The Pride Issue

Issue #37 - a celebration of, well, some things pride: Thailand's same-sex marriage bill, local gay hot spots, finally discovering a drag queen I like, and a farewell to the O.G. pride flag.

Although it’s not pride month in New Zealand, June is Pride Month most places internationally. Given that, I thought perhaps it couldn't hurt to celebrate not necessarily that fact that I'm gay, but the fact that mercifully (most) of the society I live in doesn't want to stone me. Hooray! Things have changed a lot in recent decades. In living memory western societies have gone from the criminalisation of homosexuality, to decriminalising, to civil unions and onto marriage equality.

I might not be dancing, popping and locking it in the streets, or waving rainbow flags and chanting “Born This Way” (although I might) but I am nonetheless glad to have witnessed this change first hand in New Zealand. I was around 19 when I watched marriage equality be brought into law New Zealand and I remember thinking “good timing” as I was just reaching adulthood and it seemed very hopeful that the law has just caught up in my own nation for the first time in its history.

Thailand to become first Southeast Asian nation to legalize same-sex marriage

Very cool to see that Thailand will soon be the first Southeast Asian nation to legalize same-sex marriage. It is now the third Asian country to have marriage equality, along with Taiwan who legalized it in 2019 and Nepal in 2023.

It was overwhelmingly voted for by the Senate with 130 senators in favour, and only four miserable losers who opposed it.

Once the king endorses the bill, the Law will come into effect 120 days after being published in the royal gazette (which is considered more a formality than anything so unlikely to represent hurdles.)

“The bill represents a monumental step forward for LGBTQ+ rights in Thailand,” Panyaphon Phiphatkhunarnon, founder of Love Foundation – an NGO campaigning for LGBTQ+ equality in Thailand – told CNN.

The bill grants LGBTQ+ couples the same legal rights and recognition as heterosexual couples, including rights related to inheritance, adoption and health care decision-making.

Needless to say - exciting stuff. Having had marriage equality for over a decade, it’s hard to remember how it felt to know society views my relationships as some kind of a second-tier, less worthy type. Nice to see some parts of Asia escaping its conservatism and making headway. Would be great to see places like Japan and South Korea making headway and setting an example. Come through.

Top 5 Wellington gay hot spots

I feel it’s my duty to keep y’all updated on where the gays are at. I’m very tempted to name specific people’s houses as some most certainly are gay meccas. Also I know I’m using exclusionary language but I don’t know where the LBTQIA2+ are hanging out, I can only speak for the G and if there happens to be overlap - how wonderful.

1. Hataitai badminton court

Honestly I don’t know why badminton of all sports is the one gays are flocking too, but half the gays I meet in Wellington have some affiliation with one or more of the gay teams who play here. I mean it’s a slay really. Maybe gays have perfected delicate wrist movements that makes them just perfect for flailing a spindly little raquet and whacking the shuttlecock hither and tither across the court?

2. Freyberg pool

Gays love swimming, don’t ask me why but I think it’s the combination of getting in exercise to banish body dysmorphia, getting to wear skimpy, slutty little swim briefs, and the opportunity to hopefully make use of sauna/steam/spa facilities because we love a bit of downtime.

Freyberg is also an absolutely gaw jus pool with sun streaming in and views out to the beach and into the marina. What’s not to love?

3. Golden mile - perfect for strutting

Okay I’m grasping at straws already but bear with me. Wellington’s golden mile is its central business strip spanning from Courtenay Place, to Manners Street and down to Willis Street and Lambton Quay. Most of the city’s shops and businesses span down this length of streets, all of which are confusingly paved by slippery brick. If you wanna be seen and you’re out and about, one must STRUT like a peacock up and down these streets. Plus there’s charming bars, shops, cafes and what-not along the way.

4. Any city hiking trail

Gays absolutely love to be on the move, see the aforementioned, and again, body dysmorphic and obsessed with body image etc etc so needless to say - hiking! It’s become somewhat of a meme for gays on dating apps to talk about being into hiking. I guess it’s no different to saying you’re into “reading” or “watching films” (which I think mine generically does) but it does leave one a bit stumped if you’re trying to figure out their personalities.

Wellington has a tonne of hiking trails, helped especially by the town belt running through the whole city meaning no nature walk is ever more than a 10-15min walk away if you wish. Sadly it’s also a very windy and rainy city so the outdoors can be a bit confronting, but if you’re game, you’ll have a gay old time.

p.s. don’t mind me stealing someone’s wedding photo for this lol

5. Olive Cafe

Love this artwork I just found of Olive by Zad Jabbour, the Cuba Street iconic cafe in Wellington. It’s been around for years, it’s never failed to serve a good meal, it gave me and the Prime Minister a fantastic viral moment thanks to my penchant for tweeting.

I feel like gays just love a good brunch. Olive has three different areas, the main area, another big room to the side and it’s absolute crowning jewel - its covered outdoor area. It’s leafy, it’s rustic, it’s charming, sunshine glimmers, lattes and brunch generously laden atop wooden tables. What more could a gay want?

