QUEER CULTURE IN AOTEAROA
QUEER CULTURE IN AOTEAROA
______
A Senior Honors Thesis
Presented to
The Faculty of the Department
of Comparative Cultural Studies
University of Houston
______
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Bachelor of Science with Honors in Major
______
By
Syd Gonzalez
May 2019
ii QUEER CULTURE IN AOTEAROA
______Syd Gonzalez
APPROVED:
______Keith E. McNeal, Ph.D. Committee Chair
______Andrew Joseph Pegoda, Ph.D.
______Richard H. Armstrong, Ph.D.
______Antonio D. Tillis, Ph.D. Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Department of Hispanic Studies
iii QUEER CULTURE IN AOTEAROA
______
A Senior Honors Thesis
Presented to
The Faculty of the Department
of Comparative Cultural Studies
University of Houston
______
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Bachelor of Science with Honors in Major
______
By
Syd Gonzalez
May, 2019
iv DEDICATION
This is dedicated to all the queer Māori peoples of Aotearoa whose stories have yet to be told.
1 Abstract
In this thesis I explore queerness in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand utilizing historical sources, modern day texts, and interviews with members of the community. Major events like legislative rulings and pride parades will primarily be explored as markers of where we are in time through this essay. The goal of this thesis is to examine the layers of history that encompass queerness in Aotearoa up to present day. Utilizing survey results along with interviews of community members will provide insight to the cultural norms of queerness within Wellington that may not be easily visible otherwise. This thesis will be comprised of three main parts Queer
Aotearoa which will focus on the history of queerness in Aotearoa up to present day.
Subject Interviews and Analysis which is a condensed version of the transcribed interviews along with analysis of those interviews which includes the consumption of
America media, utilizing social media as their primary form of social interactions, and coming out to friends before family members. The final chapter is
Homonationalism in Wellington where I explore nationalistic tendencies within queer communities and events like pride.
2
Table of Contents
Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction and Methodology 4 Queer Aotearoa 16 Subject Interviews and Analysis 29 Homonationalism in Wellington 55 Conclusion 65 Index of Te Reo Māori Words 67 Bibliography 68 Appendix 71
3
Introduction and Methodology
I have always had an interest in studying queerness and queer culture. At first it was as a way to learn more about myself, but then it became a craving to know more about people like me. When I was awarded the Benjamin A. Gilman
Scholarship that set in stone my semester abroad to Wellington, New Zealand, I knew
I needed to figure out something to research while I was there. This was partially out of my own curiosity of Wellington’s culture, but it was also out of necessity for my then-future doctoral program applications. After falling down a rabbit hole of
Wellington as a city, and Māori as a culture, I found out about Takatāpui. This is the
Māori word for an intimate partner of the same sex, and something that I wanted to be able to have the privilege of studying. With this in mind, I applied for the Mellon
Research Scholars grant that would allow me to gain the resources and support I needed to fulfill this research. My acceptance into this program was everything I needed to begin my journey into studying takatāpui, and more broadly, the queer culture of Wellington.
While I was in Wellington, I was able to learn from a Māori anthropology professor Tarapuhi Vaeau, who provided me with the Māori knowledge and guidance that was necessary for this research. She informed me of historical trauma, the
Kaupapa Māori method, and how to navigate the purgatory that was being a researcher in Wellington that wasn’t Māori/Pasifika but also wasn’t White. The original plan for this thesis was to study queer culture in Wellington, Aotearoa (the
Māori name for New Zealand) and to determine the rate of acculturation among
4 ethnic minorities. I wanted to study this because Aotearoa has been home to takatāpui, a queer sexuality within Māori culture, since the early years of Māori settlement.
I hypothesized that as ethnic minorities are acculturated within Western nations something similar might have taken place with queerness in Wellington. As queer people are part of a marginalized group they are expected to conform to the surrounding cis-heteronormative society, similar to people of color’s expectation to minimalize their Of Color-ness in a White society. After five months of research within Wellington I decided to go in a different direction and look at queerness of color, at homonationalism, and at the underlying impact of acculturation within
Wellington. This research will still focus on takatāpui culture, along with queer ethnic minorities but now includes a deep look into the military/police presence at
Wellington’s Pride parade and the harms of appropriation of Māori culture by non-
Māori.
Throughout this research I had many ethical concerns that impacted the way I structured and conducted my thesis. My position as a queer person of color with
Native American lineage played a large role in how I processed the thoughts I had about my thesis. Being a non-White person, I held a connection with Māori people as someone whose people and land had been colonized. On the other hand, as a non-
Māori person I was not able to entirely understand their plight with colonization or the New Zealand government. This made me question my ability to continue with this research as I was concerned about why I had the right to ask potentially invasive questions about people’s own queer experience, and their experience with queerness
5 in Wellington. More specifically, I was questioning my own ability to successfully write about Māori queerness in Wellington as a non-Māori researcher. I did not want to perpetuate any stereotypes or mistruths, nor did I want to add to any historical trauma that was inflicted on Māori by researchers. Through this introduction I will go into further detail about what methods I chose to use for this research and why those were the ones I decided on.
The word “queer” is utilized throughout this research as an umbrella term for people within the LGBTQIA+ community. The word “queer” is a Western creation and will be used with care when referencing people who identify as “takatāpui” when it comes to sexuality, or something like Samoa’s “fa’afafine” in relation to gender.
Throughout this thesis, Te Reo (the Māori language) words for Māori concepts will be used. For example, while whakapapa can be translated to “genealogy” as it is a
Māori concept, the Te Reo word will be used. In the same vein, I will refer to “New
Zealand” as “Aotearoa” since that was the country’s name prior to colonization.
When referencing Aotearoa members of society who are of European decent, they will be referred to as “Pākehā.” At the end of this thesis, there will be an index with words and definitions, at times also translations if they are Māori words.
In addition to the research question are the methods I reference throughout this process. As mentioned before, focusing on cultural sensitivities within my research is important. Aotearoa has its own historical traumas with some researchers taking information from Māori populations and portraying it in a way that negatively affects them. That’s not to say that all researchers did this, rather that those who did left a bad taste in Māori people’s mouth when it comes to an outsider looking in.
6 These thoughts were in my head throughout my research experience, especially having reading Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and
Indigenous Peoples in which the focal point of the book is to use indigenous methods of research when studying indigenous people.
The indigenous method mentioned before is called Kaupapa Māori research and is explained in depth in Chapter 10 of Smith’s book.1 Very simply, this method was created so Māori people had a way to conduct research in a non-Western, non- colonized way. Due to previous Western research conducted on Māori, there was a push to do away with all research as a way of protection from future harms. Hence the creation of this method as it took into account being Māori, the philosophy and spiritual principles of Māori, the importance of Māori culture, and Māori autonomy by emphasizing the respect for whānau (family), rangatiratanga (self- determinization), and kaupapa (the collective vision of Māori).2 Combining all these components creates the Kaupapa method, a way in which Māori can perform research without furthering the act of colonization.
I decided that using a form of this research method would be the most effective way to honor Māori. I want to emphasize that I am using a form of this research, as there are some complexities when it comes to who can and who cannot use Kaupapa Māori. Other indigenous researchers are allowed to use this method with no hesitation. As for non-indigenous, non-Māori researchers, the argument for them
1 Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples (Dunedin: University of Otago Press, 2008) p. 183-193 2 “Principles of Kaupapa Māori,” Rangahau, Accessed April 9, 2020, http://www.rangahau.co.nz/research-idea/27/
7 being able to use the method is because the method is a reflection of Te Tiriti o
Waitangi (not to be confused with The Treaty of Waitangi).3 A coming together of
Māori and non-Māori with the intention of supporting Māori people and culture. My goal is to not harm, but help the Māori community, and to not take something
(Kaupapa) from Māori that is not my own. While I have maternal indigenous roots to the Kikapoo Nation of Texas, I cannot claim them since I do not know who my ancestors are, and I cannot justify taking on this identity not having a physical connection to this part of my heritage. I am simply aware that a decent portion of my ancestor’s ethnic background is Native, especially since I have paternal indigenous roots as well, but we are not aware of the tribe. That being said, I took on a form of this method as a way to respect Māori autonomy, customs, and tradition throughout this process.
Looking at this project reflexively, I am a queer person of Color who is looking at other queer people, sometimes who are also of Color. This allows me to have an insider perspective on queerness and what it is like being of color in predominantly white queer spaces. On the other hand, I am coming into Wellington queer culture having never visited the city or Aotearoa in general. My perspective on this is that of an outsider, more specifically of an American from a southern state during a political period where one step forward means two steps back for queer peoples what with the attempt to regulate who can or cannot use bathrooms, and the ability to legally discriminate against queer employees in the work place, gaining the
3Te Tiriti being a version of the settlement document created by the British Empire written in the Māori language that the Māori agreed to. The Treaty of Waitangi, on the other hand, is the version in English that the British created knowing Māori leaders were not able to understand it. This version is the document used today as a way to continue the unlawful possession of Māori land.
8 legal right to marry in 2015 was never enough to end legal discrimination. While there is no queer experience that stretches across countries and seas, just being queer means I have more knowledge about queerness in Wellington than a white, cis, heterosexual male may have since I personally live the queer (of color) experience day in and out.
I decided on publishing a survey for participants to take prior to setting foot on Aotearoa’s soil. I believed that the best way to gain participants and quantitative data was to send out a survey for people to complete. In doing a survey I had to first gain approval from the University of Houston’s Institutional Review Board. The IRB process began in February 2019, and approval was given in late April 2019. The survey contained a consent document at the very beginning, followed by eight questions. The questions are as follows:
● Are you at least 18 years of age?
o Yes
o No
● How long have you lived in Wellington, New Zealand?
o All my life
o Less than five years
o Five years or more
● Are you white/Pākehā?
o Yes
o No
9 ● Have you ever felt acculturated? (Acculturation definition: the assimilation to
a different culture, typically the dominant one.)
o Yes
o No
● Which sexuality do you most identify with?
o Lesbian
o Gay
o Bisexual
o Asexual
o Pansexual
o Takatāpui
o Other [fill in blank]
● Which gender do you most identify with?
o Cis-female
o Cis-male
o Trans-female
o Trans-Male
o Non-binary
o Agender
o Other [fill in blank]
● Would you like to take part in an interview for a research project studying
Māori and Non-Māori New Zealand queer culture?
o Yes
10 o No
● If yes, please leave your contact information below. If you have questions or
concerns, feel free to ask them below with an email I can contact you through.
o [Blank Box]
Responding to all of the questions above was optional, per IRB requirements. I posted a link to the survey on social media; for example, Facebook pages whose primary audience were people around Wellington. I also utilized the snowball sampling method and sent it to peers who then sent it to others.
Unfortunately, because I had created and planned this survey prior to studying in Aotearoa, I was not able to learn about the aforementioned historical trauma Māori face in regard to people coming to Aotearoa to research them. Primarily among Māori and Samoan communities, Western research and researchers have been frowned upon. This was due to the treatment their ancestors received from researchers throughout history. A famous example is Margaret Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa where she studied young Samoan girls and hyper-romanticized their experience to the point of producing incorrect information. As I didn’t take this into account, my survey only received 22 responses of an expected 50.
Aside from the quantitative data this survey would have provided, I also needed a way to gain interview participants. The survey allowed people to sign themselves up so that I could contact them about an interview. This was to give people a sense of autonomy and privacy rather than jumping straight into interviews and imposing myself on private pieces of people’s lives. This resulted in twelve responses to the interview question. I then sent an email to each potential subject. In
11 this email, I gave a brief overview of who I was, what the research was about, and meeting times/locations. As each subject would respond with the time and location they preferred, I would keep a note of it in an excel document. This document contained their subject number, pseudonym, email, time/day they chose, and location the interview would take place. From the twelve responses to the interview question, only six responded to the email. Out of the six interviews four took place on Victoria
University of Wellington’s main campus outside of the Vic Books coffee shop, another taking place at VUW’s Pipitea campus near that location’s Vic Books coffee shop, and one more at a conference room in The New Zealand Ministry of Health building.
The interviews were recorded with the default iOS recording app. I did not get approval to keep these interviews so they were transcribed and will be deleted May 1,
2020. In the beginning of the interview, subjects were given the consent form I created that was approved by IRB. This was the same consent form at the beginning of the survey. The interviews themselves were comprised of ten main questions, all of which were optional to answer:
● What ethnicity do you identify with?
● How long have you identified with your current sexuality/gender?
● Have you come out to your family?
● [If so] What was your coming out experience like?
● [If not] What has prevented you from doing so?
● What queer spaces do you currently exist in? (Ex: Physical, spiritual, online, etc.)
12 ● Have you ever felt like you needed to change your culture in order to fit in with those spaces?
● [If so] Why do you think that is?
● [If not] Why do you think that is?
● What do you think Wellington’s attitude toward queer culture is, overall?
● Have you seen a shift in those attitudes during the span of your life?
● Is there anything else you’d like me to know about your experience being queer in Wellington?
These questions were the guideline for my interviews in order to keep the data consistent. I used them as main speaking points but going “off topic” was encouraged as it allowed the interviews to be less clinical and more conversational to allow the subjects to feel comfortable speaking with me. These interviews were originally going to be the focal point of my research, but as I was not able to have a larger sample size, I decided to instead use them as a framework for queerness in
Wellington. From these interviews, I was able to gather information on Māori queerness/queerness of color, create an in-depth analysis of similarities within the interviews and homonationalism within Wellington’s International Pride Parade.
After these interviews were recorded, I then transcribed them. I did not use any formal transcribing method in this process. My transcribing looked similar to this:
SG: What ethnicity do you identify with?
Subject X: I identify as…
My main use for transcribing the interviews was for ease of access during the writing process. They were also used to refresh my memory as some of these interviews took
13 place months prior to this analytical part of the research. Similar to the recordings, I did not gain permission from IRB to keep the transcribed interviews and so they will be destroyed.
Along with the survey and interviews, I will be using textual and visual items to reinforce the data I have collected. Alphabetic texts come in the form of books, poems, articles, and legal documents. Visual items in the form of art pieces like wooden carvings and photographs. All of these items will be used in conjunction with one another in order to present a holistic perspective of queerness in Wellington, and
Aotearoa itself.
Fig 1. Google Maps image of Aotearoa, New Zealand
14
Fig 2. Google Maps Image of Wellington, New Zealand
I have divided up my research into four parts—not including the introduction, this chapter over methodology, or the conclusion—covering Aotearoa’s history, queerness in Aotearoa, homonationalism, and online v. virtual queer spaces. Aside from the historical chapters, these topics came out of overlapping themes participants mentioned during the interviews. The chapter on history will be used as a preface to following sections, as not knowing Aotearoa’s history of settlement and colonization would hinder the rest of the information presented.
15 Queer Aotearoa
Queerness within Aotearoa has gone through different waves of acceptance.
In the beginning of Aotearoa’s establishment (est. 13th or 14th century) an open expression sexuality and having sex was typical within Māori society. Through
British colonization attitudes shifted towards unacceptance, which can be seen through laws and criminalization of queerness. In a “post-colonial” Aotearoa, movements began that pushed for decriminalization and laws that presented an ally- ship between the government and its queer people. These three points will be further explored through this chapter, starting with the beginning of Aotearoa’s relationship with its queer community.
First, I must explain why I’m using the word “queer” as opposed to the Māori word “takatāpui” or the acronym “LGBTQ+”. I briefly covered this explanation in the
Methodology portion of this thesis, but I’d like to further clarify. While I could use
“takatāpui” as a way to pay homage to Māori people and their ancestors, there are some who I interviewed that do not identify with this sexuality and there are some within Aotearoa that do not know of its existence. As for the acronym “LGBTQ+”, these five letters and a plus sign are not enough of an umbrella to encompass everyone I am speaking about. There is also a hierarchy with the letters, especially as the “+” seems to refer to any sexuality outside these letters as a second thought. The word “queer” is the best term I could find to fit as an umbrella for any and all sexualities. While there is some discourse within the community, usually the younger/Generation Z queers claiming it to be a slur verses Millennial and older typically agreeing that it is not, I found that the discussion was a very (United States)
16 American one. In Aotearoa the word queer was used much more freely, and as an identity rather than a categorical term.
Prior to colonization by the British there is evidence that queerness, and basic sexual prowess, was accepted among Māori. The Māori word takatāpui which translates to something similar to English’s queer derived from an oral poem that was eventually written down. The Māori author of this poem is Wiremu Maihi Te
Rangikāheke, evidence of this poem can be found in three of his manuscripts.4 The most accurate English version of this poem can be found in Sir George Grey’s
Polynesian Mythology, titled The Story of Hine-Moa.5 Unfortunately, this version erases any mention of a male/male relationship. The story mentioned above was about Hinemoa, Tūtānekai, and Tiki. Hinemoa swam across a river to be with
Tūtānekai, who also wanted to be with her. His heart, though, belonged to his dear friend Tiki. Tūtānekai even called Tiki “taku hoa takatāpui” or “my intimate same- sex friend” and in the end decided to have the best of both worlds by being with
Hinemoa and Tiki.6 The word takatāpui became the term for a queer person of Māori decent, and the poem became an origin-story for queerness within Māori communities. It also has threads of polyamory, seeing as the three of them began a relationship together. Unfortunately, this version of the story is not easily accessible.
It was heterosexual-washed over time to end with Hinemoa and Tūtānekai living
4 Jenifer Curnow, “Wiremu Maihi Te Rangikāheke, c. 1815 – 1896,” Kōtare: New Zealand Notes & Queries. Accessed April 8, 2020. URL: https://ojs.victoria.ac.nz/kotare/article/view/658 5 “The Story of Hine-Moa,” Sacred Texts, Accessed April 7, 2020, https://www.sacred- texts.com/pac/grey/grey17.htm 6 Laura Darling, “Takatāpui,” Last modified October 8, 2017. https://www.makingqueerhistory.com/articles/2017/10/8/takatpui
17 happily ever after, together, with Tiki not getting a single mention. This washing of queer stories has happened before in Aotearoa with waiata koroua and mõteatea, traditional Māori prose and laments, having non-heterosexual sexual acts being erased and replaced with the Māori word for hugging. This washing of the story is a precursor to what was to happen to all queerness in Aotearoa.7
Wooden carvings depict sexual acts between Māori men, one of which can be found in the British Museum’s collection of indigenous artifacts. One piece in particular is a box with carvings, on the box there are carvings of male bodies seemingly weaving between each other. Their penises are visible, the most notable sign that these are male.
Fig 3.18th Century Papahou (treasure box), British Museum Photo
There are other boxes similar to this, one from the Museum of New Zealand
Te Papa Tongarewa displays men and women together in sexual positions. While the
7 Thomas, Melody. “BANG! Season 2 Episode 6: Takātapui” Produced by RNZ. Radio New Zealand. June 2, 2018. Podcast, MP3 audio, 45:13. https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/bang/story/2018651794/bang-season-2-episode-6-takatapui
18 last one does not have any evidence that stands for Māori’s acceptance of queerness like the other box with male/male depictions, it does show how open they were to sexual acts.
