Rainbow Wellington condemns NZ first minister’s meeting with anti-trans activists & urges MPs to focus on real issues

Rainbow Wellington was disappointed, but not surprised, to learn NZ First Minister Casey Costello met with Irish anti-trans activist Helen Joyce while she was in Pōneke this week.

“We urge all MPs to focus on the real issues affecting women, trans people, and wider rainbow communities – such as pay equity and access to healthcare,” says Sam French, Chair of Rainbow Wellington.

“Platforming fringe voices like Joyce’s legitimises dangerous misinformation, emboldens discrimination, and undermines Aotearoa’s commitment to equality and human rights.

“New Zealand First has developed a worrying obsession with transgender people -including submitting two anti-trans members’ bills to the parliamentary biscuit-tin. One that would criminalise trans people using public toilets, and another to insert outdated, exclusionary definitions into New Zealand law.

“Trans rights are human rights, and Aotearoa is stronger when all people can live with dignity, safety, and respect,” says Mr French.

This appears to be a continuation of NZ First coalition demands on the National led government that have included forcing the Minister for Sport and Recreation to drop guidelines for the inclusion of transgender people in sport and made the Minister of Education remove all mention of gender diversity or the difference between biological sex and gender from Relationships and Sexuality Education Guidelines.

Rainbow Wellington chair denied entry to Women’s Rights Party event

Despite Helen Joyce’s tour being facilitated by the Free Speech Union, French was denied entry to an event with Joyce last week, hosted by the Women’s Rights Party.

Party secretary Jill Ovens emailed Mr French the day before the event to cancel his ticket, saying “this particular event is not the right fit for you” – a decision that starkly contradicts the commitment to free speech espoused by the party, the Free Speech Union and Joyce herself.

The evening before, the Women’s Rights Party and Joyce held an event with LAVA litigants, Hilary Oxley and Margaret Curnow, who have complained to the HRRT that they were excluded from a Wellington Pride event.

In the genuine spirit of free speech and democratic engagement, Mr French has requested a meeting with Minister Costello to discuss her portfolio priorities from the perspective of a trans-inclusive organisation committed to human rights, equity, and community wellbeing.