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Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 19. August 6 1979

The Catalyst: Ngahuia Volkering

The Catalyst: Ngahuia Volkering

The catalyst which fomented New Zealand's Gay Liberation movement came early in the person of Ngahuia Volkering. Ngahuia, a lesbian Maori, won a study a—ward, the South East Asia and Pacific Leader grant, to the United States. The unanimous choice of the selection panel from a field of 14 applicants, Ms. Volkering had indicated in her application an interest in ethnic and gay minority groups in the states.

She was refused entry. An oral statement from the US Embassy, never confirmed in writing, said that her permit was refused because she was a sex deviate. This incident sparked off the formation of a Gay Liberation group in Auckland and a Gay Liberation Front in Christchurch.

Easter 1972, indeed the whole of April saw a mushroom of activity from the "happening" in Albert Park to publicize an open letter to Auckland's mayor protesting gay oppression to support from the National Women's Liberation Conference to interviews on radio, television and in the press.