An new review from the U.K. says claims of massive spikes in suicides following changes to guidelines on puberty blockers to be not only false but dangerous.

I had heard her on the Kim Hill program talking about her music and mentioning that she was lesbian. “Yahoo!” I thought - “how fabulous and singing in the St Peter's Hall in Paekākāriki - bet there will be a crowd there”.

LAVA members were saddened to hear that Anaria Tangohau passed away last week.

Marg Curnow, a plaintiff in our Human Rights Review Tribunal case has had a letter to the editor of The Post published, responding to this opinion piece in The Post on June 19 2024. We reproduce Marg’s letter below.

At the same time she acknowledges the homophobia behind the trans movement and roundly condemns it. “A lesbian passing as male in public is nothing new. What’s new is the medical facilitation of it, and given the environments some of us find ourselves in, it’s hard for me to see growing a beard as self-harm. It’s self-preservation.”

Some of us had known Felicity for decades, others only in more recent years and we will each remember her in our own way.

Most mornings I enjoy my breakfast, silently acknowledging the women covering the wall that is directly in front of me. The photos of these women are a mix of famous lesbians. My partner and I call it our 'lesbian wall of courage' and often challenge other lesbians who visit us to name them. Not many get all the names right, mainly because these heroic lesbians aren't mentioned publicly - they become lost in time.

In 1993, New Zealand became the first country to include the word ‘lesbian’ in its Human Rights Legislation. This was an amazing achievement. We never envisaged that thirty years later, however, men would challenge the legal meaning of ‘ lesbian’.

Renée Taylor (Ngāti Kahungunu), better known simply as Renée, has died. The New Zealand lesbian playwright, novelist, and short story writer passed away at home on 11 December 2023, aged 94. 

Lesbian Action for Visibility in Aotearoa (LAVA) has made a discrimination complaint to the Human Rights Review Tribunal (HRRT) against the Board of Wellington Pride Incorporated.