From the President of Agender New Zealand

November 2008

Lots of things have happened since our last meeting. Firstly I have accepted Racheal McGonigals resignation. Racheal was unhappy with the way something’s were progressing and resigned from the committee. I wrote to Racheal thanking her for her time with the Agender committee.

I received a lovely letter from Carmen and she is delighted with In her words, “this great respect that has been given to her by this younger generation” . It was a delight to receive the letter and I think she is going to be a great draw card for the conference.  

We have put out the draft of the guide for submissions, and have had some positive and interesting responses. Genderbridge is sending a submission from them as a group and I spoke with Cathy Parker on Sunday and she said that their members had brought up some very good points. So we will look forward to those. I have been asked to extend the deadline to the 15^th of Dec so the HRC can include it in their Transgender Inquiry mail out that happens at the end of November to around 250 people. This will give us a wider review and worthwhile. I will update the website to include the new deadline. 

The Perspective Magazine is proving a bit of a success. Thanks to the hard work of Peri and Karen working on the layout and Jane for her proofreading skills. The deadline of the 9^th and I would like to get this issue out sooner rather than later in the month. I sent an email to the regional coordinators already.

I continue to be saddened by the number of calls to the 0800 number and the situations some people find themselves in and am grateful that we offer this service tot the community. Often to have someone listen is all they need. I am also delighted by the number of community agencies that use the service for information and advice. Money well spent.

TranSister radio is going well and we were delight to hear that we have listeners in South Carolina, USA and that people noticed that the podcasts were missing, this was a hitch at the station but has since been resolved.

I have been asked to speak at Tim Barnett’s farewell next week on behalf of the rainbow community, There is a lot to say about this man who has been a wonderful support to not only Agender but all queer community groups. Without him we wouldn’t have had this conference system which we lose after tonight. I will be writing a letter of thanks from Agender.

The submission is nearly due for the Universal Periodic Review. So far I have had no response from the committee as to what is to go into it,  If you have something to say please email ASAP.

I am looking forward to seeing you all at the next meeting in December in Hamilton.  

Warmest regards

Joanne Clarke
President

October 2008

I was delighted to receive 2 invitations from the Speaker of the House Margaret Wilson recently, first to attend the dedication of the Rainbow Room at Parliament, the second to attend the 60^th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights. I was able to attend the dedication of the Rainbow Room along with Peri and Karen Te Wao and Jacquie Grant. It was a special event, opened with a wiata by Tiwhanawhana and opening speech by Margaret Wilson. Former MP Marilyn Waring gave an emotional speech about the very difficult time she had in that building. One of our best supporters outgoing MP Tim Barnett also spoke of the struggles the LGBT community had faced and the legacy he leaves behind. It was a wonderful celebration and a delight to share this event with a large trans contingent, as you can see by the great picture on the cover. About 14 of us went out to dinner with Margaret, Marilyn, Tim, his partner Ramon, Louisa Wall and her partner Prue among others to a great Chinese banquet. The company was great and the food was delicious! 

Jane and I have been nominated for 2 awards at this years Oscars, New Zealand's longest running Queer event. Jane has been nominated for her work on the Transgender Conference and I have been nominated for TranSister Radio! It is always lovely to have your work acknowledged. Jane and I are also performing at the Oscars, It is Jane's first time and we are working hard on the number, you never know you might just see it at the next conference.   

TranSister Radio continuing with a great variety of guests, I will be emailing a poster to you all soon and if you can send that out to your contacts. It is a great way of promoting Agender and trans issues. We have a unique opportunity to hear and share our stories.  It is always great to hear from you, to know what you are thinking about the magazine. We have one letter this month, You might like to have your say too. You can write to us at perspective@agender.org.nz Website has been updated and there is still changes to be made but again it is great to be getting feedback from people.

Dorothy and I along with grammatical and spelling  input from Ellen have been working on the Trans Guide, It is out to you all and others for consultation, I hope you will take time to look at it and share you comments about it. We have made a submission to the Department of Labour regarding their Employer and employee worksheets, It is great to see this government taking the HRC Transgender Inquiry at it word and working out relevant information for us. Good on them.

Assume nothing is on its way around the country and Rebecca Swan will keep us informed. I know Christina Loughton has already had a meeting with the Canterbury Museum preparing Christchurch's turn. Here are the dates so far. 

Auckland MIC Toi Rerehiko
Jan 23 - Feb 19th 2009

Palmerston North Te Manawa
Feb 28th - June 7th (NB they have the right to show it through to the 21st if they want to) 2009

Christchurch Canterbury Museum
July 4th - September 6th 2009

Waikato
October 31st 2009 - February 6th 2010

Warmest regards

Joanne Clarke
President

September Report

Hi everyone 

This month has flown by. The trip to Wellington to be part of the Living Libraries was very successful. As one of the most popular books there I have a number of readers from all walks of life including a number of 13 year old young people who were a delight. Interested and concerned about discrimination and bullying were questions raised. I feel more positive about the planets future with these young people growing up.   

While in Wellington I visited the West Plaza Hotel and discussed with Debbie about the website and conference. I also has a great meeting Peri and Karen and we discussed options for conference. We came up with a number of ideas and I look forward to seeing some of those put into action. We will talk more about conference later.

Speaking of the website I would like all the regional coordinators to think about what they would like on their page on the website and send in those ideas. Those pages are important to get up and running.

The team bidding for the Asia Pacific Out Games Wellington 2011 approached us for a letter of support, which was sent and they were very happy with it. It is great to be involved with such positive people, and the exposure for all LGBT groups would be fabulous.

The first new look Perspective has been delivered. Monthly issues are a challenge but I think it is important to keep our name out there and show the community we are doing things. Thanks to Jane for all the extra hours spent bringing the membership list up to date. With that done we look like we are going to need extra issues of Perspective to cover everyone.

The sub committee on the Booklet met last weekend and we made some great progress we have another meting scheduled for the 21^st and by then hope to have it ready to send to people for comment and contribution. Thanks to Dot and Ellen for their hospitality Sarah and I had a lovely time in Geraldine.

TranSister Radio! is going very well and is being heard all over New Zealand and worldwide. Jane and I have guests booked into October already and a growing list of people wanting to be on the show. It is very exciting recently we have talked to Wilhelmina in Holland, Kathy Noble in Australia and we have Phlesya, Allyson and Lindah from Auckland coming up.

Warmest regards

Joanne Clarke
President

August 2008

Hi everyone

We have been very busy these past couple of months as we settle into our new roles within Agender. We have a goal to bring the country together to work as one. We all have the same issues really, once you get past all the personal stuff. We all want acceptance, to be respected and to be heard. It isn’t a lot to ask really - just the same rights as everybody else - no more, no less.

You will be seeing a lot of changes too. We recently launched our new logo - the logo is crisp, gender neutral and says a lot about us as an organisation. With that done, the National newsletter has gone to a monthly publication (on a trail basis) and has been given a facelift too. Next on our list is the national website - it is in need of a much overdue revamp. We are going to be bringing the Christchurch website into the National Website so you can still access all your local news from there. It is our intention to have all the groups with a page of their own on the site.

TranSister Radio! is going very well and is being heard all over New Zealand and we hear, that now it is streaming live, we have listeners worldwide. Jane and I have guests booked up until October already and a growing list of people wanting to be on the show. It is very exciting. Don’t forget to check out the podcasts. (Click here for podcasts)

Recently we celebrated Transgender Awareness Day. This day is important because we acknowledge those that have stood up for our rights in the past and those who stand up today and be counted - each step forward makes the journey for someone else a little easier. Christchurch had a great turn out for their lunch. I was delighted to hear so many came and shared stories and time together. That is what a community is about - being with each other, sharing the good times and the bad.

I have been to Wellington last weekend to participate in Living Libraries. A new initiative from the Wellington City Library where people take out a person (called a Living Book) and get to talk to this person for ½ hour. It has been done in America and parts of Europe but not in New Zealand until now. It is a very rewarding experience and one I will remember for a long time, I am hoping we can get the Christchurch Library to do something similar. You can read more about it in the September issue of Perspective.

Warmest regards

Joanne Clarke
President