Trans and Poc Erasure in the new stonewall film.

Erasure of people of colour in a Hollywood feature is nothing new. Nor is the tied practice of casting a cisgeder man in the role of a Transgender Female character. Roland Emmerich’s Stonewall movie however takes erasure to new heights. The 1969 stonewall uprising was by all means the turning point for LGBT liberation however it’s important to  acknowledge the role of Trans Women of Colour as many of the people responsible for leading the fight back at stonewall . people like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera and Miss Major (the latter two notably absent from the Roland Emmerich movie. In addition to this Masha P. Johnson is played by Otoja Abit (a cisgender man) in an age when many wonderful transgender actresses are available (such as Laverne Cox) this sort of thing is inexcusable. Furthermore the events of stonewall are recent enough that there are a number of people still alive who were present at the stonewall uprising such as Miss Major who has publically expressed her disappointment at the lack of representation in the Roland Emmerich film in an interview on the on the autostraddle website.

The stonewall uprising it ‘self was not an Isolated incident but rather another in a series of protest actions in major cities across the United States of America the earliest occurring a decade before stronewall at Coopers Doughnuts in Los Angeles. This was followed by other direct actions throughout the United States most being led by Transgender Women of colour. Its important t5o realize the class as race distinctions played a huge part in LGBT oppression during this era. Rich Homosexual men tended to suffer under the anti-gay laws in the USA during this time period. Working class Queers suffered far more than the rich and Queer people of Colour faced discrimination even within the LGBT community (some would argue they still do to this day). Trans people were themselves seen as bellow most of the gay community. And Homeless Trans women of colour very much bore the brunt of the anti LGBT laws of that time.

The stonewall story can’t be told properly without understanding the dynamics of oppression that caused not only stonewall but also the preceding actions of the prior decade. Without this basic understanding the Roland Emmerich movie is nothing more than a Hollywood fantasy that shares only the name and location of a significant historical event.  

Givealittle Give a lot of trouble.

I have recently started a givealittle page to help me fund-raise for a new laptop so I can continue with important projects such as updating this blog. while getting my fundraiser moderated I was questioned about the name I was using. and faced with two options for the profile name both of which were demeaning degrading and transphobic. I have been faced with the option to either use my legal name (not acceptable for obvious reasons) or to refer to my Preferred name as an Alias (which in my opinion is quite degrading.

it is upsetting that even in an age of LGBT acceptance Transgender people are still forced to degrade themselves publicly in order to access the same services that cisgender people take for granted. it is quite upsetting that I have had to take this issue out into the public in order to carry out my fundraiser without having to degrade myself.



I understand that it is difficult to get people to care about such issues as someone usually has to kill themselves in order for the public to care about our rights but regardless I have started a petition to gauge public support for this issue.

For more Information

Link to Petition
Link to Fundraiser

We say no A community fights to keep cheap liquor away from local school

Article submitted to the Socialist Aotearoa Blog but not published.

With over 100 liquor outlets in the Mangere Otahuhu area alone it is no surprise that members of the Mangere community were outraged that a liquor licence was granted to a premises opposite a local school. The community responded with a 200 strong demonstration outside Southern Cross campus. Community leaders emphasised that there was very little public consultation by the licensing authorities. Liquor outlets are far more prevalent in working class areas such as Mangere and Otahuhu while being less prominent in more affluent areas where those responsible for issuing liquor licences usually live. As such very little thought is given to the impact that cheap easily accessible liquor has on working class communities where liquor in some places is sold alongside basic commodities such as bread and milk.

The negative impact of having a Liquor outlet opposite a school is twofold first of all students are exposed to liquor advertising as the pass the outlet and secondly older students are likely to skip school and acquire Liquor directly or indirectly (south Auckland liquor outlets are notorious for selling to under-age customers.)

The major issue here is local democracy community members need to have the power to stop commercial endeavours can have a negative impact on the well-being of community members such decisions must be in the hands of those who will be exposed to the negative effects of increased access to liquor and should not be left in the hands of a small elite from outside the community.

Why I'm not voting for Goff

Phil Goff is a Red Tory with more asset sales under his belt than the Bolger and Key governments combined. he supports Imperialist "free" trade deals and Imperialist slaughter in the middle east. he is responsible for the crippling financial burden that keeps many working class people of my generation from accessing quality tertiary education and adequate accommodation. he owns a high value rural property and public admitted during the 2011 election that he benefited greatly from the 2010 tax cuts. as a Mount Roskill voter I can't in good conscience vote for such person as I feel the very act of voting for Goff would be an insult to all the people who have been negativity effected by policies introduced to Aotearoa by the right wing of the labour party I am aware that first past the post politics that still exists within the electorates requires you to vote for the major party closest to your own (in terms of policy) in order to stop the other major party from wining the electorate but I simply feel that voting for any right wing candidate regardless of political party is an act of betrayal. Instead I will vote for the most Left Wing candidate who stands for the Electorate because I that two party electorate politics is a distraction from the party vote that allows for diversity within parliament and renders the electorate contests as a pointless distraction that is essentially a relic of the dark age parliaments of England. It is my belief that John Minto of the Mana movement is the only suitable left wing candidate and I will vote for him regardless of the consequences to Phil Goffs campaign because a right wing candidate should be opposed by the left regardless of party.

