Youth News: Tranzform & School's Out

Tranzform

Tranzform is a group for trans youth, their friends and supporters.  Phone/text 022 105 0774.

It has been an exciting month for Tranzform. Five of us were very lucky to be able to attend the Agender hui in Christchurch over Queen's Birthday weekend, thanks to some funding from Gay Wellington. It was an amazing event; we met people from Christchurch, Dunedin, Nelson, Hamilton and Auckland - as well as some in rural areas. The hui itself was relatively small which meant we really got to know everyone and share some of our stories, especially with some of the older people in our community, and be part of building a new whanau. It was the first Agender hui to be held on a marae, which some were a bit nervous about, but being able to express our gender in such a strictly traditional environment was incredible. A huge thanks to the people who made this happen for us, it was a once in a lifetime event and we are so grateful.


Tranzform groups have been going well and attendance numbers are stable. Evolve is a really nice venue so we are enjoying meeting there. At our last meeting someone had brought a ten kg box of clothing with them from Nelson to give away so we had a 'Tranzform clothes swap' which went really well.

Dee and I had the opportunity to speak to the WGWG business meeting about Tranzform and how it is going. We ran a transgender trivia quiz and people seemed to be pretty excited about that; one of our members also volunteered to come along and talk about what he gets out of Tranzform.

Lastly, we are really stoked about Dee's new role as co-chair for Gay Wellington. It is awesome to see some trans visibility and representation within the group. All the best Dee.
 
Connor
 
School's Out
 
School's Out is the queer support group for teens based in Wellington, Kapiti and The Hutt.  Phone/text 027 763 9793.
 
Hi everyone! This month we got the opportunity to present to Gay Wellington about what we have been up to over the past year. We ran a presentation, had volunteers facilitate some ice-breakers that we use in groups, and one of our youth came in and spoke about the positive role School’s Out has had in her life.


This month we have been continuing to run our after school groups in Central Wellington, Lower Hutt and Kapiti. Our volunteer Tommy has started up a new Facebook page, so be sure to track us down and like us, to receive updates about what we are doing. We have also welcomed Juliet as our new secretary for our rowdy, yet strangely organised management meetings.

We are still looking for folks in the Kapiti region to help rejuvenate our group, so please send us an email if you would be keen to lend some support at queer_schools_out@hotmail.com. Lastly, a big thanks to Gay Wellington for the ongoing support!

Kassie