Make this coming Valentine’s Day a memorable one and join us for LATE: Explicit Inclusion Identity
 

Image caption: FAFSWAG (performers at LATE: Explicit Inclusion Identity), image supplied

“I am a transsexual. My achievement in local government [was] historic internationally as the world’s first transsexual to have been elected as a mayor.”

Georgina Beyer uttered these words as part of her valedictory speech in Parliament more than ten years ago, recognising not just her own milestones but those who had paved the way for her. How have trans identities progressed since then? 

This Valentine’s Day, in collaboration with the Auckland Pride Festival, we’re celebrating the diversity of trans and non-binary experiences. This LATE: Explicit Inclusion Identity looks at their journey towards equal human rights and inclusion in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Join us for a great night featuring a panel discussion and live performances.

New Zealand Sign Language interpreters from iSign will be interpreting this event.

Programme

6.00PM

Event Centre open, level 3. Access via Atrium lifts                                             
Event Centre Bar open until 7.45PM, food available.
Hosting and Entertainment from Caluzzi Drag Queens: Anita Wigl'it, Ivanna Dr'nk and Trinity Ice

7.00PM - 8.00PM

Smart Talk (Event Centre)
Moderator – Victor Rodger
                                                                           
Speakers – Georgina Beyer, Lexie Matheson, Nikolai Talamahina, Aych McArdle

8.00PM

Grand Foyer and Grand Foyer bar open

8.20PM - 9.20PM

Performance (Grand Foyer) - FAFSWAG

9.20PM

Grand Foyer bar closes

9.30PM

Doors close

Food and drink

Enjoy a delicious hand-crafted menu specially created for LATE by Collective Catering, along with an array of New Zealand wine and beer.

• Walk & fork - Line caught fish n chips with aioli and sea salt $10
• Collective burger - Slow cooked duck croquettes with an apple and fennel salad and brioche bun $8
• Pie warmer - Steak n cheese (aged cheddar) mini gourmet pie $8
• Something veggie - Curried vegetable strudel and caulifower popcorn (v) $7     
• LATE signature pizza - prosciutto, roasted sweet potato, thyme and spiced Manuka honey $16
• Salad box - Asian cabbage slaw with ginger roasted port and toasted salty peanuts $11
• Shared pizza with two glasses of wine - $30
• Shared cheese platter with two glasses of wine - $36

Victor Rodger - Moderator

Victor Rodger is a New Zealand-born playwright of Samoan and European descent. His plays include Sons, My Name is Gary Cooper and the award- winning Black Faggot which has been performed to sell out houses in Melbourne, Brisbane, Edinburgh, Honolulu and throughout New Zealand.

Black Faggot was last year published by Victoria University Press alongside his plays At the Wake and Club Paradiso. His short story, Like Shinderella, was also published in the Maori/Pasifika anthology and Black marks on the White Page, edited by Witi Ihimaera and Tina Makeriti. Victor will be this year's University of Auckland Resident at the Michael King Writer's Centre in Devonport.

Panel:

Georgina Beyer

Georgina Beyer is an internationally sought after speaker. She became the first transsexual Mayor in the world when she was elected Mayor of Carterton District Council in 1995. In 1999 she became the first transsexual member of any parliament in the world when she was elected Member of Parliament for Wairarapa. She was a Labour MP for Wairarapa from 1999-2007 and resigned as Mayor of Carterton in March 2000.

Her book Change for the Better- the Story of Georgina Beyer published in 1999 and reprinted again in 2002 by Random House chronicled her amazing story of personal triumph. In 2002 her documentary Georgie Girl screened to an audience of 250 million on CBC Canada, Channel 4 in the UK, Scotland, Ireland and SBS in Australia. Georgina is an entertaining, high energy, dramatic speaker and entertainer. She is a patron of Frontier & Western Shooting Sports Association and Rainbow Youth.

Lexie Matheson ONZM

Lexie Matheson is a Senior Lecturer and Academic Equity Leader at Auckland University of Technology. She was born in the pouring rain at the 1998 Hero Parade and will celebrate her 20th tranniversary during Pride 2018. In the intervening years she’s graduated with a master’s degree, begun the PhD journey, been beaten up, arrested (more than once), got married to Cushla, co-parented the wonderful Finn, re-established relationships broken by transition, lost a few others, was a founder member of the Pride Board, left and came back, graded to black belt, was appointed to the Auckland Council Rainbow Communities Advisory Panel, represented NZ at karate in 2017, and she’s been made an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to education, the performing arts and LGBTQI+ rights.

Lexie identifies as whakawahine takatāpui, is a social justice activist and unashamedly as far left in her politics as it’s humanly possible to go. She runs her life on the principles of tika, pono, aroha, and is most likely to be heard saying "let’s do the mahi and make this work."

Nikolai Talamahina

Nikolai Talamahina is a transgender musician of Niuean and Samoan descent based in central Auckland. He has lived in both Auckland and Melbourne, and performed across New Zealand and Australia.

Nikolai both performs solo and as a DJ, under the pseudonym Brown Boy Magik, through which delivers an expectation-defying sound that fuses R&B, hip-hop, neo-soul and electronic music. 

Aych McArdle

Aych McArdle is a community advocate and LGBTI+ human rights defender based in Tāmaki Makaurau. In 2016 they received a scholarship to participate in ISHR's "Human Rights Defenders Advocacy Programme" in Geneva to participate in an intensive training programme on how to use UN mechanisms in grass roots activism.

While in Geneva Aych also had the opportunity to participate in the 32nd UN Human Rights Council which saw the adoption of the historic SOGI resolution establishing a mandate for an independent expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity at the UN. Aych is a dynamic and engaging speaker who will probably leave you with far more questions about the world than answers! 

Performance - FAFSWAG

FAFSWAG is a Queer Pacific Arts Collective based out of SOUTH Auckland. They celebrate queer brown bodies, contemporary Pacific arts and cultural restoration.

Their online platform documents in an artistic manner the cultural connectivity of queer Pacific people of colour navigating their unique identities within NZ’s urban landscapes.  

More than a panel discussion, this event will be a fabulous night out with iconic Caluzzi Drag Queens, Anita Wigl'it, Ivanna Dr'nk and Trinity Ice, to greet you, entertain you and serve you some candy floss on arrival.

Event partners