Latest news with #DunedinPride
Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Dunedin makes global list of LGBTQ+-friendly destinations
An international travel site has proclaimed Dunedin to be a friendly place for the LGBTQ+ community, but advocates say much work is yet to be done. Wanderlust Magazine recently published a list of nine up-and-coming LGBTQ+ destinations across the globe, in which it described Dunedin as a "safe haven" for members of the community, as well as acknowledging the city as "the wildlife capital of the country". "Throughout the year, the city hosts LGBTQ+-friendly events, including the Dunedin Fringe, as well as having numerous local queer-friendly and queer-owned eateries and businesses in Dunedin." It comes off the back of the latest census, which reveals Dunedin has a high LGBTQ+ adult proportion of individuals at 7.5%, second only to Wellington at 12%. The national median is about 5%. Dunedin Pride secretary Eliot Weir said while it was always encouraging to get such publicity, constant work and development were always needed. "I think it's definitely a culmination of countless people in the community creating some really cool community spaces. "You've got bars like Woof and other queer-friendly businesses, cafes, board game shops, all that, that are just welcoming spaces, but have also been hosts to Pride Month events or whatever else. "I think, in particular, institutions like Toitū [Otago] Settlers Museum and the Hocken Collection have also definitely taken a lead in that as well." Dunedin was a place where people could be "unapologetically themselves", they said. "It's definitely a close-knit community, both the queer community but also the Dunedin community itself." Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust operations manager Katrina Thomson said she was pleased to hear about the publicity. "It's wonderful that Ōtepoti is building the reputation of being a diverse and inclusive community. "We are lucky to have amazing groups in Ōtepoti that celebrate LGBTQ+-identifying people such as Dunedin Pride, UniQ, our drag community and queer-owned businesses like our friends at Woof!, to name a few." Ms Thomson said there were plenty of opportunities. "Keep supporting queer communities and platforms that champion diversity, and challenge discrimination when you see it." The other destinations listed were Nepal, Chiang Mai, Thailand, Mauritius, Sardinia, Italy, Slovenia, Montevideo, Uruguay, Puerto Rico and Salt Lake City, Utah.
RNZ News
7 days ago
- RNZ News
Dunedin is fast becoming a star on the LGBTQ+ map
life and society activism 41 minutes ago The great Southern city of Dunedin has been named as one of the world's up-and-coming travel destinations for the queer community. Otepoti has the second-largest proportion of LGBTQ+ people in the country, as per our last census, and travel magazine Wanderlust has put it on the map. Emile Donovan speaks to Meihana Potiki-Grayling, chair of Dunedin Pride.
Otago Daily Times
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Rally to protest ‘preposterous' Bill
Dunedin rally organisers (from left) Mika Danks, Oscar Bartle, Neave Ashton, Brandon Johnstone and Patrick Gibbons display a poster and fly a transgender flag ahead of a protest to be held in the Octagon on Saturday. Photo: Stephen Jaquiery Organisations around Dunedin are joining forces to stand with the city's transgender community against a proposed Bill they call "preposterous". A rally organised by the Dunedin branch of the International Socialist Organisation Aotearoa in collaboration with Dunedin Pride, UniQ Otago, the Rainbow Otago Medical Students' Association and Pride in Law Otago is scheduled to take place in the Octagon this Saturday. Dunedin branch committee member and protest co-organiser Oscar Bartle said the "main reason" the rally was organised was in response to New Zealand First's introduction of a member's Bill to define the terms "woman" and "man" in law. The Bill was "preposterous", Mr Bartle said. "It's just incoherent garbage, really. "You can't claim to be protecting women while writing trans women out of law." The Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill announced last week proposed to define "woman" as "an adult human biological female" and "man" as "an adult human biological male", in the Legislation Act 2019. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said in a statement the Bill was "not about being anti-anyone or anti-anything". "This is about ensuring we as a country focus on the facts of biology and protect the term 'woman' in law". Member's Bills are usually only debated in the House if selected at random from the ballot, and Parliament's website states "very few member's Bills become law, most not passing the first reading stage". Mr Bartle said the wording of the Bill "essentially erases trans people from the legal system" and he believed it could inevitably result in transgender women or men being sent to the wrong prisons. NZ First was "stoking up hatred and bigotry and division" and the Bill was an "attack" on transgender people, he said. "It's just rhetoric to rile people up and get people focused on things that aren't the anti-worker, anti-environment stuff that they've been pushing through." It came amidst a "global upsurge in far-right and transphobic rhetoric", and after last month's unanimous decision by the UK Supreme Court that the terms "woman" and "sex" referred to a biological woman and biological sex, under equality laws. Mr Bartle said there was a "great level of concern" among Dunedin's transgender community. Music, stalls and speeches had been arranged. It had received "quite a bit of attention" on social media and he would be surprised if fewer than 200 people attended, he said. NZ First did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.
