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