New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
society is generally accepting of
lesbian
A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
,
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
,
bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...
and
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
(LGBT) peoples. The
LGBT-friendly
Gay-friendly or LGBT-friendly places, policies, people, or institutions are those that are open and welcoming to gay or LGBT people. They typically aim to create an environment that is supportive, respectful, and non-judgmental towards the LGB ...
environment is epitomised by the fact that there are several members of Parliament who belong to the LGBT community, LGBT rights are protected by the
Human Rights Act, and same-sex couples are able to
marry
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
as of 2013. Sex between men was decriminalised in 1986. New Zealand has an active LGBT community, with well-attended annual
gay pride festival
A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, legal rights, and pride. The events ...
s in most cities.
The 2021 Household Economic Survey, conducted by
Statistics New Zealand
Statistics New Zealand ( mi, Tatauranga Aotearoa), branded as Stats NZ, is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the collection of statistics related to the economy, population and society of New Zealand. To this end, Stats ...
, estimated there to be 169,500 LGBT+ people aged 18 and over in New Zealand, 4.4 percent of the adult population.
History
Pre-colonial
The
Māori language
Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...
word had historically referred to devoted relationships between people of the same sex, but in modern terminology encompasses LGBT identity and sexuality. The word (literally 'to become a woman') describes those who were assigned male at birth but are female, while the term has the opposite meaning, that being a person assigned female at birth but is male.
Homosexuality and
same-sex relationship
A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries w ...
s, gender diversity, and people of diverse sex characteristics, have been documented in
Aotearoa
''Aotearoa'' () is the current Māori-language name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference to only the North Island, with the name of the whole country being ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' ("North Island and South ...
for centuries. Academic
Elizabeth Kerekere
Elizabeth Anne Kerekere (born ) is a New Zealand politician and LGBTQ activist and scholar. She was elected a member of parliament for the Green Party in 2020, but resigned from the Green Party on 5 May 2023, expressing her intention to remain in ...
has found that prior to the imposition of colonial law and morality, takatāpui were simply "part of the
amily" Same-sex relationships and activities appear to have been acceptable amongst pre-colonial
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
.
[Aspin, Clive]
'The Place of Takatāpui Identity within Māori Society: Reinterpreting Māori Sexuality within a Contemporary Context
A paper presented at Competing Diversities: Traditional Sexualities and Modern Western Sexual Identity Constructions Conference, Mexico City, 1 to 5 June 2005. Some stories, for example that of
Tutanekai and Tiki, centre on same-sex couples. A British missionary, Richard Davis, found homosexual relationships between men to be a familiar part of Māori life, and although homosexual relationships between women have not been well documented, they were certainly not condemned.
Colonisation and criminalisation
Some of the earliest European colonists in New Zealand were Christian
missionaries
A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
who arrived in the early nineteenth century and eventually converted most of the Māori population to Christianity. They brought with them the Christian doctrine that
sodomy
Sodomy () or buggery (British English) is generally anal or oral sex between people, or sexual activity between a person and a non-human animal ( bestiality), but it may also mean any non- procreative sexual activity. Originally, the term ''sodo ...
was sinful, meaning many Māori were forced to hide or destroy evidence of their takatāpui selves. Despite this, one missionary,
William Yate
William Yate (3 November 1802 – 26 July 1877) was one of the earliest New Zealand missionaries and writers who worked for the Church Mission Society. He was born in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, England in 1802. He joined the Church Missionary Socie ...
, was sent back to England in disgrace after being caught engaging in sex with young Māori men.
When New Zealand became a British colony in 1840, British law was adopted in its entirety, making "
buggery" illegal and a capital offence. In 1893, all kinds of sexual activity between men was criminalised, with penalties including imprisonment, hard labour, and flogging.
Sexual acts between women were never criminalised.
Underground subculture
Despite discriminatory laws, a small
queer
''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...
subculture developed.
Pākehā settlers
Pākehā settlers were European emigrants who journeyed to New Zealand, and especially to the Auckland, Wellington, Hawkes Bay, Canterbury and Otago regions during the 19th century. The ethnic and occupational social composition of these New Zea ...
on the goldfields or in rural areas were mostly male, and some had sexual relationships with each other. However, as settlers began to
move to cities the numbers of convictions for same-sex activities increased.
