Wel­ling­to­ni­ans have two great oppor­tun­it­ies in the next couple of weeks to join import­ant causes and demon­strate that you are decent human beings.

On Thursday June 9,  a march will be held through Wel­ling­ton city to help stop homo­pho­bia and trans­pho­bia on our streets.

Then on Sat­urday June 25, a Slut­walk is hap­pen­ing.

Queer the Night was inspired by the Reclaim the Night philo­sophy and ini­ti­ated in response to a couple of recent incid­ents where mem­bers of the queer com­munity were assaul­ted in cent­ral Wel­ling­ton. To many, these were a shock­ing remind­er that although we’ve come far, there are still dangers to those who are or… are per­ceived as being out­side het­ero­sexu­al norms. To oth­ers, deal­ing with homo­pho­bia or trans­pho­bia on the streets is an every­day exper­i­ence. Either way, it is unac­cept­able that any of us are made to fear phys­ic­al or verbal abuse in our city.

At the same time, we want to cel­eb­rate the gains made in this area, and offer our solid­ar­ity to those fight­ing homo­pho­bia and trans­pho­bia in places it may be even more potent; in their schools, their homes, their work­places and through­out the world.

We will be march­ing on Thursday 9th June, meet­ing at 7pm at Wait­angi Park (formerly Chaf­fers), trav­el­ing to Cuba St where there will be guest speak­ers and an open mic. Please bring glow sticks, torches, etc to light up our city. All sup­port­ers wel­come!

If you, or your organ­isa­tion would like to get involved on a prac­tic­al level, please let us know by email­ing queerthenight@gmail.com.

Mean­while, the Slut­walk is on a mis­sion to spread the word that those those who exper­i­ence sexu­al assault are not the ones at fault, without excep­tion.

Mov­ing against intol­er­ance and toward edu­ca­tion. Foun­ded on the hurt­ful occa­sion where a Police Ser­vices rep­res­ent­at­ive in Toronto, Canada announced that women could reduce their risk of sexu­al assault by not dress­ing like “sluts”, this is a march to make a uni­fied state­ment about sexu­al assault and vic­tims’ rights and to demand respect for all. Wheth­er a fel­low slut or simply an ally, you don’t have to wear your sexu­al pro­cliv­it­ies on your sleeve, we just ask that you come. Any gender-iden­ti­fic­a­tion, any age. Singles, couples, par­ents, sis­ters, broth­ers, chil­dren, friends. Come walk or roll or strut or holler or stomp with us. – Face­book event.

And in case you’re won­der­ing:

There is no Slut­walk dress code. Come as you are and come as who you are. Just come. And bring your kids. And if not, sup­port people who are. Or come up with a bet­ter idea. Or do some­thing. Not just boy­cott and cri­ti­cise it because you don’t think it’s per­fect way to pre­vent rape and sexu­al assault. Because when you don’t know what to do, do any­thing. Cause you’re not allowed to rape sluts either. – Cath­er­ine Denevy