14 quotes found
"What we've seen though, with more people naturalising te reo Māori and te reo Māori faces and our public broadcasting spaces and our public spaces, is that it is confronting some people's status quo and people need to understand that shifting your status quo and what you thought it meant to be a New Zealander, is not going to be as fearful as you're making it out to be. That embracing our country, our past, is the only way that we can have a more connected and cohesive united future together."
"Trans people are tired of being oppressed and discriminated."
"I am a violence prevention minister, and I know what causes violence in this world and it’s white cis men."
"Now it's become more political about whether what she said was appropriate or whether what she experienced was right ... where we sit is we acknowledge the pain of our whānau who have had to survive violence."
"People have been taking the piss out of trans people for 60 years. The narrative on trans issues has been controlled by people who have no understanding of them. Social media is about us grabbing the narrative back and telling our own stories – this is our reality, this is what we go through and this is what matters to us. We're here, we're in your face, we definitely exist. That's the most important thing – realising we exist."
"The Scottish Greens stand in solidarity with Rape Crisis Scotland, Edinburgh Rape Crisis, survivors of gender-based violence, Mridul Wadhwa, and trans people across Scotland. Rape Crisis Scotland and rape crisis centres across the country provide vital, life-saving support, therapy and advocacy for survivors of gender-based violence."
"[After her interviewer had asserted no human had ever changed biological sex] I'm not actually sure we can say that because we don't have the chromosomal make-up of every single human being. We don't know that. Do you know what your chromosomes are? I've never had mine tested, I don't know what mine are."
"[Asked if Isla Bryson should be able to identify as trans] I think any trans person should be able to get the gender recognition certificate that they seek, that recognises, in law, something that the rest of us just take for granted."
"[It was suggested Bryson was posing as trans to avoid serving their sentence in a male prison] Well we do'’t know that was the only motivation that Isla Bryson chose to do that [...] Isla Bryson is a trans woman ... it’s very very clear that we cannot let single cases determine the entire legislation that we're talking about here."
"All of the evidence tells us that the cause of violence against women and girls is predatory and abusive men, not trans people. We must not conflate the two. There is no evidence that predatory and abusive men have ever had to pretend to be anything else to carry out abusive and predatory behaviour."
"I would also like to take this opportunity to restate that this support for trans rights does not in any way conflict with our work and commitment to protect women from discrimination and advance women’s rights and equality."
"We took all of the factors in the round, around what the case and what the prospects of the case would be, as well as all the other considerations and the impact indeed on the trans community. So, we’ve made that decision for all of the reasons that we have set out. [...] The point here is that Scotland's democratic institution overwhelmingly supported a piece of legislation that is within devolved competence. And because the UK Government and the secretary of state for Scotland didn't like it, he thought he could ride roughshod over the democratic wishes of this parliament."
"I think I listened to all the arguments when taking forward the Gender Recognition Reform Bill. It was clearly a polarising debate, but fundamentally at the heart of it is making the lives of trans people just that bit better."
"I have never said any of the concerns are not truly held. I met with a number of women’s organisations and heard their concerns, but I don’t think there is any evidence to show trying to make the lives of trans people that bit better was going to impact on women and girls. The safety issues come from predatory men."