‘Māori queer excellence’ to open Wellington Pride Festival

When Callan James found the term “takatāpui” years after he came out as gay, he felt untouchable.

It encompassed who he was as a young queer Māori who expressed on both sides of the gender spectrum, he said. “I felt more spiritually connected to my tipuna.”

James is one of the acts set to take the stage at Wellington’s Opera House on Saturday as part of Tē Karanga: The Voice of Calling – the opening gala to this year’s Wellington Pride Festival.

“It’s a huge scale thing, he said. “When do we ever see Māori queer excellence on a grand stage like that.”

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Produced by Māori trans actress, singer and cultural advisor Selena Pirika, it was a celebration of Takatāpui, MVPFAFF and BBIPOC LGBTQIA+ communities through performing arts, story telling, kapa haka, waiata, ballroom, and poi.

It isn’t the first time Wellington Pride Festival had a Māori centred opening show, having put on He Tāngata in 2021.

But it was increasingly a focus to uplift and centre marginalised voices within the rainbow community, Wellington Pride co-chair Vivian Lyngdoh.

As a community leader, for Lyngdoh pride was about being with the rainbow community but also seeing communities that were not represented in pride or pride festivals, “coming through and seeing themselves in it”.

“That is the very thing we’re going to do with Tē Karanga,” they said.

It was in line with Te Whāriki – a document outlining Wellington Pride’s vision co-designed by tangata whenua, people who were neuro-diverse and other indigenous rainbow people, which acknowledged that mātauranga Māori had been excluded and its commitment to centring it in the future.

The theme for this year’s pride festival was “Ka Mua Ka Muri” which meant to walk towards the future with eyes fixed on the past.

“While we celebrate how far we have come, we have to completely keep on building on from what our elders have left us, take on the baton for the liberation of all,” Lyngdoh said.

Wellington Pride co-chair Tahlia Aupapa-Martin (Ngaati Maniapoto, Kāti Māmoe, Kāi Tahu, Kūki ‘Airani) said pride was “absolutely vital” to challenging the “rise in abuse, violence, and hate crimes fuelled by anti-LGBT rhetoric and a resurgence in homophobia and transphobia”.

It was critical to recognise Aotearoa was not immune to what was seen globally, they said.

Last year saw the arson of a Rainbow Youth office in Tauranga and a pink church in Greymouth vandalised with homophobic and anti-semitic slurs.

“It’s frightening – especially for young people looking for community and safety in our country,” Aupapa-Martin said.

“Pride is a celebration, but it is also an act of resistance. It’s about creating visibility and events designed for our community … By holding Wellington Pride 2023, we are resisting hatred and lighting a fire for all who need it.”

For James, pride was a time to “reflect, revise and restart”; to be able to look back on past generations for the work they did, to contribute to the fight for a more accepting society for the next generation to carry the legacy forward.

“From the opening gala with the amount of queer excellence that’s going to be on that stage, I want people to take away that we can shine, just as much as anyone else, he said.

“Pride is anytime of the year and being Māori, is anytime of the year and Māori spaces are everywhere in Aotearoa – everywhere is a Māori space for Māori to shine as their authentic self.”

Wellington Pride Festival will run between March 4 and 18 with events running throughout the two weeks.

Tē Karanga: The Voice of Calling will be held at the Opera House on Saturday from 7pm. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.