New Zealand Herald new direction

The New Zealand Herald under a new editor finally has discovered the queer community. Not only has it published articles on the difficulties with the Auckland City Council negotiations it had on page 2 of the Herald earlier this month an opinion piece entitled Hypocrisy and the invisible pink in which Hero Brown discussed homophobia and mentioned the Auckland Lesbian Avengers shopping spree in St Lukes shopping centre.

In the article she discusses how the comment from a taxi driver about talkback saying that mostly faggots who phone in got her thinking about why gays are shouting as loud as they can. She commented that a romantic dinner for two paints a pleasant domestic scene but it’s the S&M float at the Hero parade that makes the 6 o’clock news.

She continued that armed with this revelation she had to admire the Lesbian Avengers who in shopping at St Lukes with notes stamped Lesbian Money and wearing their trademark T shirts made lesbianism visible for the day. It also reminded the public that the charming person next to them in the supermarket queue, at the theatre, on the sidewalk, in the taxi, could also be gay.

She concluded with commenting that the homophobic cabbie may be filling his car tank on the proceeds of the invisible pink dollar. It’s a pretty irony she concluded.

This article is a major change in direction in the New Zealand Herald, Auckland’s only daily newspaper, which has consistently failed to acknowledge the existence of the large queer community in Auckland.

Christian Coalition has Public Fight

The Christian Coalition had a bad week with the two parties to the loose coalition having a number of public spates. The more radical Christian Heritage party made it clear on National Radio that it believed in capital punishment, no abortion, no homosexuality and a number of other supposedly biblically based rulings. The other party, the Christian Democrats, while still very anti gay was much more tolerant.

The coalition also failed to appear on Sunday nights Fraser TV program so missing an opportunity for free publicity.

The coalition has made it no secret that it is opposed to equal rights for the queer community and if able to would reverse a number of the reforms in recent years and would prevent any future reforms occurring.

The Christian Coalition also stated this week that once in power they would split into their respective parties.

The coalition currently is polling near the 5 percent threshold mark and if in power would prove very dangerous. If they were in a position to form a coalition on the right with National, Act or NZ First the danger is the price they would demand for their support would likely be at the expense of women, Maori, Pacific Islanders and queers.

Gay TV and Radio

Out There every Tuesday 10.00pm on ATV, Capital City, Coast to Coast, Southern and CTV. and repeated on TV One, Saturday 12.30am

City Life, TV2, Monday 7:30pm.
Shortland St, TV2, Monday to Friday 7pm.
Topless Women Talk About Their Lives, TV3, Friday 11.00pm - Watch for the guest appearances of Buckwheat and Bertha in certain episodes.

Radio

Regular gay and lesbian shows

Auckland - G & T Show, 810AM Access Radio, Thursday 7 to 8am
Auckland - This Way Out, 810AM Access Radio, Saturday 11:40am
Auckland - In The Pink, 95BFM Student Radio, Sunday 8 to 9pm
Auckland - Girls Own Show, 95BFM Student Radio, Sunday 7 to 8pm
Hamilton - Different Strokes, Contact 89FM, Sunday 6 to 8pm
Wellington - Gay BC, 783AM Access Radio, Gay BC, Saturdays 11:15 - 12:15
Wellington - Reading Lesbian Writers, 783AM Access Radio,Saturdays, 1.00 - 1.15
Wellington - Lesbian Radio Programme, 783AM Access Radio,Sundays, 10 - 11 am
Wellington - Boy Trouble, 89FM Student Radio, Sunday 6-7pm
Top of the South - Dyke FM, 99.4FM Fresh FM, Sunday 10am
Top of the South - Gaytime FM, 99.4FM Fresh FM, Sunday 11am
Christchurch - RDU 98.3FM Student Radio, has no specific queer show but does have queer news, play queer artists and all the rest as part of their daily programme.
Christchurch - Outwaves, Plains, 96.9FM , Monday 8pm
Christchurch - Lesbians on Air, Plains 96.9FM Monday 9.30 - 10pm (note 9-9.30pm from 18th March)
Dunedin -Dykes on Mikes, 91FM Radio One, Tuesday 8pm
Dunedin -Tea with the Boys, 91FM Radio One, Sundays 9-10pm

For more information on the above shows check out http://nz.com/NZ/Queer/media/radio.html

