The recent attendance of a group of Māori male politicians at the Destiny Church annual conference and their advocacy for the supposed benefits of that church to Māori people highlights the political purgatory that Māori find ourselves in leading up to the November election.
The scenes of Pita Sharples, Hone Harawira, Tau Henare and Shane Jones lining up to be ‘blessed’ and to hear their platitudes of thanks to a homophobic and misogynist institution is not merely disturbing it is sickening. We should never forget the ‘enough is enough’ hate marches instigated by Destiny Church. We should never forget the kinds of hate speeches that Māori gay and lesbian whānau were bombarded with during the Civil Union debate, and the ongoing homophobia that Destiny Church leaders and members continue to openly express with both fervor and hatred.
So, who benefits from a group of heterosexual Māori male politicians standing on such a stage? Not one of those Māori men challenged the underpinning homophobia and misogyny that is espoused by Brian Tamaki. Rather it was avoided like the plague. What does that say to the many Māori gay and lesbian people within our whānau? It says that yet again we are easily sacrificed for 0.5% of the vote.
Dr Leonie Pihama
Māori And Indigenous Analysis Ltd.
Fulbright Scholar, Indigenous Wellness Research Institute, University of Seattle.
Contact may be made Skype (leoniepihama) for further comment.
1 comment:
“We should never forget the ‘enough is enough’ hate marches instigated by Destiny Church. We should never forget the kinds of hate speeches that Māori gay and lesbian whānau were bombarded with during the Civil Union debate, and the ongoing homophobia that Destiny Church leaders and members continue to openly express with both fervor and hatred”.
It's quite ok to forget Brian Tamaki's verbal assault on our whakawahine sister Georgina Beyer on the steps of parliament and the Destiny Church's ongoing transphobia and to tacitly condone hatred & discrimination toward whakawahine & tangata ira tane by 'othering' us by omition/ exclusion in such narrative though apparently.
Someone needs to educate Dr. Pihama about our takatāpui whānau, because this whakawahine is totally sick and tired of being subjected to this sort of transmisogyny which perpetuates denial of my existence and the hatred & discrimination which my trans whānau face on a daily basis... WE do not need reminding of anything, but it is obvious from Dr. Pihama's rhetoric that she needs to be reminded of a few things herself... of course, at the end of day, transpeople probably don't really count for many votes do they?
Māori for Diversity? Yeah right!
S.S.
Mataatua.
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