Fig 4. 18th century wakahuia (treasure box), Te Papa photo
In a podcast with Bang! Ngahuia Te Aeekotuku and Dr. Elizabeth Kerekere go into detail about sexual freedom within pre-colonial Māori societies further explaining this phenomenon of sexual suppression by the colonial British.
Doctor Lee Wallace of the University of Sydney also noted Māori homosexuality in her book Sexual Encounters: Pacific Texts, Modern Sexualities written in 2003. In chapter four of this book, “Sexual Difference and the Expulsion of
William Yate”, Wallace delves into the world of William Yate. As one of Aotearoa’s earliest missionaries, Yate had access to Māori culture like no other. He arrived in the
Bay of Islands in 1838 abroad the Herald as a Christian missionary from Britain.
However, it was believed that he engaged in sexual—sometimes homosexual – relations with British and Māori alike. It should be noted that his arrival was after the
19 placement of the 1854 anti-sodomy acts that could result in punishment as harsh as the death penalty.
The story that led to the expulsion of Yate is a twisty one. His crewmates on the Herald suspected, and some had “proof”, that he and another man aboard were engaging in homosexual acts. This was before he even set foot on Aotearoa. His landing created another host of accusations against him, many of which were backed up with testimonies, that Yate engaged in sexual activities with Māori youth. It was said that these sexual activities were “transactional”, with Yate offering Māori boys an object in return for mutual masturbation. Others just came to expect this act with
Yate. One sailor claimed that Yate must have done this with hundreds of men, but there was not time to compile an official document of this. While this may look like a simple case of a religious figure performing a sinful act that resulted in a punishment, there seemed to be more to it than that in the case of Yate.
Lee makes an interesting point about Yate and his relationship to the Church
Missionary Society. She believes that while these claims against Yate were serious enough to require persecution, they may have been a way for him to get forcibly pushed of his position with the church. Yate left England in 1894 without permission, published documents without the knowledge of his peers, and raised money for the church in Waimate without authorization. All of these were acts that annoyed the
Church Missionary Society, but none were exactly punishable since they were not illegal acts in the eyes of the church. It seemed like the Society was waiting for the other shoe to drop when it came to Yate. While homosexual relations were a sin to the church at this time, Yate’s interactions came in the form of a blessing for the
20 Church Missionary Society because they were punishable. This was their moment to push Yate out of his position and keep him out.
Yate’s story is one that lacks the Māori point of view. The Church Missionary
Society emphasized his relationship with Māori youth which, in modern day society, makes them victims. Rather than this being a tale of Māori sexuality, it is one of a colonizer using his power and relationship to the church as a way to manipulate others. In addition, there is a lack of information about whether he had consensual relationships with Māori men. As mentioned before, sex and takatāpui culture were accepted among Māori prior to colonization. Yates’ sexual desires, while taboo to
British Christians, would have had a semblance of acceptance among Māori. This lack of point of view leaves a gap in the story of Yate, even more it leaves a gap in takatāpui history and their relationship to pākehā colonizers.
In modern day Aotearoa, takatāpui has been reclaimed by Māori as a way to combine their culture and their sexuality. They are able to not only be queer
(takatāpui) but Māori at the same time, which is not something that simply identifying as queer provides. This word can be found in a dictionary crated by Herbert Williams, a missionary, in 1832 with the definition “intimate companion of the same sex” which is similar to the way the word is used today.8 In more recent times, Ngahuia Te
Awekotuku pioneered this reclamation in the 1970s, but it was not shown in use until
1994 in a report to the Public Health Commission. In a similar vein, the New Zealand
AIDS Foundation published a book celebrating the lives and stories of takatāpui. The book was titled Takatāpui: a place of standing / Te Tūāpapa Mate Āraikore o
8 Herbert Williams, Dictionary of the Māori Language (New Zealand, 1832)
21 Aotearoa and was created by Jordan Harris.9 It holds 166 pages worth of photographs and stories from takatāpui members of the community, providing an honest and raw perspective on Māori sexuality. The stories have a melancholy air to them with tales of death, of coming out to members of their iwi (tribe), and of how unfair it was to live in a society that did not fully accept queerness.
Another layer to this book is HIV/AIDS epidemic and Aotearoa’s healthcare system. We as readers have to be aware that the people telling their story in this book were either diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, undiagnosed but aware, or knew someone that was diagnosed. There is also a trend among Māori to distrust the health system, even to this day.10 This would result in members of the community avoiding the doctor, not getting proper medication, and potentially not having access to information that would keep them healthy. A lack of knowledge, a dose of instilled fear, and prejudice from both pākehā and Māori alike makes for a difficult time navigating a life- threatening disease while being part of two marginalized communities. Unfortunately, this book is no longer available as not many copies were printed after the withdraw of an interview subject. I am grateful to have a contact that worked on this book and provided me with a copy of it.
Homosexuality, and even an open dialogue of heterosexuality, in Aotearoa has not always been readily accepted. After the colonization of Aotearoa by the British, any sort of “deviant” sexual acts, or sexual acts between consenting men, became acts of crime. Anti-sodomy laws were put in place with the highest level of punishment
9 Jordan Harris, Takatāpui: a place of standing / Te Tūāpapa Mate Āraikore o Aotearoa (Auckland, New Zealand: New Zealand AIDS Foundation, 2016) 10 Peter Jansen, et al., He Ritenga Whakaaro: Māori experience of health services, (Mauri Ora Associates: Auckland, 2008,) p.22-23
22 being the death penalty as a way to prevent homosexual acts. These originated in
1897 and were not completely repealed until the 1980s with the New Zealand
Homosexual Law Reform Act. After Aotearoa became part of the British Empire the government was quick to criminalize homosexual acts and relationships. The government went as far as to consider consensual homosexual relationships sexual assault and would persecute them as such. It should be noted that homosexual relationships between women have never been criminalized or illegal within the eyes of the New Zealand government. Despite this, woman/woman marriage attempts were shut down and not considered valid. The lack of discussion surrounding woman/woman relationships in New Zealand anti-homosexual legislature raises questions about why they were not included. Was it lack knowledge about homosexual female relationships? Perhaps the idea that these relationships could not be “true” relationships? Or could it be as deep as the how during this time the government seemed to view women as less than citizens? These only scratch the surface on questions raised about the lack of discussion about women within legislature relating to homosexuality.
The New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform Act is a piece of legislature that took years of activist and legal work until it was officially passed in court. The third reading of the bill was on July 9, 1986 with the bill narrowly passing with 49 in agreement with the bill and 44 against the bill.11 Prior readings did not gain as much support but as people grew to accept homosexuality as a whole, and others to agree that homosexuals should not be punished. Supporters of the bill made it very clear
11 Laurie Guy, Worlds in Collision: The Gay Debate in New Zealand, 1960-1986 (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2002), 218
23 that they did not support homosexuality, nor did they promote the lifestyle, but that harsh punishments were against their morals. Despite these moderate to conservative views about homosexuality, the bill eventually passed. This paved the way for further legislations like the legalization of same sex marriage. The vote for legalization took place on August 19, 2013 with 77 in agreeance and 44 against.12 This made Aotearoa the first country in Oceania, and the 15th country overall to legalize gay marriage.13
The passing of the NZ Homosexual Law Reform Act and the legalization of gay marriage were both pivotal for the community. Unfortunately, not much legal work has been done to aid transgender and gender non-conforming members of the community. With gender transitions full of bureaucratic road stops like expensive surgeries and the abundance of paperwork that comes with legal name/gender changes. Even in seemingly liberal-leaning institutions like Victoria University of
Wellington transgender students run into issues when attempting to remove their dead-name from university IDs and official paperwork.
Unfortunately, Aotearoa’s government has not made any serious moves to provide a better standard of living for the transgender/gender non-conforming population. In 2018 Counting Ourselves, a community lead census for trans members of Aotearoa was conducted in a similar fashion to the New Zealand AIDS
Foundation’s creation of the aforementioned Takatāpui bibliography.14 Their primary
12 “Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill”, New Zealand Parliament, accessed April 7, 2020, https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-proposed- laws/document/00DBHOH_BILL11528_1/marriage-definition-of-marriage-amendment-bill 13 Elisa Tang, “Here are the 20 countries where same-sex marriage is officially legal” last modified June 22, 2018, https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/30-countries-sex-marriage- officially-legal-56041136 14 “Community Report,” Counting Ourselves, accessed April 7, 2020, https://countingourselves.nz/index.php/community-report/
24 goal with this census was to gather data on health-related topics within the community including (but not limited to) gender affirming care, mental health/wellbeing, and identity documents. For example, it was found that 83% of participants did not have their chosen gender listed on their New Zealand Birth
Certificate.15 This report was the first of its magnitude to surface, creating tangible evidence that could be referred to about the community rather than basing information on assumptions alone. Despite this, things have not gotten easier for the trans community in Aotearoa. Legal document changes, easy access to knowledgeable healthcare providers, and simple lack of discrimination from the general public are not guarantees for the community.
Wellington is the capital of Aotearoa and one of the cities considered to be the most liberal. There are parts of the city seemingly designated for queer people with crosswalks painted with rainbows and various queer clubs.
Fig 5. Two people standing in front of Cuba st.’s rainbow crosswalk
15 “Executive Summary,” Counting Ourselves, accessed April 7, 2020, https://countingourselves.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Executive-Summary.pdf
25 This would be Cuba Street, one of Wellington’s trendiest streets, which is home to those aforementioned painted crosswalks. The walk signs surrounding Cuba pay homage to Carmen Rupe, a transgender queer activist.
