Subj : MAY'S LGBT+ HISTORY
To : All
From : Major Queen
Date : Tue May 05 2020 08:10 pm
MAY 5, 2020 SOURCE EXPRESS
Historian Gareth Watkins revisits significant dates in Aotearoa's queer
history.
26 May 1917
Dr Hjelmar von Dannevill was imprisoned for suspicious activity on Matiu
Somes Island in Wellington Harbour. Dannevill had arrived in New Zealand in
1911 with little documentation. With the onset of World War I, Dannevill
came to the attention of the authorities. The Solicitor-General of New
Zealand reported that "there is grave ground for suspicion that this person
is a mischievous and dangerous imposter. There is much reason to suspect that
she may be a man masquerading as a woman." Dannevill was subjected to a
physical examination that revealed that this was not the case. However, she
was kept on the island for over seven weeks before suffering a severe nervous
breakdown.
20 May 1973
Editor and poet Charles Brasch died in Dunedin. In 1947 he founded and became
editor of New Zealand's foremost literary journal Landfall. During his life,
he kept detailed personal diaries. In 2009 writer Margaret Scott was
interviewed about transcribing the diaries, and her relationship with Brasch:
"I was 19 when I met Charles. He hadn't a hope of being a happy man. He was
just too sensitive. He turned out to be homosexual and he couldn't face
that." She recounted in her 2001 memoir, "Charles and I slept together off
and on for some years. He thought if he found the right woman then he could
settle down and have a family." Seemingly conflicted for a lot of his life,
he wrote just four years before his death, "Only men so draw me that I want
to be part of them, to lose myself in them, to become them."
21 May 1975
Parliament voted to have the Privileges Committee investigate Carmen Rupe's
claim in a television interview that she knew of Members of Parliament who
were bisexual and at least one who was gay (homosexual activity was still
illegal at the time). After the interview was broadcast, the Leader of the
Opposition Robert Muldoon called for the matter to be referred to the
powerful Privileges Committee. Carmen remembers: "At 9.30 am sharp I had a
black, chauffeur-driven limousine pick me up from Carmen's International
Coffee lounge and convey me to Parliament. I've always thought that black
made a woman of my complexion and stature look so dignified. If I say it
myself, my overall appearance that day was stunning." The Committee found
that "this baseless and unsavoury incident. tended to lessen the esteem in
which Parliament is held." Carmen unreservedly apologised for the statements
and told the Committee that she regretted making them.
31 May 2017
The daily news and feature website GayNZ.com closed. For just over 16 years
the website, led by publishers Jay Bennie and Neil Gibb, reported on local
and international news and gave a platform for community members to express
their opinions and creative talents. Signalling its impending closure, the
editors reflected, "GayNZ.com grew out of a challenge in another time of
great change. In 2001 the post-law reform age was combining with the start of
the digital revolution and we rose up to tackle the challenge." During its
time, the website published over 18,000 articles - many of which remain
available via a number of online archives.
17 May 2018
The Human Rights Commission announced that it would facilitate ongoing
6-monthly hui between Rainbow communities and the Rainbow NZ Parliamentary
Network. Commissioner Dr Jackie Blue said that the regular events would
provide "a space for the community's voices to be heard by Rainbow leaders in
Parliament." The Commission hadn't always been so progressive. In 1981, when
discrimination based on sexuality was still legal and homosexual acts
illegal, the Commission issued a report saying that homosexuals did not
qualify for protection as an oppressed group: "Human rights are not simply
whatever people might claim as rights for themselves or others." Chief Human
Rights Commissioner Pat Downey was quoted in the media as saying, "I do not
agree that all discrimination should be made unlawful." The Commission went
on to suggest that the Crimes Act relating to homosexual activity could be
reframed "so as to make no distinctions between males and females" -
effectively criminalising lesbian activity too (this recommendation wasn't
taken up by the Government).
Gareth Watkins runs PrideNZ.com, a website exploring the voices and opinions
of Aotearoa New Zealand's rainbow communities through over 800 audio
recordings of interviews and local LGBTI events.