A number of gay men were involved in New Zealand's literary subculture, including
Frank Sargeson
Frank Sargeson () (born Norris Frank Davey; 23 March 1903 – 1 March 1982) was a New Zealand short story writer and novelist. Born in Hamilton, Sargeson had a middle-class and puritanical upbringing, and initially worked as a lawyer. After ...
. However even in these circles, homosexuality was not always accepted.
By as early as the 1930s, queer subcultures were so developed that a shared language had developed, emerging out of "elements of prison slang, pig Latin, Polari, gay slang, Māori and localised dialect," used primarily by male and trans women sex workers. These communities often referred to themselves as "kamp."
Carmen Rupe
Carmen Rupe (10 October 1936 – 14 December 2011), was a New Zealand drag performer, brothel keeper, anti-discrimination activist, would-be politician and HIV/AIDS activist. Carmen Rupe was New Zealand's first drag queen to reach celebrity st ...
identified as kamp when she was living in
Tāmaki Makaurau
Tāmaki Makaurau is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was first formed for the . The electorate covers the Auckland area and was first held by Labour ...
in the 1950s, and recalled "three aunties" who her particular kamp circle revolved around; Hinemoa and Freda, who were Māori, and Auntie Mamie, from Rarotonga. Rupe writes that all three "went to great trouble and effort preparing for their parties", which were the centre of this community.
Alongside private parties, nightlife venues were a key part of these communities. After the
change of licensing laws in 1967, Rupe was able to found her first of several famous establishments, "Carmen's International Coffee Lounge", located on Vivian Street in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
. "Carmen's" was a social hub for people from all walks of life, often attracted to the venue by the notoriety of its openly trans proprietor. However, it also operated as a relatively safe space for queer people, one of a series of trans-owned and operated establishments that both socially and economically supported local communities.
[Will Hansen, '"Every Bloody Right To Be Here": Trans Resistance in Aotearoa New Zealand, 1967-1989," PhD Thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, 2020, http://hdl.handle.net/10063/8954] Chrissy Witoko's "The Evergreen" was another such venue, also on Vivian Street, established in 1984. Hers was renown as a safe community hub, and was also a drop-in centre for both local gay and lesbian activist and support groups, and for sex workers, prior to the establishment of the
New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective
__NOTOC__
The Aotearoa New Zealand Sex Workers' Collective (NZPC), formerly the New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective, is a New Zealand-based organisation that supports sex workers' rights and educates sex workers about minimising the risks of the ...
. In late 1971, the KG (Kamp Girls) club for lesbians was formed in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
.
Activism and law reform
In 1962, the
Dorian Society
__NOTOC__
The Dorian Society (1962–1988) was the first New Zealand organisation for gay men. It was founded on 27 May 1962 by a group of men including Cees Kooge, John McKay, Brett Rawnsley, and Claude Tanner, the latter of whom would be elected ...
was founded in Wellington.
One year later, it established a legal subcommittee – the Wolfenden Association – out of which the Homosexual Law Reform Society emerged. Attempts to change the law included a petition presented to Parliament by the Homosexual Law Reform Society in 1968.
Violence against gays and lesbians was often condoned. In 1964,
Charles Aberhart was beaten to death in
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
's Hagley Park by a group of men who claimed he had propositioned them. They were tried for murder but found not guilty. As in many countries, homosexuals were often committed to mental institutions and given 'treatment' for what was rendered a mental illness.
In 1972, academic
Ngahuia Te Awekotuku
Ngahuia Te Awekotuku (born 1949) is a New Zealand academic specialising in Māori cultural issues and a lesbian activist. In 1972, she was famously denied a visa to visit the United States on the basis of her sexuality.
Biography
Te Awekotuk ...
was denied a visitors permit to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
on the grounds that she was a homosexual. Publicity around the incident was a catalyst in the formation of
gay liberation
The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoffman, 2007, pp.xi-xiii. ...
groups in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
,
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
and
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
.
Led by Te Awekotuku, "Gay Day", occurred in April 1972 in Auckland, one of the first direct action protests by the newly formed
Auckland Gay Liberation Front.