Fig 6. A photograph of Carmen Rupe’s crosswalk tribute
She was the first court case claiming unlawful arrest after being charged with
“offensive behavior” for dressing in women’s clothing. This case led her lawyer, and the court itself, to agree that there is nothing within Aotearoa’s law that made those assigned male at birth wearing women’s clothing illegal.16 While the country as a whole has not done much for the transgender community, and this institution has it’s issues, Victoria University of Wellington has attempted to provide support for its trans population. They have provided a path for students to update their name on university documents allowing students to be addressed by their preferred name rather than their dead name. In addition, they have created a Trans-Affirmative
16 Tracie O’Keef and Katrina Fox, “Chapter 24: Madam Carmen – Carmen Rupe” in Trans People in Love (New York: Routledge, 2016), 249
26 Healthcare Pilot Clinic that provides gender-affirming hormone therapy along with access to practitioners trained in queer healthcare.17
Queer history within Aotearoa has a long linage, from the 13th century all the way until present date. The legal sphere of Aotearoa has gone through a multitude of shifts with anti-sodomy laws in the 1800s, the abolishment of those in the 1980s, and the legalization of same sex marriage in 2013. With evidence of Māori acceptance of same sex sexual relationships from their establishment on Aotearoa their history is the most important thing to note. Māori have reclaimed a word that provides a path for them to take hold of both their sexual identity and cultural identity, without having one reign over the other. As with queerness in other countries, like the United States, there continues to be a fight for acceptance and legal protections. For example, recently there has been a wave of conversations regarding transgender athletes performing in the Olympics and other sports functions. At the center of one of these conversations is Aotearoa’s Laurel Hubbard, a transgender woman weightlifter, who is on the path to qualify for the (now postponed) 2020 Olympics. The primary points of conversation about her are whether she should be allowed to compete with cis- woman at lifting competitions.18 This discussion is just the tip of the iceberg regarding transgender discourse. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, protections for transgender/gender non-conforming members of Aotearoa’s society hardly exist.
Despite this, with Aotearoa’s history of making legal decisions to advocate for queer
17 “Rainbow Students”, Victoria University of Wellington, Accessed April 7, 2020, https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/students/get-involved/communities/rainbow-students 18 Ian Ransom, “Transgender weightlifter Hubbard continues Tokyo bid in Australia”, last modified February 28, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2020-weightlifting- transgend/transgender-weightlifter-hubbard-continues-tokyo-bid-in-australia-idUSKCN20M0WO
27 people there is much hope that the same will be done for transgender people in the future.
Through the history of Aotearoa there has been instances of queerness and something like the queer culture we know today. The development of the country’s queer history over time is impressive and transcends time. From beginning with anti- sodomy laws that resulted in death to the legalization of same sex marriage, queerness has been actively developing through a majority of the country’s history. Aotearoa still has its faults, as every country does, in regard to the treatment of queer people.
At the moment there is a discussion of cultural appropriation throughout Aotearoa regarding non-Māori using Māori culture in a way that harms or does not benefit
Māori. Examples of this can be seen on non-Māori people who get traditional Māori tattoos on their body when they are not accessible to Māori. This connects to queerness, and Queer Aotearoa as a whole, because parades like Wellington’s
International Pride Parade fall into the habit of doing things like this. A deeper reading of the Wellington International Pride Parade v. Out in The Park (another
Wellington-based pride parade) can be read in the Homonationalism in Wellington chapter.
28 Subject Interviews and Analysis
The most essential part to this research was conducting interviews with queer people residing in Wellington, Aotearoa. These interviews were conducted in casual settings – cafés, campus grounds, and one office conference room – and while I had a specific set of questions to ask, I made sure that was also done in a manner that was not overly clinical. My goal was to not only gather information on queerness from the perspective of queers in Wellington but to also provide a comfortable enough space for the subjects that a frank conversation about queerness in Wellington—Aotearoa as a whole—was able to be had. An in-depth overview of my methodology relating to these interviews can be found in the Methodology chapter. In short, I conducted six interviews with queer Wellingtonians and each interview had 10 main questions regarding their identity and relation to Wellington. The interviews range from 10 minutes to over two hours. This chapter of my thesis summarizes each interview to give the reader a better idea about the information gathered and how it contributed to the chapters of this thesis.
29
Subject 01
I met Subject 01 at the Vic Books café of Victoria University of Wellington’s Pipitea campus. This subject is no longer in university, having graduated prior, but the campus was both close to their job and one bus away from where I lived by Victoria University of Wellington’s main campus. We had a hard time finding a table since it was evening rush hour – some just getting out of class, others stopping at the café for a bite before heading across the street to the train/bus terminal. After hunting for a table, both of us very experienced with this task, we finally found one and sat down. The subject had hair dyed multiple colors, glasses, and an over coat I thought looked pretty cool. They knew my best friend of four years who is a born and bred Wellingtonian, so by proxy they knew me, and we were able to swiftly ease into the interview questions.
This subject mostly identified with bi/pansexuality, depending on the social sphere, and has identified as such since high school (they are now post-university age).19 At times they decide not to label their sexuality. In the last year or two they have also begun to identify with non-binary, in terms of gender. They mentioned during their childhood they were always more interested in things created with boys in mind. This and the revelation of other gender identities is what lead them to settling with the non-binary identification.
This subject has not come out to their family due to safety reasons. They are out to friends they consider family, but not their parents or other blood relatives.
Comments in their household have made them question their own personal safety. In addition to their sexualities, they also identify as a Kiwi, New Zealander, Malaysian.
The Asian background that their parents hold has brought up cultural differences regarding queerness. While they believe they could come out to their mother with no issue, they have concerns with coming out to their father.
19 High School in Aotearoa is sometimes called “high school” like in the United States but is actually Secondary School. This, similar to the US, is years 9-13 and consists of ages 13-18.
30 The queer spaces they exist in are a combination of virtual and in-person.
They mentioned utilizing Tumblr, a blogging platform, as an online space with queer communities they are active in.20 Aside from that, they have many queer friends who they will spend time with and consider that space safe. At times they do feel that they need to alter their culture in order to fit into some queer spaces. Especially relating to the cultural values they learned from their family. They mentioned having the same feeling when visiting their family in Asia because they can be pinned down as someone who is a foreigner. In order to feel comfortable, they will change the clothes they wear, how they speak, and even how they introduce themselves. They believe that this is a necessity because humans are not ready to see each other as humans, rather they continue to keep people in binaries.
Despite this, they believe that Aotearoa is relatively open to people and their identities—visible or not. They have seen their friends get laughed at by people in the streets and prefer not to antagonize any of that behavior. In Wellington they mention the airport being turned gay along with one of the main streets, Cuba street, as examples of the open attitude towards queerness. They also talk about pride festivals and various queer events. They note that people who are visibly queer are typically left alone in Wellington, but that there are spaces that shun queers.
This ideology of disliking queers is something they don’t believe is deeply rooted in people’s personalities, or something that is a learned behavior from their culture. They believe it is people not liking the idea of a group of people rather than actively hating a group of people. They have seen a shift of queer attitudes during
20 Tumblr is a blogging platform that was founded by David Karp in 2007. Users of this platform can create their own content, or reblog (repost) content from the other users that they follow.
31 their lifetime as they remember a time when calling things “gay” as a synonym for
“lame” was an accepted term.
32 Subject 02
I met Subject 02 outside of the Maki Mono sushi restaurant at Victoria University of Wellington’s main campus. I was already sitting at a table against a wall, ensuring that the tables next to ours were empty as to provide a safe space for talking. I did not know what the subject looked like but thankfully they emailed me asking for my description. I quickly replied with some identifying factors like what I was wearing, the length of my hair, and the undeniably large Yeti bottle I had next to me. When they arrived the first thing I noticed was a large, fancy-looking camera around their neck with a TILE attached to it. They also had a necklace with a small acorn on it which I later learned was typical British iconography.
Fig 7. Subject 02 standing outside after the Wellington Pride Parade with a rainbow umbrella
This subject’s sexuality is pansexual, and their gender identity is agender.
They have identified as pansexual for the past five years and agender for the past three. Coming to this identification was easy for them as they have never truly understood gender binaries and why they exist. Their parents know about their pansexual identification but not their agender identity. This has led them to prefer
33 they/them pronouns but accept she/her pronouns when those are used by people who they have not come out to. They told a story of when their little brother’s friends mistook them for a boy and their mother was offended on their behalf. They also have a distinct memory of when their early high school friends claimed someone was a lesbian just because they did not like the person.
As for the queer spaces they are part of, they do not visit resource centers around Wellington, but will go to Pride parades. They are part of online queer communities which they recognize as the place they discovered more information about their identities. They also have a friend group that they were pleasantly surprised were primarily queer. They have never felt acculturated within queer
Aotearoa spaces as they feel like they are part of the “default” culture. They mentioned an instance during an Auckland pride parade where queer Māori did not want police marching in uniform which upset some people. This was an example of how easily some people were to disown others from their community because they did not play by the previously established rules of society.
They believe that Wellington has moved slightly beyond just having Pride with Cuba street’s crossing being a rainbow flag and some of the ATMs going rainbow during Pride month. At times they do believe celebrities and corporations go rainbow for their own benefit rather than to genuinely help the community. For these reasons, they are selective in who they support that provides rainbow branding during
Pride. Despite all this, something they’ve found is the queer communities they surround themselves with are Americanized. This, they believe, may impact the lack
34 of Māori influence in Pride parades/Pride around Aotearoa. This is especially since they know more about Two Spirit than Māori’s takatāpui or Samoa’s Fa’afafine.
