." - activist Philip Patston

6 Sep 2011

"I HAD SAVED HER LIFE..."

"In 2007 I met a beautiful young Māori woman in Melbourne who told me that as a 15-year-old she had been seriously contemplating suicide because of her sexuality. I had come to her school prize-giving, and my presence, she said, convinced her that being gay was not a barrier to personal success. She told me tearfully that I had saved her life. That story alone made it all worthwhile." - MP Chris Carter during his valedictory speech

15 Feb 2012

"MY SILENCES..."

"My silences have not protected me." - the words of Audre Lorde which Jan Logie got tattooed on her leg before becoming an MP in 2011. Logie talked about the tattoo during her maiden speech in Parliament.

9 Dec 2015

"IF NOT TO CHANGE THE WORLD"

"From a very young age, I've just thought activism isn't a thing I do in my spare time - it is my life and everything I do folds into that... What do we get up for in the morning if not to change the world." - activist Elizabeth Kerekere

18 Nov 2018

"IN THIS PLACE..."

"In this place all are welcome, the tall, the thin, the shy and the out there. In this place all are accepted, cis and trans, gay, lesbian, straight and bisexual. In this place all are loved simply because we are all human beings. In this place all are honoured, for the struggle between commemoration and celebration goes on for all of us, all of the time." - the congregation of St Andrews on the Terrace, led by Rev Dr Susan Jones

9 Dec 2021

"I WILL NOT LISTEN POLITELY..."

"I will not listen politely to hate." - MP Deborah Russell reflecting on being on the public hearings for the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration legislation

21 Dec 2021

"IT IS A HUMAN RIGHT..."

"It is a human right to be who you are." - Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon during the opening of Gisborne's Rainbow Pride crossing.