Also in 1972, the first recorded trans organisation in New Zealand was established, "Hedesthia." Although primarily a social club, Hedesthia members were pioneering in their advocacy work, reaching out to the media and various community organisations in order to educate the public about trans issues. Noted mycologist
Gillian F Laundon was a member of Hedesthia, and in 1976 she also set up an off-shoot group which focused specifically on supporting transsexuals, called "TransFormation."
The 1970s saw the growth of the modern
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
and gay movements in New Zealand. The Sisters for Homophile Equality (SHE), a
lesbian feminist
Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective that encourages women to focus their efforts, attentions, relationships, and activities towards their fellow women rather than men, and often advocates lesbianism as the logica ...
collective, formed in Wellington in 1973. In December of that year, SHE began to publish ''Circle'', later renamed ''Lesbian Feminist Circle''; the magazine continued to publish until 1986. Trans activism also continued to develop during this period, with pioneers like
Rupe breaking boundaries through running for Wellington Mayor in 1977, and
Laundon in that same year successfully petitioning for the right to use women's restrooms at her place of work.
Trans, gay, and lesbian activist groups were not mutually exclusive, and involved people from a diverse range of backgrounds and identities, as well as significant crossover. For example, Hedesthia was an official Associate Member of the National Gay Rights Coalition, an umbrella organisation created in 1977 which sought to sew unity among the diverse gay activist community. Suzan Xtabay, Hedesthia's national co-ordinator, declared that trans people had:
…a responsibility to all gay people to support them, because any advantages that are finally won, wrested from the establishment WILL benefit all of us…it’s our cause, YOUR cause, and don’t any of you forget it. Hedesthia HAS a place in the Gay movement, and so have ALL of its members.
After several attempts, the
Homosexual Law Reform Act
The Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 is a New Zealand law that broadly legalised consensual sex between men as well as anal sex between any parties including opposite-sex partners. It removed the provisions of the Crimes Act 1961 that criminalise ...
was passed in 1986, decriminalising sexual activity between men over the age of 16. In 1993, discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation was outlawed. In 2004 New Zealand instituted
civil union
A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...
(for both same-sex and opposite sex couples), and in 2013
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
was legalised.
![Nzcivilunion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Nzcivilunion.JPG)
New Zealand was unique in passing homosexual law reform in the midst of the
AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
crisis. The
New Zealand AIDS Foundation
The Burnett Foundation Aotearoa (formerly the New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF)) is New Zealand’s national HIV prevention and healthcare organisation. Its funding is derived from grants, donations and the Ministry of Health.
The Burnett Found ...
was established in 1985.
Supporters of reform argued that removing the stigma from homosexuality would help prevent the spread and aid the treatment of disease. AIDS has primarily affected the gay male community in New Zealand (since records began in 1985, 53.7 percent of new HIV cases have been reported to be acquired by "male homosexual contact"), and gay men are prominent in AIDS fundraising and in running organisations such as the AIDS Foundation.
LGBT Pride
In 1991, one of New Zealand's prominent LGBT pride events, the
Hero Parade
The Hero Parade was an (almost) annual gay and lesbian Parade through the streets of Auckland, New Zealand, in the 1990s. The last Parade was in 2001. It was the showpiece of the Hero Festival in Auckland which runs to the present day. The Hero Par ...
, was founded in Auckland. This developed into a festival, the last Hero Parade held in 2001. However, the parade returned as the Auckland Pride Parade in 2012, then transitioned to become the Auckland Pride March in 2019. Starting in 1986, Wellington hosted an "Out in the Park" fair, which later evolved into the annual Wellington Pride Festival. The festival ties in with the Pride Parade which started in 2017, following on from several pride parades held in the 1990's.
Demographics
Various surveys have recorded statistics on sexual orientation, including the Household Economic Survey, the General Social Survey, the
New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study
The New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS) is a longitudinal study conducted in New Zealand. The NZAVS was started in 2009 by Chris Sibley, a professor in psychology at the University of Auckland. The NZAVS was inspired by major social sur ...
, and the New Zealand Health Survey.