Updated 8/6/14
Banks may have resigned but National and Act should never be allowed to forget that they allowed this crook into their ranks.
lets bring down the government and consign the Act party to the pages of history.

John Banks has been found guilty of electoral fraud but remains a siting MP for the Act party a group that is known for a tough anti crime stance perhaps it's time they amended their key slogan here is a suggestion.

Some thoughts on Anzac Day

For many nations today the dominant people within that nation displaced another people so it is only natural that the narrative that is said to have brought the nation into being is set many years after the nation in question first came into being. In the narrative of the New Zealand nation we are first taught about the invasion of Gallipoli where the nation was supposedly brought together by the common struggle (to help the British imperial war machine gain a foothold in the Middle East). Indeed the lives of countless generations. However this is not unique to the New Zealand nation it is not uncommon to hear English historians talk about Agincourt as if the nation were founded due to that common struggle (also on foreign soil and also to the betterment of the English war machine and ruling class).
So why would the ruling class that dominate any given nation state want to distance themselves from the events surrounding the founding of the nation states that they dominate. now while the land occupied by the English part of the British nation state has been invaded so many times it is hard to know who occupied that land first the situation with the New Zealand nation is much easier to make sense of in 1815 the land of Aotearoa was a completely Maori world yet one hundred years later as New Zealand’s army set off for the great war they left behind them a predominantly Pakeha nation state. Now the population of a land does not change so markedly in such a short time without some kind of struggle. Despite this fact New Zealand schools are not known to teach anything about the land wars or about the role of the Maori land court (then called the native land court) in advancing British imperialist interests in Aotearoa. The first proper history course I was able to take at school opened with a unit on the First World War and through all the units over the three years that history was taught properly the majority of the history taught was foreign and any NZ history that was taught was from the twentieth century. Basically ANZAC day and ANZUS or how the NZ military serves the interests of foreign imperialist militaries and why you should not question the fact.
Please understand that I do not mean any disrespect to the workers who served and died at Gallipoli but celebrating the day that the New Zealand (along with Australia France and Great Britain.) nation invaded turkey to advance British imperialist interests in the middle east is an insult to the workers in uniform who died that day on the shores of Gallipoli. the working class people who were convinced that this war would end all wars and yet almost a century later our soldiers are still occupying foreign soil (Afghanistan) their lives being put at risk to advance foreign imperialist interests in the middle east.
Lest we forget: our army is still at the behest of foreign imperialist interests

Transgender children deserve our respect and understanding.

Just when i thought the the NZ media was getting more sympathetic towards transgender people a notorious Right wing rag (The New Zealand Herald) published an ideologically biased family first press release as if it were actual content. in this article the author notorious right wing hate speech merchant Bob McCoskrie claimed that Transgender people were mentally ill  and confused he based his arguments biological essentialism despite the medical irreverence of this theory. he backed up his hate speech by using the example of Walt Heyer a Christian ex Transgender person who now campaigns against allowing transgender people to access basic treatment.
A further argument put forward by the article in question was the idea of denying transgender access to suitable medical treatment until adulthood (ie after puberty) this is problematic in so many ways. first of all many transgender people are aware that they are transgender from a very young and secondly forcing Transgender people to go though puberty as the gender they do not identify with is cruel and contributes to an unsafe environment for transgender people. as Transgender woman who has gone through puberty as a boy I speak from experience when i say that this is simply unacceptable and I am please with our allies within the trade union movement who are helping us make a stand against such bigotry.
One of the most problematic aspects of Family First is that is an ideological hate group that masquerades as a family friendly charity in order to spread it's messages of hate against woman LGBT people and sex workers to an audience that is much wider than a small group of bigoted religious nut-jobs could otherwise hope reach. Family First has managed to influence some conservative working class family's and has contributed to an unsafe family environment for many Transgender people in this country.
Transgender people are already forced to live to live in an extremely unsafe environment and when the mainstream media give transphobic hate groups a platform for their bigoted ideas an already hostile environment becomes even more inhospitable. i would however like to commend the New
Zealand trade union movement for helping to make our lives more dignified. I know we must never underestimate the power of solidarity we are stronger together and i hope that the fight for Transgender dignity and basic  civil rights in one that will be won within my lifetime.