35 Subject 03
Similar to Subject 02, I met this subject outside of Maki Mono. I once again sat myself at tables against the wall, ensuring there would be enough space between us and other students. Though, what I had learned from Subject 02 was sending a description of oneself to someone who did not know what one looked like should be common practice. Subject 03 also exchanged their description with me (she was in a striped blue turtleneck) which allowed me to instantly recognize her. We quickly got to the interview questions and it was like we were old friends. This interview was the second longest at an hour and five minutes.
Fig 8. Subject 03 standing on a rope bridge over a river, in front of a forest
This subject identifies ethnically as a Pākehā (white) New Zealander. Her sexual identity is either bi or pansexuality which she has identified with long before her coming out in 2014. She mentioned it being hard to know whether she was queer due to her being in the closet, but she knew she was polysexual from a young age.
She came to the realization about her sexuality from having read young adult novels
36 with bisexual characters. She also remembers the feeling of being aware of other sexualities when she entered her teenage years. As she mentioned before she came out in 2014 to her friends (which is considers family) but is estranged from her blood relatives. The process of coming out was alright for her as she was already living in a university hall with other students that were also out of the closet. This made it easier for her as she then knew she had a friend group to go to if she ever needed anything.
Now, her queer spaces are primarily made up of online spaces like Tumblr and Instagram, a photo-sharing social media platform, along with her friend group.21
She mentioned her tendency to always be in some sort of queer space as that is the content she prefers to consume. She also appreciates that everyone in her friend group is aware of their societal privileges and the privileges that other marginalized people do not have. She is not part of any queer specific groups, but she does run a LGBT+ group for physics students. She created this group as a way for physics students to have a space to go to where they can feel protected and have a space to process things that come with being queer. She does not like the way some queer-specific groups have cancel-culture attributes that can come off as aggressive.
She has not felt acculturated within queer groups as the spaces she’s been in have predominantly been white. She is aware of the racism within white, queer spaces and what queers of Color go through. For Wellington, specifically, she believes that it can come across as a more accepting place than it is. While she personally has not fell victim to homophobia within the city, she has friends who were physically assaulted.
She agrees that it is more accepting than some of the rural areas she has lived in, but
21 Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in 2010. Its primary use is for photo and video sharing. Users can post their own content and “like” the content of others.
37 that it is still surface level/corporate acceptance. She mentioned the rainbow branding that Wellington took on during Pride, specifically the military tank that drove through the parade.22 Cuba street, for example, while it is full of rainbows, they do not make her feel safe instead legal changes would make her feel more accepted by the community.
Continuing the topic of legal changes, she mentioned having friends who attempted changing their names and went through the lengthy process of attempting it when a change in the legal system could truly benefit them. A friend of hers at
Victoria University of Wellington was in the process of changing her name because much of her medical files were under her dead name.23 In addition, some of her course emails were being sent to the email that listed her dead name. To try and combat these issues Victoria University of Wellington hired a Rainbow Liaison which she mentioned only started March 2019, only a few months prior to when the interview took place. Her feelings toward this liaison were that the university did not put much effort into hiring her, and that she was like their token queer administrator.
She also stressed that the liaison is probably doing her best, but the number of queer students on campus requires more administrative help. In addition to this, she talked
22 Rainbow branding, also called rainbow capitalism and pink capitalism, is the addition of LGBTQ+ movements into the market. Its primary goal is to attract the attention and monetary resources of queer members of society. Examples of this can be seen at stores like Target during Pride month, typically June in the US, where they bring out rainbow colored clothing, accessories, trinkets, and even pronoun pins. Mass retailers have found the profitability in Pride/queerness despite most of them not donating or actively supporting queer organizations which is where the issue lies. See, Petula Dvorak, “At Target and Walmart, Pride is profitable. The Supreme Court ought to drop by,” last modified June 7, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/at-target-and-walmart-pride-is-profitable-the-supreme- court-ought-to-drop-by/2018/06/07/4741157c-6a64-11e8-9e38-24e693b38637_story.html 23 A dead name is the name assigned at birth to a transgender/gender non-conforming person that no longer uses it
38 about the whiteness of UniQ (a queer student organization on campus) during her time in the club and how it made her feel uncomfortable.
During her lifetime she has seen shifts in queer acceptance in the form of media going from a single bisexual character to a movie with a queer character headlining the narrative. She also touched on the transition from coming out stories in media to characters already being queer, with their queerness not being their defining storyline. The rate of celebrities coming out was also something she noted. She remembered there being a post online listing less than a dozen queer celebrities compared to a post she saw before the interview with about 40 listed. Coming from a small town, she also was not aware of what being transgender was until moving and now with the internet there’s an abundance of resources.
39 Subject 04
I met with Subject 04 at noon on a Saturday at VUW’s main campus. The campus was almost empty since exam period had started the Monday prior. I waited outside of the Vic Book café for the subject having sent them a description of myself the moment I got there. When the subject found me, I quickly noticed their pink hair, multiple rings, and height. We went to the tables outside of Maki Mono since there were exactly zero student sitting by them. Subject 04 was also a researcher, about to complete their master’s degree so before jumping into the interview we had a discussion about research practices and methods. This interview was the longest at over two hours, featuring two interruptions from my mom calling the phone I was using to record the interviews with. After the interview was over, they walked me halfway to where I was staying since it was on the way to their office. During this walk they recommended I watch the FX television series called Pose which I quickly devoured upon my return to Texas.
Fig 9. Subject 04 is in front of a red wall with a flower crown noting “Master of Arts” on their head
This subject identifies as a Pākehā New Zealander but has reason to believe they have Māori heritage through the exploration of their whakapapa (ancestry). With this, they also engage in Māori cultural practices. This identification of Pākehā and
40 Māori is a state of purgatory as they present as Pākehā, they have been raised Pākehā, but there is a chance that they are Māori. They identify as gay and non-binary using they/them pronouns. Their gay identity includes a tumultuous coming out process while they lived in Seattle, Washington. The Subject’s parents did not accept their gayness, nor did they acknowledge it during a point in their life, which is why their coming out was a challenge. In university they had a boyfriend which they utilized as a way to come out. They came out to their mom first and later their father who they were afraid to come out to due to his checkered history of being homophobic. They were then outed by their parents to the rest of their family. Their parents are now accepting and are taking part in the coordination of the subject’s upcoming wedding.
Their physical appearance is tied into their gender and sexuality which has allowed them to not have to come out again when they made the move back to Aotearoa.
The queer spaces they are part of include queer organizations and clubs from their undergraduate institution. They joined UniQ, a queer student organization, at
Victoria University of Wellington which allowed them to easily find a group of queer friends. Eventually, they became the Secretary of UniQ which settled their decision to transition their study abroad in Wellington to a permanent stay. Currently, they have gravitated away from UniQ and have moved towards finding radical queers who are politically involved. They found friends through Twitter and Tumblr, many of who were based in Auckland.24 They all met one day and found a mutual want to abolish prisons. When the Auckland Pride Board announced their decision to allow
24 Twitter was created by Jack Dorsey, et al. in 2006 and is a “microblogging” social media platform. Users can create 280-character posts and retweet (repost) tweets (posts) from other members of the platform.
41 corrections/police officers to march in the parade the subject and their friend group marched in protest as group named No Pride in Prisons. Their group was renamed to
People Against Prisons Aotearoa as a way to refocus their goals. They also work with
InsideOUT, a group supporting queer youth, in the past and this past year as a driver for the Shift Hui event where they were able to reconnect with the members of the youth they knew.
Acculturation, they feel, to some extent goes both ways. They have attempted to thread the needle between engaging in Māori culture and Pākehā Paralysis. With the idea that being in Māori land requires the following on Māori culture. They went into detail about the disconnect between Wellington International Pride Parade and
Out in The Park, which is a community-based queer parade. The primary example they used was the tank that was driven through the Wellington International Pride
Parade, compared to the Māori emphasis in Out in The Park. Their own personal understanding of queerness has shifted while in Wellington, specifically looking at political spaces and the struggles of queer people.
42 Subject 05
I met Subject 05 outside of Vic Books café, they weren’t familiar with the campus but agreed to meet me there anyways. They were waiting for me and with their email informing me of their red beanie with a pompom it was easy to spot them. Their style was something I admired – a homey, almost vintage, aesthetic that screamed “I am a nice person!” but wasn’t overbearing. We made our way over to the tables outside of Maki Mono that were fairly empty since it was the week of exams. I learned they worked at a store off Cuba that allowed them to see various activism marches, including Pride, without actually attending them.
The subject identifies as Pākehā, specifically, because she is not a white
European. She identifies with this because she is aware of the history of colonization and trauma imposed by white colonizers on Māori and actively wants to do better. As for her sexuality/gender she identifies as a Cis-Female, Asexual Lesbian. The identification with asexuality is because the idea of a sexual relationship is repulsive to her. She’s identified as a lesbian since she was 13 and at 16, she became aware of asexuality and identified with it at 18. She has come out to both her friends and family. Her mom was supportive in that when she told her, her mom’s first reaction was the amount of people she could have introduced the subject to had she known earlier. She came out to her dad later in life by printing out the image of a Dalek, a
Doctor Who character, coloring it in rainbow and posting it on the fridge. Her experience with this was overall positive, she never felt unsafe during the process, but she has created mental lists about who she can/can’t be out with.