![Laganz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Laganz.png)
Household Economic Survey 2021
The Household Economic Survey 2021, conducted by
Statistics New Zealand
Statistics New Zealand ( mi, Tatauranga Aotearoa), branded as Stats NZ, is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the collection of statistics related to the economy, population and society of New Zealand. To this end, Stats ...
, surveyed 16,000 households including 32,000 people aged 18 and over. The Household Economic Survey started collecting data on sexual and gender identity in 2020.
According to the survey, there are approximately 169,500 LGBT adults in New Zealand, 4.4% of the country's population. This included approximately 79,300 bisexual people, 54,700 gay or lesbian people, 22,700 people of other sexual minorities (including
bicurious
Bi-curious is a term for a person, usually someone who is a heterosexual, who is curious or open about engaging in sexual activity with a person whose sex differs from that of their usual sexual partners. The term is sometimes used to describe a b ...
,
pansexual
, meaning "all"
, definition = Sexual or romantic attraction to people regardless of gender
, classification = Sexual identity
, parent = Bisexuality
, synonyms =
, associated_terms = Polysexual, queer, heterofl ...
and
asexual), 10,400 transgender people, and 9,000
non-binary
Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...
people.
Approximately 64,100 (37.8%) of LGBT adults identified as male, 96,900 (57.2%) as female, and 8,500 (5.0%) as another gender. The
Auckland region
Auckland () is one of the sixteen regions of New Zealand, which takes its name from the eponymous urban area. The region encompasses the Auckland Metropolitan Area, smaller towns, rural areas, and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Containing ...
had the largest LGBT population at 56,300, followed by the
Wellington region
Greater Wellington, also known as the Wellington Region (Māori: ''Te Upoko o te Ika''), is a non-unitary region of New Zealand that occupies the southernmost part of the North Island. The region covers an area of , and has a population of
T ...
(27,100),
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour.
...
(22,800), and
Waikato
Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...
(16,600). With 6.3% identifying as LGBT, the Wellington region had the highest proportion of LGBT people relative to its population.
New Zealand's LGBT community is relatively young; over half (58.3%) of the LGBT population is aged under 35, compared to 29.6% of the non-LGBT population. In terms of ethnicity, 78.4% of the LGBT population are
European
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
(compared to 68.9% of the non-LGBT population), 16.1% are
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
(13.9%), 5.7% are
Pacific peoples (6.7%) and 11.5% are
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
(17.2%) (totals add to more than 100% since people may identify with multiple ethnicities).
Around 32.0% of LGBT people had a bachelor or higher degree (compared to 27.0% of the non-LGBT population), and 12.6% had no formal qualifications (compared to 19.0%). Around 6.2% of the LGBT population are unemployed, 69.7% are employed, and 23.8% are not in the labour force (compared to 2.9%, 65.4% and 28.2% respectively for the non-LGBT population). The LGBT population had an average annual disposable income of
NZ$
The New Zealand dollar ( mi, tāra o Aotearoa; sign: $, NZ$; code: NZD) is the official currency and legal tender of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency, Tokelau, and a British territory, the Pitcairn Islands. Within New Zea ...
37,396, compared to $42,793 for the non-LGBT population. However, once adjusted for age, the average annual disposable income is $42,709 for the LGBT population and $42,615 for the non-LGBT population.
Other surveys
According to the General Social Survey (GSS) of , 3.5 percent of New Zealand adults identified as LGBT, with 1.9 percent identifying as
bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...
and 1.1 percent as gay or lesbian. The 2016
New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study
The New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS) is a longitudinal study conducted in New Zealand. The NZAVS was started in 2009 by Chris Sibley, a professor in psychology at the University of Auckland. The NZAVS was inspired by major social sur ...
found that 94.2 percent of New Zealanders identified as straight or heterosexual, 2.6 percent as gay or lesbian, 1.8 percent bisexual, 0.6 percent
bicurious
Bi-curious is a term for a person, usually someone who is a heterosexual, who is curious or open about engaging in sexual activity with a person whose sex differs from that of their usual sexual partners. The term is sometimes used to describe a b ...
, 0.5 percent
pansexual
, meaning "all"
, definition = Sexual or romantic attraction to people regardless of gender
, classification = Sexual identity
, parent = Bisexuality
, synonyms =
, associated_terms = Polysexual, queer, heterofl ...
and 0.3 percent
asexual.
Another source of sexual orientation statistics comes from the New Zealand Health Survey commissioned by the Ministry of Health. There has not been an official release of the demographics but an article using the Health Survey for years 2016 to 2017 reported that 2.4 percent of the sampled population reported being homosexual or bisexual.
However, there could be some under reporting given that 7.3 percent of the sample either did not know their sexual identity or refused to answer the question.
Statistics New Zealand
Statistics New Zealand ( mi, Tatauranga Aotearoa), branded as Stats NZ, is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the collection of statistics related to the economy, population and society of New Zealand. To this end, Stats ...
has collected some information on same-sex couples who share a residence, recorded in
censuses
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
since 1996. The
2013 census recorded 16,660 people living in a same-sex couple in New Zealand – 0.9 percent of all couples (3,672 were male couples and 4,656 were female couples). Most same-sex couples did not have children (6,852, compared with 1,476 who had children). Statistics New Zealand proposed adding questions on sexual orientation and gender identity in the
2018 census; however, pre-census testing found the questions were poorly received by participants and the data collected was of sub-standard quality, so the proposal was dropped.
Youth
A 2012 government survey of
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
students (ages 13 to 18) recorded that 92 percent were exclusively attracted to the opposite sex, while 4 percent were attracted to the same sex or both sexes and 4 percent were not sure or were attracted to neither sex. Asked about gender identity, about 1 percent of students reported that they were transgender, while 3 percent were unsure.
Prominent gay, lesbian and transgender New Zealanders
![MarilynWaring2012](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/MarilynWaring2012.jpg)
New Zealand has several LGBT people in parliament.
Chris Carter (
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
, Minister of Conservation) became New Zealand's first openly gay MP when he outed himself shortly after being elected in 1993.
Tim Barnett (Labour) was openly gay before being elected in 1996. Even earlier
Marilyn Waring
Dame Marilyn Joy Waring (born 7 October 1952) is a New Zealand public policy scholar, international development consultant, former politician, environmentalist, feminist and a principal founder of feminist economics.
In 1975, aged 23, she beca ...
, a
New Zealand National Party
The New Zealand National Party ( mi, Rōpū Nāhinara o Aotearoa), shortened to National () or the Nats, is a centre-right political party in New Zealand. It is one of two major parties that dominate contemporary New Zealand politics, alongside ...
MP in the 1970s and 1980s, was also outed as a lesbian during her term and subsequently re-elected. She refused to comment at the time but "came out" in 1985, one year after her political career had ended. Since 2005 several more openly LGBT MPs have been elected, including for both the major parties. There have also been other openly gay
government ministers
A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, ...
, such as
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
Chris Finlayson
Christopher Francis Finlayson (born 1956) is a New Zealand lawyer and former Member of Parliament, representing the National Party.
He was elected to Parliament in 2005. In the Fifth National Government, from 2008 to 2017, he was Attorney-Ge ...
who was the National Party's first openly gay minister, and Labour's
Grant Robertson
Grant Murray Robertson (born 30 October 1971) is a New Zealand politician and member of the Labour Party who has served as the 19th deputy prime minister of New Zealand since 2020 and the minister of Finance since 2017. He has served as Membe ...
, the first openly gay
Minister of Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
.
New Zealand also elected the world's first out transgender MP.
Georgina Beyer
Georgina Beyer (born November 1957) is a New Zealand politician and former Labour Party Member of Parliament. In 1995 she was elected mayor of Carterton, making her the world's first openly transgender mayor. In 2005 she became the world's fi ...
was elected to Parliament in the 1999 election for the seat of
Wairarapa
The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service ...
, and left Parliament on 14 February 2007. Before entering parliament, Beyer was the world's first out transgender mayor, of the small town of
Carterton.
New Zealand is also a home for
Eliana Rubashkyn
Eliana Rubashkyn (; ), (born 25 June 1988) is a New Zealand pharmacist and chemist, known for being the first intersex person assigned male at birth legally recognised as a woman with a UN mechanism under the international refugee statute. Born ...
, an internationally-known former LGBTI refugee, who became stateless several years in China after a severe case of discrimination due to her intersex variation, and received subsequently a universal recognition of her gender by a U.N. declaration, making her case a first in the world.