Gay pop star Troye Sivan eating it UP

I spent an evening this week devouring this fantastic one-hour set by Australian pop star Troye Sivan, performing at Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona. He really has flourished and grown into his own in recent years. He’s learnt to put his gorgeous but rather thin voice to perfect use and has really found, in my opinion, and sound and style that works for him.

I think for a long time he probably felt somewhat inclined to not lean on his sexuality too much but I feel like he’s truly out and proud these days, and embracing the parts of gay life that we usually have to soften to appease the fragile straights. Like what do you think two men are doing between the sheets? We need not be coy about it, and neither is Troye, stimulating blowjobs and getting pounded on stage.

Now that’s pride loves. x

Finally found a drag queen I like

I’ve never warmed to drag really, which has often boggled myself because I do love campiness, bitchy attitudes, over the top theatrics, costumes, performing, musicality. Like what’s not to love? I think it’s just became a little too mainstream for my tastes. It was meant to be kind of bold and daring, not mainstream prime time television fodder.

That all being said - when Taiwanese queen Nymphia Wind came along it all finally clicked for me, campy and fun but with a purpose, to highlight her culture through her drag, and of course I have a soft spot for Taiwan having spent a year there.

Nymphia won the most recent season of Ru Paul’s Drag Race TV show and deservedly so - she’s a very talented performer!

It was super iconic that Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan, invited Nymphia to perform at the presidential palace. Love to see how proud and accommodating she is and clearly aware that Nymphia truly brought Taiwan to the world stage, even if on a relatively gay culture level. Taiwan’s ability to market itself as a gay destination has enormous potential and it’s already doing so well. Taiwan Pride is truly the great pride festival in all of Asia - and Asia is not little or insignificant! I found myself caught up in Taiwan’s pride parade last year and my word, that city was being run by gays that weekend. Incredible.

Check out this “Best of Nymphia Wind” vid on youtube for some great clips.

Rest in peace original pride flag

Fun fact: pink and purple was originally on the pride flag but were removed due to difficulties finding fabric that colour.

Okay, first - some insight on the progress flag from the Victoria and Albert Museum:

The Progress Pride flag was developed in 2018 by non-binary American artist and designer Daniel Quasar (who uses xe/xyr pronouns). Based on the iconic rainbow flag from 1978, the redesign celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ community and calls for a more inclusive society.

Of course the meaning behind the progress flag is lovely - it tries to encapsulate all minority sexualities and genders, however, what was actually so discriminatory about the original?

The original 'rainbow flag' was created by Gilbert Baker in 1978 to celebrate members of the gay and lesbian political movement. It comprised eight coloured stripes stacked on top of each other to evoke a rainbow, a symbol of hope. Baker assigned a specific meaning to each colour: pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic, indigo for serenity and violet for spirit. A year later the pink and turquoise stripes were dropped owing to a shortage of pink fabric at the time and legibility concerns, resulting in the six-colour rainbow flag most commonly used in the first decades of the 21st century.

I just can’t help but feel that the rainbow was symbolic. Like a real rainbow, it encapsulates every colour on the spectrum, and in turn I always viewed it as being representative of all peoples.

Now the progress flag has added in, in a not visually pleasant kind of way, black, brown, pink, light-blue, more yellow and a purple circle, in an arrow formation, all of which has fantastic intersectional meaning - but I can’t but feel it’s actually become less intersectional in how it has started to name specific people. It now specifically includes for people of colour, transgender, intersex and asexual people - but what happens as other minorities and sexualities come forward.

Will we need to add in a triangle for thruples? A paw-print for furries? A rubber tree for latex lovers? In many ways I expect the original rainbow flag will come back because of it’s inclusivity and symbolism.

Everyone deserves to feel celebrated and accommodated, and a lot of the trouble comes from straight society’s convenience of trying to wrap up all odds and ends by shoving us all into one great big acronym, that actually doesn’t necessarily have a terrible load to do with each other. To be a gay man is a very different experience to being a transgender person, sexuality and gender are different things, and both deserve their space and moments under the sun. But hey, if representation on a flag does help uplift those who need it - I’m all for it.

Did you know Link from Zelda is a gay icon?

Don’t ask me why but The Legend of Zelda’s protagonist, Link, is, in some circles, considered a gay icon.

According to this article in Polygon, “The Legend of Zelda’s queer themes are more than just subtext.”

Nintendo hasn’t outright denied rumors that Link is queer, leaving the door open for further fan interpretation. For decades, heteronormativity has forced queer people to exist on the fringes of society, including within the media we consume.

In art, it’s common to see queer-coded monsters and especially queer-coded villains, particularly because of how the Hays Code prohibited depictions of homosexuality on screen. Queerness has historically been labeled a form of depravity, and queer rights continue to be under threat today, as anti-LGBTQ legislation skyrocketed in 2022. Given this history and political climate, as well as the propensity for fans to hold fast to their theories regardless of confirmed canon, Zelda fans have come up with countless queer interpretations of the iconic character. This became especially apparent during the lead-up to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Someone on Twitter has even gone to the trouble of preparing a list of all the queer moments, including this one: