I attended a hui where more than 50 people gathered at the Pitt St Methodist Church on 26th February 2013 to address concerns about violence against gay people on K’ Rd. They included local residents, gay bar patrons, bar owners, local body members, an MP and representatives from the K’ Road Business Association, Body Positive, police, the NZ Prostitutes Collective and a local primary school. Amon
g those who shared brief stories was one person who had both lived and worked on K’ Rd for ten years but no longer resides in the area because they don’t feel safe. Another person who spends a great deal of time on K’ Rd said the violence is worse than it’s been for 16 or 17 years. These and other physical and verbal attacks on gay New Zealanders represent a similar acknowledgment that our country is advancing on the issue of gay rights and some people are doing everything they can to stop it. But as history has shown us, they can't. Once the march towards equality has begun, you can't ever put the genie back in the bottle again. You may be able to slow things a bit, but eventually equal rights will win out. Which brings me to the other element of hope that all of us must cling to amidst the rising fear of recent days. These bashings of innocent people impacts not only our rainbow community, but the whole community. This violence will also hopefully inspire some people who have been on the fence, and believe that gay rights is not their problem, to understand that regardless of your sexual orientation, the fight for equal rights matters to all of us, or at least it should. Because any assault on a New Zealander for being who he or she is, is an assault on all of us. So if you want to come into our street, come in and party with us, don’t party against us.”
Karen Ritchie (Co-Chair and Co-Founder of K'Rd Community Safety