As in many other countries, there are numerous gays and lesbians involved in various branches of the arts. They include ''
Whale Rider
''Whale Rider'' is a 2002 New Zealand Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Niki Caro. Based on the 1987 novel ''The Whale Rider'' by Witi Ihimaera, the film stars Keisha Castle-Hughes as Kahu Paikea Apirana, a twelve- ...
'' author
Witi Ihimaera
Witi Tame Ihimaera-Smiler (; born 7 February 1944) is a New Zealand author. Raised in the small town of Waituhi, he decided to become a writer as a teenager after being convinced that Māori people were ignored or mischaracterised in literat ...
, dancers Michael Parmenter and
Douglas Wright, award-winning teen book author
Paula Boock
Paula Boock (born 1964) is a New Zealand writer and editor.
Biography
Born in Dunedin, Boock is a member of a sporting family. She is the sister of four brothers, and former
Chief Censor
Chief may refer to:
Title or rank
Military and law enforcement
* Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force
* Chief of police, the head of a police department
* Chief of the boat ...
Judge
Bill Hastings. The creator of
the Rocky Horror Show
''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to the science fiction and horror B movies of the 1930s through to the early 1960s, the musical tells the story of a newly engaged couple ...
Richard O'Brien
Richard Timothy Smith. known professionally as Richard O'Brien, is a British-New Zealand actor, writer, musician, composer, and television presenter. He wrote the musical stage show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' in 1973, which has remained in conti ...
also spent most of his childhood in
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
.
Openly LGBT New Zealand sportspeople include
Equestrian
The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse".
Horseback riding (or Riding in British English)
Examples of this are:
*Equestrian sports
*Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...
Olympic
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...
medal winner
Blyth Tait
Robert Blyth Tait (born 10 May 1961) is a New Zealand equestrian. Tait has competed at four Olympics and has won four medals, one of only four New Zealanders to do so.
Tait's first success at international level was at the 1990 World Equestrian ...
, Olympic speed skater
Blake Skjellerup
Blake Skjellerup (born 13 June 1985 in Christchurch, New Zealand) is a short track speed skater who competed for New Zealand at the 2010 Winter Olympics; finishing sixteenth.
Sporting career
Skjellerup began speed skating at the age of 10 in Ch ...
,
footballer
Hannah Wilkinson
Hannah Lilian Wilkinson (born 28 May 1992) is a New Zealand football player who plays for Melbourne City in the Australian W-League and the New Zealand national team.
College career
Wilkinson joined the Tennessee Volunteers as a sophomore in ...
and Olympic diver
Anton Down-Jenkins. New Zealand weightlifter
Laurel Hubbard
Laurel Hubbard (born 9 February 1978) is a New Zealand weightlifter. Selected to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics, she was the first openly transgender woman to compete in the Olympic Games. Prior to making her Olympic debut, Hubbard achieved ...
was the first openly transgender woman to compete in the Olympic Games.
Gay and lesbian life in New Zealand today
![Auckland pride parade 2016 14](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Auckland_pride_parade_2016_14.jpg)
Today, New Zealanders are generally accepting of gays and lesbians, although some
homophobia
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...
(such as the use of the word 'gay' as an insult) is present. Same-sex partners are accepted as the equivalent of heterosexual couples for immigration and most other purposes.
The gay scene in New Zealand is reasonably small by international standards. However Auckland has multiple LGBT venues and festivals, as well as being voted the "15th gayest city" in the world in 2013. Outside Auckland, larger cities and some towns host one or two LGBT pubs, or clubs. Many smaller centres have LGBT organisations and social networks that cater to their community. In May 2015,
PlanetRomeo
Romeo (until 2021 PlanetRomeo) is a social network for gay, bisexual, queer and transgender people. The site was started as a hobby and was called GayRomeo in October 2002 by Planetromeo GmbH in Berlin, Germany. Initially only available in Germ ...
, an LGBT social network, ranked New Zealand as the happiest country in
Oceania
Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...
(and the eleventh worldwide) for gay men.