Reviews

None this week

Events - Upcoming

Auckland Community Church - Every Sunday 8pm
Auckland Metropolitan Church - Every Sunday 7.30pm
Auckland Gay Bowling Association - Every Sunday 5pm
Auckland Gay Space DKD - Every Sunday 4-6pm
Team Auckland Runners - Every Sunday 10am
Team Auckland Swimmers - Every Tuesday and Thursday 8pm, Saturday 10am
Te Waka Awhina Takatapui Kapa Haka - Every Tuesday 7pm.
Auckland Lesbian Support Group - Every Thursday 7pm
Auckland Womens Social Drop in - Every Friday 7pm
Auckland Uni Gays - Every Friday 5pm
Auckland AA Aquarius Group - Every Tuesday 7.30pm

Auckland Men Alongside - 25 September 7:30pm
Hamilton Gaylink dropin - Every Wednesday 8pm

Wellington Lesbian Overland and Cafe Club - 29 September 1996
Wellington DOODS Dance - 28 September 1996
Wellington Lesbian Overland and Cafe Club - 15 September 1996

Wellington Lesbian Library (LILAC) - Every Wednesday 6-8pm, Saturdays noon - 3pm

Nelson Spectrum - Every Thursday 7.30pm

Gays and Lesbians Everywhere in Education (GLEE) - Christchurch - 26 September 1996

Pink Health Conference - Christchurch - 21 to 22 September 1996

Christchurch Ascent - 19 September 1996

Akaroa Lesbian and Gay Group meets every 3rd Saturday.

Dunedin Gay Affirmers Service - Every Sunday
Dunedin lesbian indoor cricket team - Every Sunday
Dunedin Queerspace - Every Thursday 8pm
Dunedin Beyond the Closet - Every Monday 1pm

More details on the above events can be found on the web at http://nz.com/NZ/Queer/calendar/1996/.

Events - Previews

None this week

Gay Switchboards and information lines

AIDS Hotline - Auckland +64-9-3580099 Toll free 0800-802-437 24 Hours
Whangarei Gay Help - +64-9-437-7620, Tuesday and Thursday 7 to 9.30pm
Rainbow Youth - +64-9-376-4155, Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm, Email rainbow@i-max.co.nz
Auckland Gayline - +64-9-303-3584 10am to 10pm weekdays, 2pm to 10pm weekends.
Hamilton Gayline - +64-7-854-9631, Wednesday 8 to 10pm
Rotorua Gayline - +64-7-348-3598, Tuesday 7 to 9pm
Napier Gayline - +64-6-835-7482, 5pm to 8am.
Palmerston North - +64-6-358-5378 24 hour answerservice.
Wellington Switchboard - +64-4-385-0674, 7.30pm to 10pm
Wellington Lesbian Line - +64-4-389-8082 Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 7.30 to 10pm.
Greymouth/Reefton Gayline - +64-3-768-4366, Wednesday to Friday 6 to 9pm.
Westport Gayline - +64-3-789-6027, Friday 7-8.30pm
Hokitika Gayline - +64-3-755-6270, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 7-10pm
Christchurch Gayline - +64-3-379-4796 Mondays 8-9pm, Saturday 7.30 to 10pm
Christchurch Gay Information line - +64-3-379-3990 24 hour recorded service.
Dunedin Gayline - +64-3-477-2077 24 hour recorded service. Answered on Wednesday 5.30 to 7.30pm, Friday 7.30 to 10.30pm
Dunedin Lesbian Line - +64-3-477-2077 24 hour recorded service. Answered on Tuesday 5.30 to 7.30pm

What is happening on the Internet

With the New Zealand General Election less than one month away check out the political news at http://nz.com/NZ/News/HardNews/election96/.

Copyright, Subscription and Contribution information

Overseas media who utilise any or all of the above material please credit QNA as your source. Thank you.

QNA is a weekly news service of events, activities and other items of interest that are happening in the queer community in New Zealand. The news is distributed via the QNA mailing list (email majordomo@i-max.co.nz with the message subscribe qna-list to be included on this list), posted to soc.bi, soc.motss and nz.soc.queer.The news articles only are distributed via the GLBNews and Queerplanet mailing lists. A special sports edition is distrbuted via lgb-sport mailing list.

The news is also archived at Akiko International web site (http://nz.com/NZ/Queer/QNA/), the most current issue will be also found at the QRD (http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/world/pacific/nz/qna.html) and on AST BBS (+64-7-856-0987).

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