Thomas Sainsbury talks with Louisa Wall MP, Prof. Welby Ings, Professor Emeritus Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, and award winning artist and filmmaker Tanu Gago.
Comedian Tom Sainsbury chairs a discussion explores LGBTQ+ life in New Zealand at Pride Festival Aotearoa.
It features four panellists with decades of involvement in the gay scene as creators, advocates and agents of change: Louisa Wall MP, Prof. Welby Ings, Professor Emeritus Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, and award-winning artist and filmmaker Tanu Gago.
Their conversation surveys many aspects of our recent history, from the dark years of the 1950s when it was illegal to be gay up to marriage reform.
Listen to the discussion
The protection of LGBTQ+ rights is advanced in Aotearoa, relative to other countries in Oceania, and is one of the most liberal in the world, with the country being the first in the region to enact same-sex marriage.
However, none of the panellists believes that we are living in a post-queer world, and several warn against assuming that the freedoms LGBTQ+ individuals have achieved in Aotearoa are replicated in other countries, or indeed that they will necessarily remain intact.
There are still countries in the world where being queer, gay, bisexual or transgender is a criminal offence or worse, punished by death. And in many, including in the Pacific, non-heterosexual people do not feel free to live their authentic lives.
About the participants:
Louisa Wall
Louisa Wall is the MP for Manurewa, having stood for the New Zealand Labour Party. She has represented New Zealand in both netball as a Silver Fern and rugby union as a member of the Black Ferns.
Born in Taupo, Wall has Ngāti Tūwharetoa and Waikato ancestry. She was named after her father's cousin Louis, who died on the day she was born.
She attended secondary school at Taupo-nui-a-Tia College and earned qualifications from the Waikato Institute of Technology, the University of Waikato and Massey University. She worked in the health field. She is openly lesbian and is a strong advocate for human rights.
In May 2012, Wall submitted a Bill to legalise same-sex marriage in New Zealand to the Member's bill ballot. it was subsequently drawn and introduced to Parliament in late July 2012.
On 29 August 2012, the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill passed its first reading with a vote of 80-40. On 17 April 2013, the Bill was passed into law by 77 votes to 44, making New Zealand the 13th nation to allow same-sex marriage. The Bill came into effect on 19 August 2013, since then married same-sex couples in New Zealand have been able to adopt children jointly…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details