[The Gay Happiness Index. The very first worldwide country ranking, based on the input of 115,000 gay men](_blank)
Planet Romeo
The internet is often used by gay men in New Zealand to meet others, especially in areas which lack specifically gay venues. Since at least 2005, the most popular LGBT site in New Zealand has been the not-for-profit site
gay.co.nz, started as a community project by a New Zealand internet company.
A fortnightly lesbian event called 'Flirt' is held in Auckland, on the first and third Saturday of each month.
Elaborate Lesbian Ball events are held annually in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch.
There are
a number of gay and lesbian festivals in New Zealand. Hamilton, Wellington, Tauranga, Christchurch, and Dunedin host annual Pride Weeks, usually operated by the local
UniQ
uniq is a utility command (computing), command on Unix, Plan 9 from Bell Labs, Plan 9, Inferno (operating system), Inferno, and Unix-like operating systems which, when fed a text file or Standard streams#Standard input (stdin), standard input, o ...
, related youth-focussed organisations, or the New Zealand AIDS Foundation as a community-building initiative. The
Out Takes film festival was a popular event in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and while the organisation pulled the 2008 festival due to funding issues, it returned in 2009.
Until 2008, the Hero Festival was held in Auckland each February, and included the
Hero Parade
The Hero Parade was an (almost) annual gay and lesbian Parade through the streets of Auckland, New Zealand, in the 1990s. The last Parade was in 2001. It was the showpiece of the Hero Festival in Auckland which runs to the present day. The Hero Par ...
, which attracted huge crowds, both gay and straight. Financial problems in 2001 led to the parade's demise, but the festival continued as a celebration of the city's LGBT citizens and comprised many events throughout February, including the popular Big Gay Out (in contrast to the music festival
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typically in January of eac ...
held in January), which is still held on the Sunday closest to
Valentines Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...
each year. Hero was wrapped up in March 2009 but the Auckland Pride Festival has been held annually since 2013, and is the largest LGBT Festival in New Zealand.
Over the
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
and New year period, many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people attend summer camps at
Vinegar Hill, New Zealand
Vinegar Hill is a locality on State Highway 1 in New Zealand's North Island; a camp at that locality and an annual Christmas celebration held at the camp.
Location
Vinegar Hill is on the banks of the Rangitikei River within the Putai Ngahere ...
, in the
Manawatu region.
Gallery
File: Parliament buildings 18 March 2019 a.jpg, LGBTI flags flown at half-mast
File:Michael Fowler Centre Wellington 15 March 2019 a.jpeg, Michael Fowler Centre
The Michael Fowler Centre is a concert hall and convention centre in Wellington, New Zealand. It was constructed on reclaimed land next to Civic Square, and is the pre-eminent concert site in central Wellington.
Commissioned in 1975, building be ...
lit in rainbow flag
A rainbow flag is a multicolored flag consisting of the colors of the rainbow. The designs differ, but many of the colors are based on the spectral colors of the visible light spectrum.
The LGBT flag introduced in 1978 is the most recognized u ...
colours, 2019
File:The Transgender Flag flies on the forecourt of New Zealand's Parliament flanked by the New Zealand flag.jpg, The transgender flag
The first transgender flag is a pride flag having five horizontal stripes of three colors—light blue, pink and white. It was designed by American trans woman Monica Helms in 1999 to represent the transgender community, organizations, and indi ...
flying at Parliament, 2021
File: Wellington Rainbow Crossing.jpeg, Wellington Rainbow Crossing
File: Wellington International Airport embankment.jpeg, Wellington International Airport
File: Close up of Carmen Rupe pedestrian crossing light.jpg, Carmen Rupe
Carmen Rupe (10 October 1936 – 14 December 2011), was a New Zealand drag performer, brothel keeper, anti-discrimination activist, would-be politician and HIV/AIDS activist. Carmen Rupe was New Zealand's first drag queen to reach celebrity st ...
pedestrian crossing light in Wellington
Gay and lesbian publications
*''
GayNZ.com
GayNZ.com is a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community website for New Zealand.
Prior to the websites closure in 2018, it posted daily local and international news stories, monitors fundamentalist Christian politics in New Zealand a ...
'' – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community news website for New Zealand.
* ''
eikon
Eikon is a set of software products provided by Refinitiv for financial professionals to monitor and analyze financial information. It provides access to real time market data, news, fundamental data, analytics, trading and messaging tools. It p ...