One of the primary queer spaces that she is a part of is her flat, as everyone living in it is queer. She’s also part of The Glamaphones which is a queer community choir in Wellington. Her university does not have something similar to UniQ which is why she sought out the choir club. The demographics of the club are typically older,
43 35 years being the youngest, but as she has been there other younger folk have come around. She will occasionally go to Ivy Club, a gay bar in Wellington, and Out in The
Park, a locally run Pride parade. She also participates in some drag nights in
Wellington, typically performed by Hugo Grrl who is a famous drag king. She has not felt acculturated in any of these spaces. Within her flat she has never felt the need to put apart any side of her and with the Glamaphones she typically gets lost in the musical aspect. As for bars, she feels the overt gossipy, drinky aura that she does not appreciate as she would rather have longer face-to-face conversations.25 She has noticed acculturation of queers of color within celebration spaces and how queers of color have a hard time incorporating their culture’s celebrations into the events.
Noticing a shift in queer acceptance in her youth was difficult as she was either too young to notice, or too self-absorbed. As she grew, reflecting on it, she noticed that she went to a predominantly queer high school and was surrounded by predominantly queer people. Now, living in Wellington, she’s begun to notice stuff more as she’s become aware with the news and harms done to queers. She has also noticed the rainbow-ness of Cuba street comes with a lack of acceptance from
Wellington that there are larger issues. She is aware of her place of privilege as a Cis-
Female that is Pākehā as she is able to “get away with things” since the public
25 In a study done by Massey University on Drinking Cultures of Rainbow New Zealanders they found that Rainbow groups had a tendency to “drink in problematic ways” and that debate occurred when the discussion arose of whether heavy drinking was a serious problem. This has a correlation with the binge drinking culture that New Zealand features. Additionally, some of their participants stressed that drug use among Rainbow communities was more harmful than problematic drinking. See, Jeffery Adams, et al., Drinking Cultures of Rainbow New Zealanders (Health Promotion Agency: Wellington, 2019), https://www.hpa.org.nz/sites/default/files/Drinking%20cultures%20of%20Rainbow%20New%20Zeala nders.pdf
44 perceives her as innocent/incapable of doing anything that would be considered wrong.
45 Subject 06
I met this subject at their place of work. It was a bus ride from VUW’s main campus to Wellington’s terminal and a 20-minute walk to the office. The day was nice, if not a little warm for my multiple layers, so venturing in this new part of the city was pleasant for me. Finding the building was easy with the help of Google Maps. I checked in at the front desk, as the subject told me to do, and waited near the in- house café with the sticky name tag I was given. After a bit of waiting the subject found me through the bustle of lunch-rush people and swiped me through the barriers into the office area. We made small talk about how my finding of the office went and made our way to a conference room. I remember being nervous interviewing someone older as up to that point I’d only interviewed peers, but these fears were misplaced. Talking with Subject 06 was easy. He already knew the answers to the questions I asked, to the point where at the end we agreed that he covered everything.
Fig 10. Subject 06 is sitting at a chair with floral embroidery for their selfie.
This subject identifies as Pākehā as he considers himself a New Zealander.
His sexual and gender identities are a gay (cis) male, which he’s identified with being gay since he was 16 and is an older gentleman. He realized he was gay through a
46 process—he remembers watching wrestling with his father at the age of five and being attracted to the male wrestlers. After that, he had always been attracted to men but had read that it was a phase in a psychology book so he thought he would grow out of it. He came out to his best friend and then went to a Pride march in 1979 and was on shown at the march at TV. After that he was officially ‘out’ at school, in college he went through the coming out process all over again. As for his family, he came out to his sister when he was 20 years old.
The queer spaces he’s part of include The Glamaphones choir which he’s been an active member of for many years. His main social sphere is queer, and he also frequents a gay sauna and occasionally a gay bar. The internet queer spaces he took part in primarily consists of the mobile app Grindr, but he just considers that a place to chat since the conversations are quick and not long lasting.26 Moving to live in a new country from the UK, with his Kiwi partner, he did not come to explore or find something new he came to live. That being said, he had to assimilate to his surroundings which took a long time for him. He had to learn the cultural norms of
Pākehā/Māori/Pacific peoples of New Zealand out of respect. For example, he tried to get a better grasp of Te Reo Māori. As he’s lived in Wellington, he’s noticed that acceptance of gay culture is fragile and that the rainbow flag painted on the road is almost a façade since people have tried to cover it up with burn marks from their tires. He has experienced people shouting things at him from their vehicles. He mentions a story about a homophobic Australian rugby player that was fired for his
26 Grindr is an online dating app for gay, bi, pan, and trans people. It was developed by Beijing Kunlun Tech and was released in 2009. This platform is designed for users to create their own profile and connect with people who have a mutual interest that are in their geolocation.
47 comments about gays, who managed to crowdsource over $600K AUS from homophobic fans/politicians as an example of this.
Throughout his lifetime there has been a big shift in attitude towards queerness. He remembers coming out and having to feel ashamed of his sexuality. He told his sister whose response was “you’ve ruined your life” but now her children have had children and they’re open to his sexuality. He remembers the Gay
Liberation Front in London and how Pride used to be a protest march whereas now it’s a celebration and a place where vendors sell things. This makes him just smile quietly because he recalls police being at the parades and being fearful of what they could do to them. He also recalls making the decision to not have kids because being a gay parent was hard in the 1980s, but now he knows plenty of people who are gay and parents or who are gay and wanting to become parents. If he was in his 20s now, he would have the choice to have a conversation with himself about becoming a parent, rather than having the option chosen for him.
48 Analysis
The main takeaway from the interviews conducted was that while all of the subjects have their own story to tell, they did have some similarities. Despite none of the subjects seeming to know each other, with the exception of some cross over in activities, they share some similar experiences. The shared experiences I will focus on in this analysis include, the United States media having an impact on their queer experience, more of an online/virtual presence in queer spaces rather than in- person/physical and coming out to their friend circle prior to coming out to their family. The subjects also do not share the same perspective on some points, the primary one being how accepting Wellington is/is not of queer people, but there is not enough information from the subjects to tease out solid evidence for what they disagree on. Writing on that would be purely speculation based off the single interview I conducted with them and would not provide anything substantive to this thesis.
Many subjects mentioned their consumption of queer United States media and the pivotal role it had in their queer journey. This media includes movies and TV shows, resources on gender/sexuality, and even the terminology they use in relation to queer identity. According to the Wikipedia category “LGBT-related films by country” United States of America produces the most LGBT films at 1,095 with New
Zealand only having produced 7.27 The lack of readily available queer media from
New Zealand results in subjects having to seek out relatable material that is easily
27 “LGBT-related films by country,” Wikipedia, accessed April 7, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT-related_films_by_country
49 accessible for them such as American media. With the creation of streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video, etc. accessing queer films created in America has become much easier. When the topic of queer media came up in the interviews the subjects mentioned movies and TV shows such as Love Simon, Glee, and Pose all of which were produced in America with the American queer experience in mind. The importance of queer media was researched in a study done by Craig, et al. where they interviewed 19 queer youths ages 18 to 22 years. They found that queer youth who consumed media with queer characters helped them deal with discrimination, empowered them, and was connected with their own personal identity.28 As this is the case, it can be argued that the demographics of the queer characters in the media being consumed is important since many queer youth correlate their identities to these characters. This consumption of primarily American (queer) media by non-American
New Zealanders has had an impact on information about queerness the subjects have taken in. For example, when the subjects were questioned about Māori queer culture most of them did not know much about it and attributed that to their consumption of
American media, both TV/Movies and social networking platforms.
The apps/websites the subjects mentioned as their primary social media tools were Twitter and Tumblr. Looking at the demographics by country as of February
2020, 46% of Tumblr users are from the United States of America with New
Zealand’s presence being so minimal it does not even make the graph.29 As for
28 Shelley Craig, et al., “Media: A Catalyst fir Resilience in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Youth,” Journal of LGBT Youth 12, no.3 (2015): 254-75 29 “Regional distribution of desktop traffic to Tumblr.com as of February 2-2-, by country,” Statista, accessed April 6, 2020 https://www.statista.com/statistics/261413/distribution-of-tumblr-traffic-by- country/
50 Twitter, based on the number of Twitter users per country United States leads with
59.35 million users as of March 2020 with New Zealand not being included on this graph.30 With US users being the largest demographic on platforms like Tumblr and
Twitter it impacts the type of information circulating across users’ dashboards.
Following blogs solely based in Aotearoa would not limit the subject’s in-coming information to only be from Aotearoa sources. Instead, they would view posts from many countries if those they follow reblog/retweet them thus American-based information would be consumed. This is how the transmission of American queer culture, resources, and lingo to Aotearoa queers occurs through social media. It’s important to note this because Subject 02 specifically mentioned reviewing a post on
Tumblr listing queer resources that mentioned Two Spirit but was not aware of
Māori’s takatāpui.
Most of the subjects also spoke about their primary source of queer social spheres being virtual/online rather than in-person. Every subject mentioned having a group of friends who are also queer that comprises their primary sphere, with their secondary being online/virtual spaces like Tumblr, Twitter, Grindr, and Growlr.31 The only two subjects whose primary and secondary social spheres were in-person were
Subject 04 and Subject 06. Subject 04 primarily being involved in social activism spheres, prior to this their involvement were on campus student organizations.
Subject 06 only mentioned Grindr when asked about their online social spheres but
30 “Leading countries based on number of Twitter uses as of January 2020 (in millions),” Statista, accessed April 6, 2020 https://www.statista.com/statistics/242606/number-of-active-twitter-users-in- selected-countries/ 31 Growlr is an online dating app marketed towards bears, or larger/rugged men who are also interested in men. It was created in 2010 by Coley Cummiskey. Similar to Growlr, this platform is designed so users can create their own profile and connect with others who are interested in them.
