Joey Joleen Mataele is an activist for the rights of
transgender women
A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and som ...
from
Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
.
Activism
In 1992, Mataele co-founded the
Tonga Leitis Association, and became its executive director. She is also the Pacific Island Representative on the
Executive Board and Chairperson of the South Pacific MSM (
Men Who Have Sex with Men
Men who have sex with men (MSM) are male persons who engage in sexual activity with members of the same sex. The term was created in the 1990s by epidemiology, epidemiologists to study the spread of disease among all men who have sex with men, r ...
) Network Group.
In 1993, Mataele founded the Miss Galaxy Queen Pageant as an annual event to celebrate the diversity and creativity of fakaleitis and the
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
QI community in Tonga.
Mataele is also the co-founder of the Pacific Sexual Diversity Network, which was established in 2007 during the Pacific Games in Samoa. The organisation includes members from
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
,
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...
, the
Cook Islands
)
, image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, capital = Avarua
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Avarua
, official_languages =
, lan ...
and
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
, and aims to work together to gain a stronger voice at regional and international gatherings.
Mataele is the subject of the feature documentary film ''
Leitis in Waiting
''Leitis In Waiting'' is a 2018 feature-length documentary about transgender rights in Tonga. It was produced and directed by Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson and Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu. The filmmakers previously explored trans rights in the Pacific in t ...
''.
Honour and award
Honour
* : Knight of the
Order of Sālote Tupou III
Award
* : Recipient of the
Daily Points of Light Award
References
External links
Joey Joleen Mataele's profileon
Pacific Community
The Pacific Community (PC), formerly the South Pacific Commission (SPC), is an international development organisation governed by 27 members, including 22 Pacific island countries and territories. The organisation's headquarters are in Nouméa ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:MATAELE, JOEY JOLEEN
Living people
Tongan activists
Year of birth missing (living people)
Transgender rights activists