'' – New Zealand
* ''Guysers Gazette'' The e-magazine produced by Guysers Gaystay, Rotorua, New Zealand
* ''
express
Express or EXPRESS may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* '' Express: Aisle to Glory'', a 1998 comedy short film featuring Kal Penn
* '' The Express: The Ernie Davis Story'', a 2008 film starring Dennis Quaid
Music
* ''Express'' ...
'' – Auckland, New Zealand, originally 'Man to Man', 1991–2014
* ''Tamaki Makaurau Lesbian Newsletter'' – Auckland 2, Aotearoa, New Zealand, 1991–?
*
Lesbian Feminist Circle
''The Circle'' was a lesbian journal collectively produced by the Sisters for Homophile Equality (SHE) in Wellington, New Zealand between December 1973 and 1986. The magazine was renamed ''Lesbian Feminist Circle'' in 1977, and continued to publ ...
– Wellington, New Zealand, "For Lesbians only" collectively produced c1973-1976
* ''
Out!'', 1976–2009
* ''
Pink Triangle
A pink triangle has been a symbol for the LGBTQ+ community, initially intended as a badge of shame, but later reclaimed as a positive symbol of self-identity and love for queerness. In Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, it began as one of the Na ...
'', 1979–1990.
* ''Bitches, Witches, & Dykes'' – Auckland, New Zealand 1980–1981
* ''Lesbians in Print'' – Auckland, New Zealand, 1987
* ''Sapphic star'' Auckland, New Zealand c1989-1991
* ''
UP magazine'' – Wellington, then nationwide, 2002–2006
See also
*
Auckland Pride Festival
The Auckland Pride Festival is an annual festival held in Auckland, New Zealand. It began in 2013 and is New Zealand's largest Pride Festival. The festival has also brings together a number of other queer and queer supporting festivals and events ...
* ''
Takatāpui
''Takatāpui'' (also spelled ''takataapui'') is a Te Reo Māori (Māori language) term, which is used in a similar way to LGBTQI+. ''Takatāpui'' can also refer to an individual who is SOGIE diverse. When speaking te reo Māori, LGBTQI+ people o ...
'', a Māori term for LGBT
*
GayNZ.com
GayNZ.com is a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community website for New Zealand.
Prior to the websites closure in 2018, it posted daily local and international news stories, monitors fundamentalist Christian politics in New Zealand a ...
*
Hero Parade
The Hero Parade was an (almost) annual gay and lesbian Parade through the streets of Auckland, New Zealand, in the 1990s. The last Parade was in 2001. It was the showpiece of the Hero Festival in Auckland which runs to the present day. The Hero Par ...
*
Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986
The Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 is a New Zealand law that broadly legalised consensual sex between men as well as anal sex between any parties including opposite-sex partners. It removed the provisions of the Crimes Act 1961 that criminalise ...
*
HIV/AIDS in New Zealand There is a relatively low prevalence of HIV/AIDS in New Zealand, with an estimated 2,900 people out a population of 4.51 million living with HIV/AIDS as of 2014. The rate of newly diagnosed HIV infections was stable at around 100 annually through th ...
*
LGBT rights in New Zealand
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in New Zealand are among the most progressive in the world, and the country is considered to be gay-friendly. The protection of LGBT rights is advanced, relative to other countries in Oceani ...
*
Transgender rights in New Zealand
Transgender and non-binary people in New Zealand face discrimination in several aspects of their lives. The law is unclear on the legal status of discrimination based on gender identity, and also for intersex people.Human Rights Commission: “ ...
*
Intersex rights in New Zealand
Intersex rights in New Zealand are protections and rights afforded to intersex people. Protection from discrimination is implied by the Human Rights Act 1993, Human Rights Act and the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, Bill of Rights Act, but ...
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
External links
A Chronology of Homosexuality in New ZealandA History of New Zealand Homosexual Law ReformNew Zealand AIDS FoundationAuckland Pride FestivalOut Takes Reel Queer Film FestivalRainbow Wellington LGBT social, business and political organisationStreaming audio and transcribed interviews on historic and current LGBTI issues in New Zealand
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lgbt in New Zealand