51 spoke about going to saunas and bars with their partner and friends. As Subject 06 is between the age range of Gen X and a Baby Boomer, this may have something to do with them having more physical social spheres.
Virtual/online spaces are an important part of queerness for the sharing of resources, the creation of friend groups, and the ability to network with queer people outside of any physical communication sphere. As mentioned earlier, the subjects utilized social media/virtual spaces as a tool to access information about queerness.
With access to smart phones and personal laptops/computers being a normal part of our lives comes the ease of access to online LGBTQ+ resource centers. Not only is it easier to find information about gender and sexuality but it is also safer for the queer people that have not yet come out. Universities, like Victoria University of
Wellington, and queer social groups, like InsideOUT, have websites that provide pamphlets and other informative documents for inquisitive queers. In a study focusing on deliberate self-harm of queer youths, researchers from University of York found that “… the Internet is an important source of support, information, and connection for young LGBTIQ people… for some, it provides ways to construct sexual and gender identities” they also found that without posting their survey on the internet they would not have been able to interview the queer youth that they did because these youths did not visit physical resource centers.32
Finally, something every subject mentioned was coming out to their friends prior to their blood relatives. For every subject this was due to fear of being ostracized from their family whereas they knew they would be accepted by their
32 Elizabeth McDermott, Katrina Roen, “Youth on the Virtual Edge: Researching Marginalized Sexualities and Genders Online.” Qualitative Health Research 22, no. 4 (2012): 560–70.
52 friends. “Coming out” for members of the queer community is usually a self- disclosure of information about one’s sexuality or gender orientation. It is typically an important part in the experience of queers, but not everyone chooses to come out.
Additionally, coming out is not a linear process. Coming out includes multiple coming outs to friends, family, coworkers, peers, etc. For example, Subject 04 mentioned their having to come out when they were in America and then again when they studied abroad in Wellington. All of the subjects came out to their closer friend/friend groups at first but some of the subjects, like Subject 01, have decided not to come out to their family. There is also instances where their sexuality was revealed to their family outside of their own terms, like Subject 06. Either way, all of the subjects made the decision to come out to their friends prior to coming out to their family.
With these subjects in particular fear of being ostracized was the motivating factor for not coming out to their parents or blood family. Subject 01 decided against coming out to their parents because they relied on them for housing. Subject 02 had not come out to their parents because of their parents’ homophobic comments.
Subject 03 is estranged from her blood relatives. Subject 04 did not come out to their both of their parents at the same time, instead first coming out to their mother and then their father. Subject 05 came out to her friends first, and then her mother who was always semi-aware of her queerness. Subject 06 came out to his friends and was openly out at school/parades which is how he was found out by his sister, which he came out to at the age of twenty.
53 The similarities of experiences between these subjects provides fruitful insight into Wellington based queer people. The consumption of American media and resources display how far American information/knowledge can spread. It provides a conversation about the production of queer media in New Zealand and how many people it is reaching. The use of virtual spaces as opposed to physical spaces by the subjects touched on this as well by noting the lack of accessible queer spaces in
Wellington that are not bars. Finally, with all the subjects noting their coming out to friends before blood family we are able to see that throughout the years families have not become as accepting of queerness as thought. With Subject 06 being the eldest at
Gen X/Baby Boomer age and most of the other subjects being on the younger side of the Millennial age spectrum, but all of the subjects mentioning their apprehension of coming out to their blood family, this shows how homophobia has transcended generations and continues to persist.
54 Homonationalism in Wellington
“Homonationalism,” is a term coined in 2007 by Jasbir K. Puar to, in part, describe queer/feminist advocation for invasions of non-Western nations, for example the Middle East. This word brings together homosexuality and nationalism as a way to describe racist and xenophobic actions of queers. These groups will typically validate their point of view by claiming non-Western nations are actively homophobic or misogynistic and thus should be “aided” by a Western nation. In the
American context, people who align themselves with this type of political stance are usually conservative with seemingly liberal identifications. It can be seen in instances like the Log Cabin Republican’s endorsement of Donald Trump for re-election in
November 2020. This term was originally created to describe the relationship between Americans and non-Western nations, but it has been applied in other situations since its creation. For example, Keith McNeal utilized the term homonationalism in explaining Britain’s anti-immigrant, anti-refugee standpoint.33 In this chapter I will be using the word in relation to extreme broadcasting of New
Zealand nationalism at Pride parades, specifically the New Zealand Air Force’s tank making an appearance at Wellington’s Pride parade.34
33 Keith McNeal “Confessions of an Ambivalent Country Expert: Queer Refugeeism in the United Kingdom and the Political Economy of (Im)Mobility In and Out of Trinidad and Tobago,” Anthropological Theory, 19(1): 191-215 34 In Puar’s book Terrorist Assemblages she delves into the different bodies that America applies terrorist identities and imagery to, see Jasbir K. Puar, Teorrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2007). Puar coined the term ‘homonationalism’ as a way to explain America’s extreme version of queer liberalism in attempt to motivate Islamophobic and xenophobic notions from queer and feminist groups. The main idea being the need to liberate women and queers from these nations. Homonationalism, and homonationalists, are not the only members of queer communities who follow conservative policy, see, Heike C. Schotten, Homonationalism: From Critique to Diagnosis, or, We Are All Homonational Now (Online: International Feminist Journal of Politics, 2016). Log Cabin Republicans are Republicans who
55 The setting is Auckland, February of 2019. Summer is in full swing, there are rainbow flags everywhere, and pop music is blaring from various speakers. All around people are marching, and there is not a police officer in sight. Fast forward to
May 2019, the Wellington Pride Parade. A similar level of marching and music set the scene, but this time there are police cars with rainbow stripes down the side and a tank rolling through with small rainbow flags attached to the back of the armored vehicle. The difference between the two parades is almost shocking. What happened in Auckland that allowed parade-goers the freedom of a Pride sans-cops? What did not happen in Wellington that meant a tank was able to roll through the parade?
In Auckland there was a push to remove cops from Pride as a way to comfort the queer community in general, along with their queer community of Color.
Throughout the history of queerness, and Pride, there have always been tension between parade/riot-goers and police. This is rooted in the systemic injustice that has come from various anti-sodomy laws and general discrimination against queer, and seemingly queer, people by police forces. In Aotearoa, anti-sodomy laws had been established in the 1800s and were not completely abolished until the 1980s. A more in-depth analysis of these laws, and the history of queer Aotearoa, can be read in the
Queer Aotearoa chapter. Either way, as discrimination against queer people became systemic these acts of oppression were deemed okay even through today when
advocate for gay and lesbian rights. According to The Washington Post, their Executive Director Jerri Ann Henry recently resigned from her position after the organization’s endorsement of Donald Trump for the 2020 election, see, Colby Itkowitz, “Republican LGBTQ rights group’s executive director is the latest to leave after its endorsement of Trump,” Accessed August 27, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/executive-director-of-pro-lgbt-rights-gop-group-is-the-latest- to-leave-after-its-endorsement-of-trump/2019/08/27/a891dc54-c8ea-11e9-a4f3- c081a126de70_story.html?noredirect=on .
56 sodomy and gay marriage have been legalized. With this in mind, the Auckland Pride board moved forward with petitioning for cops in uniform to stay out of pride.
Through multiple committees and hui (community gathering) the Auckland
Pride board came to the decision that cops would not be able to march at their Pride in uniforms. This was not a complete dismissal of cops at Pride, nor was it an attempt at an anti-cop movement. Instead, it was tackling the issue of police brutality towards minority groups in Auckland head on. Police were given the option to march in pride in normal clothing, or a rainbow shirt, as opposed to their uniform. This is due to what the uniform symbolizes, namely structural discrimination against minorities and queers. Once this decision was finalized by the Auckland Pride board, they informed
Auckland Police, which resulted in Auckland Police completely withdrawing their support from the parade. This left people wondering if Auckland’s police department supported pride out of ally-ship or a publicity stunt. Following the police withdrawing support, major corporations in Aotearoa like Vodafone, Bank New Zealand, and
Westpac bank, also rescinded their support. Despite various companies and the police withdrawing support, the parade continued on. It now exists as an example of what attempts can, and should, be made in regard to police at Pride.35
35 During an interview I conducted for this thesis one of the subjects mentioned their affiliation with People Against Prisons Aotearoa, formerly named No Pride in Prisons. This organization’s main goal is to abolish the prison system in Aotearoa, but they also focus on the unfair treatment of trans-women in prisons. The subject mentioned an altercation at Auckland’s 2015 Pride parade between parade security and one of their protestors. This protester was a Māori trans-woman who was peacefully protesting prior to security throwing her on the ground and beating her to the point of a broken arm. The subject emphasized in a later correspondence that parade security were the ones who did this, not police. The difference here, as the subject explained, is that while police can physically interact with parade-goers, security cannot. For more information about this see, No Pride in Prisons, “Transgender woman’s arm broken by police at pride parade,” Scoop, (2015), Accessed September 9, 2019, http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1502/S00523/transgender-womans-arm-broken-by-police-at-pride- parade.htm?fbclid=IwAR0qDBFU7Ldeqk-blue3pj2qHMf- ZXYBRv24Tak3ZkHI7iWqfWefWWICjHM
57 Wellington’s Pride parade would seemingly follow the same route seeing as
Wellington is the capital city of Aotearoa who touts their diversity as much as possible. With the rainbow crosswalk on Cuba, the homage to Carmen Rupe on the walking sign, one would think Wellington would forego a police/military presence at the parade. Unfortunately, this was not the case. The Pride parade in Wellington was supposed to take place Saturday, March 16, 2019, but due to the terror attack at
Christchurch it was deemed unsafe. The Parade then moved to Saturday, May 11,
2019, and was held on Courtney Place. Instead of the larger event including Out in the Park, a festival celebrating queer people through performance and vendors prior to the larger parade, they held a small gathering of performances at Eva Beva bar. In addition to the parade and Out in the Park, throughout the month of March there was also smaller events. Some of these events were hosted by Te Papa Museum, like tours of art created by queer people that they held in their museum, and others were hosted by community members, like a lesbian book club. Despite the parade’s cancellation, these smaller events continued.
