Celebrate and tautoko PRIDE with an Emmy award winning TV series, a takatāpui anthem, and a special kawhe on us ☕.
Nau mai, hoki mai ki Te Arawhata e hoa mā,
Pride events are cranking up and down the motu/country!
Nō reira/And so this wiki we’re all about Māori arts, media, and events to help you celebrate and tautoko/support our LBGTQ+ and takatāpui friends and whānau (and perhaps even discover something new about te ao Māori along the way).
Haere tonu/Go on e te whānau; fabulous entertainment, fascinating historical insights, and inspirational accounts of māia/courage ahead.
Umm… are we the only ones who missed the fact that Aotearoa has an Emmy award winning TV drama on our books?
After skipping tāone/town a decade ago, transgender activist Caz David returns home to the remote dairy-farming hapori/community of Rūrangi, hoping to reconnect with friends and whānau who haven’t heard from him since before he transitioned.
I started episode one for a quick fifteen miniti squiz and emerged hours later wondering why it was so dark out. It’s the best writing, acting, and art direction I’ve seen in he wā roa rawa/a very long time. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Find it: on Neon
Time: 5 episodes a season, about 20mins each
Cost: free with your account
Songwriter and performer, Jen Cloher (Ngāpuhi & Ngāti Kahu) always remembers the first time she used the kupu ‘takatāpui’ to express her identity to a friend;
“A sense of belonging ensued, like a question being answered. There was a warmth in my chest, the feeling was pride."
And e hika do those feelings emanate from this joyful waiata. Just try watching this puoro ataata/music video without feeling a surge of fizzing delight. You can’t. It’s impossible.
An anthem for all takatāpui to sing aloud—I reckon she won’t mind a supporting chorus from heteros in the background too.
Find it: on Spotify
Time: 4mins 30secs
Cost: free with your account
If you’re takatāpui, live in Otautahi and are under 25 then you should totally check out the Mana Tipua wātaka/calender, which includes waka ama, picnics, pounamu carving, and pool parties galore—all UTUKORE/FREE events with other rad takatāpui and people who basically have your back in all areas of life.
If you’re not any of the above but are thinking, ‘Wī!/Gee! What an epic and hirahira/important kaupapa!’, we’re happy to report you can still get involved by helping them to buy a new waka to transport the kids to all these cool events.
Enjoy the post warm fuzzies, you deserve them.
Find it: on the Mana Tipua instagram and givealittle page.
Time: two secs
Cost: free or your koha
‘Kurangaituku’ is a fantastic new perspective on the original legend with Hatupatu. Author, Whiti Hereaka, takes us on the journey of the ‘monster’ birdwoman’s extraordinary life—from ngā manu/the birds who sang her into being, to her days alongside Hatupatu, through to her mate/death, and indeed beyond.
As explained by the wonderful Essa May Ranapiri, Kurangaituku is also “unambiguously queer”.
We love these old pakiwaitara/stories with queerness naturally interwoven because they reinforce the happy fact that takatāpui were as much a part of us way back then as they are now. Also—steamy love scenes.
Find it: on the Huia website
Time: 350 pages
Cost: $35
Get 30% off the Hōkūloa dress by PAPA
We can’t stop staring at this dress by our favourite queer Pasifika sister, Keva Rands, who runs PAPA (pretty famous now for gender neutral, proper sustainable, tino ātaahua/super beautiful clothing).
We can personally vouch for quality and that Keva is one of the kindest souls we know. Get it from her (literal) sister Ahilapalapa who runs the epic store Moana Fresh (and is also queer and kind).
This dress is our pick but there are more on sale to choose from! All limited editions so kia tere/be quick.
You simply can’t talk about queer and Māori without mentioning the one and only, Carmen Rupe (Ngāti Māniapoto, Ngāti Hauā, Ngāti Heke-a-Wai).
Carmen graced our world with her presence from 1936-2011 and was the most flamboyant transgender woman, performer, business owner, and anti-discrimination activist that Aotearoa ever did see.
In today’s kōrero we’re taking you back in time for a cuppa at her ‘International Coffee Lounge’. Don’t be fooled by the somewhat plain name, this place defined the term ‘exotic’.
The bucket fountain hasn’t been installed yet, mini-skirts and bell bottoms are in, and a crowd is window shopping on a gorgeous Rāpare/Thursday evening.
We take a left at Vivian Street and there’s the cafe. Next to non-descript shops, the bottom story of a house is painted to look like an Arabian palace.
Although it’s covered in stylised painted windows and doors, you can’t see in from the outside. Let’s go have a look.
It’s bustling. An eclectic mix of politicians, businessmen, famous faces, and the most ‘out there’ characters of tāone chat energetically over hot drinks.
Just like any other coffee lounge eh? Apart from the outrageously dressed drag queen who just took our order and the bright red walls, violently waiporoporo/purple carpets, and black leather furniture all around us.
Check out the decor—all avant-garde European art, mirrors, tropical ika/fish, peacock feathers, and Spanish shawls. And āe, the squawking is real, there’s a red and lime-green parrot over in the corner.
Drinks are up! Don’t mind the kick, Carmen’s added a splash of brandy for us.
She’s wearing a headdress of clashing pink jewels and her hair is quite literally a foot high. Customers hang off her every kupu/word and she grins ear-to-ear. You’d hardly guess she grew up in Taumaranui as Trevor, nē?
Oops, watch how you place your teacup, it’s a tohu to the waiters and waitresses for a lot more than kawhe if you know what I mean. Upstairs there’s another Arabian room for all that. An African jungle and Egyptian temple too, so we hear.
Ah yeah, some might call it sordid. I mean, that guy over there def looks dodge. But check out the queens in the kīhini/kitchen back there e katakata ana/laughing away as they add asparagus to those toasties. Behind the drama, this is a place where they can feel haumaru/safe and accepted. Probably the only place.
Āe, she’s pushing for gay marriage and legalising brothels now. ‘Crazy’, they call her. But maybe this is the setting of a trajectory, nē?
Full? Right, let’s get out of here. Looks like Ol’ Brooks is threatening to jump on the piano again and we all know how that ended last time.
Ngā mihi nui Carmen.
Our sources for this kōrero: National Library, Te Papa, Stuff, and ‘Carmen’, a doco on NZ on Screen
