Jools Topp, the Topp Twins and the Aotearoa We Lost

The death of Jools Topp is not just the loss of one of our most beloved entertainers. It is the loss of a living reminder that Aotearoa New Zealand once had the courage to love people who were different, loud, funny, political and utterly themselves.

There are moments of real joy, beauty and love in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Georgina Beyer was one such moment.

She was elected mayor of Carterton in 1995 and won Wairarapa for the Labour Party in 1999.

Carterton and Wairarapa are rural communities, ones that would be considered very closed-minded towards trans people, yet Georgina won them over and the fact they elected her spoke volumes about how we were as a people.

That the rural folk of Carterton and Wairarapa  would look beyond bigotry and reward meritocracy made us a bigger, better culture.

Why the Topp Twins mattered to Aotearoa New Zealand

That’s exactly how I always felt about the Topp Twins.

Here were two openly lesbian twins who played country music and yodelled and yet they were fucking adored by us.

Their first gig was on the streets in 1984 – two full years before homosexuality was decriminalised in this country.

They were unapologetic about who they were and Kiwis loved them for that.

They were powerful voices in terms of homosexuality law reform.

They were powerful voices in terms of nuclear-free.

They were powerful voices against the Springbok tour.

They were powerful voices for GE-free and once again, they reminded us of their staunchness at the Music Awards…

…staunch as fuck!

We are grieving Jools Topp, and the country she represented

As NZ sinks into the MAGA redneck anti-vax, anti-trans, anti-Māori, anti-Treaty NZ First/ACT/National swamp of bigotry and spite, we have lost part of ourselves with the death of Jools.

There was once a NZ where meritocracy was the gift of our egalitarian settings. Social media hate algorithms have tribalised us into competing Lynch mobs as the banks, property pimps, corporations, billionaires and big polluters manipulate right-wing prejudice for their interests at the cost of us all.

You should lament the passing of Jools Topp. She represented something unique and beautiful about a NZ that no longer exists.

Weep, for this is a true mourning and you should grieve.

We are a lesser people for her passing.