Pride went on like most parades. People marched in colorful clothing, wild hair styles, and chanted for what they felt strongly about. In this case, it was almost identical to Auckland’s pride. Except for one major thing: the presence of police and armed forces both in the parade and “protecting” it. Police were present with a cop car decorated with a horizontal rainbow strip along the entire rim of the car.
58
Fig 11. Photo of the rainbow stripped police car at Wellington’s International Pride Parade, May 2019
Fig 12. Photo of police officers out of uniform at Wellington’s International Pride Parade, May 2019
59 Some of the officers were in uniform while others were in shirts designed specifically for Pride and their uniform hats, all with some sort of rainbow flag on them.
Reviewing photos of the 2018 Wellington International Pride Parade, the police presence is obvious with the inclusion of uniformed officers. The officers are in formal dress with the addition of rainbows, and even police dogs with rainbow bandanas.
Fig 13. Photo of police officers in formal dress with their K-9 unit dressed with rainbow accessories
The New Zealand Air Force band is a new addition to the parade. At the 2019 parade they marched playing Bruno Mars’ Just the Way You Are in a display some argue was competition-like between the police and Air Force. They also brought a tank, clad with an unformed soldier driving it, two rainbow flags hanging off the back.
60 To some, it was shocking to see the typical Pride parade fixings paired with such extreme nationalism. People took to various platforms to express their opinions about the tank at Pride. Twitter user @StargirlSagan tweeted:
“So I went to the Wellington Pride Parade today and I wanna share this moment that I feel pretty well encapsulates the whole experience. They brought a fucking tank flying rainbow flags... Like. God damn. Who thought this was an okay thing to do..?”
which seemed to be the general sentiment about the scene.36
Fig 14. A photograph of the tank at Wellington International Pride Parade, May 2019
36 StargirlSagan, “So I went to the Wellington Pride Parade today and I wanna share this moment that I feel pretty well encapsulates the whole experience. They brought a fucking tank flying rainbow flags... Like. God damn. Who thought this was an okay thing to do..?”, Twitter, May 10, 2019, https://twitter.com/StargirlSagan/status/1127071029438713856?s=20
61 Salient, a magazine run by Victoria University of Wellington students about issues both close to home and international, had an opinion section about the tank divided into two columns one that was pro-tank and the other less so. Luke Redward commented on the tank in a positive way, first clarifying that it wasn’t a tank but a
LAV-25—or a lightly armored transport vehicle. His overall opinion was that the queer community has become “too political” and they should be proud of having such an accepting defense force. On the other hand, Emma Magurie was not enthused by the tank’s appearance. She viewed the tank as the military pinkwashing themselves, a display of nationalism, and offensive to those within the queer community whom have historically been wronged by police and military institutions.37
The tank at Pride, along with Magurie’s opinion on the tank, coincides with homonationalism and the theories behind it. Pinkwashing and an aggressive sense of nationalism by the queer community are both large components of the phenomenon.
Pinkwashing is the act of a company or corporation claiming itself to be queer- friendly. This term derived from companies releasing pink items with claims that they, the company, or the proceeds from the item, supports Breast Cancer Awareness.
Both of these instances are based off claims of a corporation assisting a group, rather than the company actually helping that group. In the queer sense of the word, it can be seen in stores during Pride month when they sell queer targeted rainbow items, but do not provide any out-right support or donate any money to queer charities.
37 Salient is a student produced magazine that is posted weekly online and around the Victoria University of Wellington campus. They tackle issues close to home and abroad, bringing awareness to many facets of the world we live in. The particular issue that held the opinion piece on the tank at Pride was titled “Like and Subscribe” focusing on the internet and social media. To read this entire article see, “Issue 10 – Live and Subscribe,” Salient, Issue 10, (2019). To find the opinion piece see, Luke Redward & Emma Maguire, “The Rainbow Tank,” Salient, Issue 10, (2019), 11.
62 Pinkwashing with Wellington in mind is the military and police force marching in
Pride, and seemingly advocating for queer rights, without doing much more for the community.38
In addition to the pinkwashing, another aspect of homonationalism that
Wellington exudes is advertising their city as queer safe/queer friendly to tourists.
This goes hand in hand with pinkwashing as travel agencies will recommend the city to queers as somewhere safe. “Safety” comes in the form of rate of incidents against queers, queer designated spaces like bars, and laws passed advocating for queer rights. As mentioned in previous chapters Wellington has passed various laws with queers in mind. During their early years as a colonized territory they passed anti- sodomy laws that were not repealed until the ‘80s, but in 2013 they legalized gay marriage being one of the first countries to do so. Queer spaces in Wellington are usually in the form of night life and bars located on Cuba street, along with the occasional group meeting like InsideOUT’s annual Shift Hui. As for statistics about violence against queers in Wellington, there does not seem to be an up to date resource that provides this information. That can either mean there is so little violence against queers in Wellington that it’s not notable, that queers are not reporting
38 The term “pinkwashing”, similar to homonationalism, is a play on another term much of the public is already familiar with. Pinkwashing is s take on the “whitewashing” of originally Brown events, or media. Instead of making everything White, pinkwashing will claim things are queer friendly when that may not be the case. In addition, similar to homonationalism pinkwashing may vilify organizations or places that do not advertise with rainbows, see, Jill Stark, ““Pink washing”: Marketing stunt or corporate revolution?”, The Sydney Morning Herald, (2015), Accessed September 10, 2019, https://www.smh.com.au/national/pink-washing-marketing-stunt-or-corporate-revolution-20150605- ghhthh.html
63 violence against them, or that Wellington is not releasing information about violence against queers.39
39 Many websites like gaytourismnewzealand.com, rainbowwellington.org.nz, and wellington.lesbian.net.nz are dedicated to spreading knowledge about the gay scene in Wellington and New Zealand, as a whole. Aside from these loneyplanet.com and newzealandawaits.com, both general travel sites, tell about the gay scene of Aotearoa.
64 Conclusion
Queerness in Aotearoa can be found throughout their history. Examples of their acceptance can be seen in art pieces, and examples of their unacceptance can be seen in legislation like their anti-sodomy laws. Wellington, as a city, provides their own versions of this like Cuba street’s rainbow crosswalk and the difficult nature of changing names at Victoria University of Wellington’s campus. As shown through the interviews, many queer Wellingtonians share similar experiences. Consuming
American media, utilizing social media, and coming out to friends before family has been noted at length by the subjects. The subjects also mentioned the appearance of tank, military, and police at various pride parades in Wellington and Auckland. This allowed me to look further into the relationship that some Wellingtonian queers held with the government, like those who were wronged by it and those who benefited from it. Overall, the research conducted provided a deeper prospective into the multiple layers of queerness in Aotearoa.
In addition, this study taught me more about anthropology, and the act of being an anthropologist than any class or text would have. As I continue on into the world of academia, I know that I no longer want to study someone else’s culture, instead I want to study my own and the cultures that touch mine. This is not due to the lack of interest of other cultures, or the culture of queer Aotearoa that I studied here. Instead, it is because throughout the process of this research I had many questions about ethics and my own position as an anthropologist-outsider to the
Aotearoa/Māori culture. I had thoughts like who was I to make these analyses and claims about other people’s experiences? And who allowed me to so confidently
65 study a culture that I had no relation to? These thoughts turned into fears about what I would publish in this thesis and whether this could perpetuate the trauma from colonization, and the subsequent research that followed, that I wrote about in this very paper.
In Fall 2020 I will begin my journey as an anthropology doctoral candidate at
Northwestern University. I will be studying Latinx and indigenous queer culture on the Texas/Mexico border. The lessons, skills, and ethical concerns I had while working on this thesis will be taken with me through my tenure there as a point of reference. I hold no regrets studying queerness in Aotearoa or studying Māori culture as doing so taught me what I want to do in the future and, ultimately, what I want to avoid. Instead of publishing a survey online for people I had never met before to take,
I will exist in and visit with the communities I plan on researching. Additionally, I will connect with more experts in the field personally rather than just utilizing their published works. Finally, I also plan to learn the mother tongue of the communities I will study a learning Te Reo would have benefited my research.
66
Index of Te Reo Māori Words
Hui – Social gathering or assembly
Iwi – People, nation, or tribe
Kaupapa – The collective vision of Māori communities
Mana – Prestige, authority, spiritual power over a person, place, or object
Mõteatea – To grieve; a lament
Pākehā – New Zealanders of European descent
Papahou – Treasure box
Rangatiratanga – Self-determination or sovereignty
Takatāpui – intimate companion of the same sex; a sexual identity in response toWestern ideas of sex/sexuality
Taku Hoa Takatāpui – My intimate same-sex friend
Te Reo – Māori language
Te Tiriti o Waitangi – The founding document of New Zealand translated to Māori that speaks of the chiefs maintaining their authority over “all they hold precious” but allows the Queen to have rule over her own people, the British colonizers. The same language is not included on the English document.
Waiata Koroua – Traditional Māori songs
Wakahuia – Treasure box
Whakapapa – Genealogy that links Māori to their land, tribal groups, and the mana of those
Whanau – Family/extended family
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70 Appendix
Below the results from the survey conducted can be found:
71
72