Taking her place in the New Zealand House of Representatives, the NZ parliament’s third out lesbian Jan Logie opened her ‘maiden’ speech by saying “I stand here as a leftie, feminist lesbian.”
The 42 year old with a background in social work then went on to assert the endemic nature of gender based violence in the state. “One in three girls, one in seven boys, one in eleven women, and up to one in two trans-people will experience sexual abuse in this country,” said Logie, adding that, “The people of these stories who have been victimised by what is predominantly men’s violence are from all ethnicities, of all ages, genders and sexualities, across an ability spectrum, and from every economic stratum”.
She then turned to the positive, mentioning attending Rebecca Swan’s Assume Nothing exhibition at the Dowse Art Gallery in 2008.
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