}

Friday, April 13, 2007

AmeriNZ Podcast #3 - Gay in New Zealand

Episode three of my podcast is now available, and it's free no matter where you get it from. You can listen to it or download it through the player at the bottom of the post here, or subscribe for free through iTunes here (you must have the free iTunes player installed). You can also listen to it for free through the player on my MySpace page.
What's it like being gay in New Zealand? How do New Zealanders treat gay people? This episode I talk about both. Please leave a comment—anonymous comments are fine, if you want.
This episode, like last week, was a bit rushed (relatives were about to arrive). Sometimes, life happens. Apologies, too, for getting the show notes up so late; Blogger was down (again) when I was ready to post.
Music: Love Who You Are (Radio Edit) HERO (c) 2000 Universal Music NZ Ltd.
Some relevant links from this episode:
Rainbow Labour (GLBT caucus of Labour Party MPs)
ArcherRadio. I was on the group show again this week. Just between us, I love taking part in the group shows. Listen to Archerr’s show, then please leave a comment on Archerr’s site.


Get AmeriNZ Podcast for free on iTunes

8 comments:

Tim Corrimal said...

Great episode again. Wow, New Zealand sounds like quite a forward society. Archer and I will have to talk our husbands into taking a trip to NZ. Thanks for quashing the myth about the water draining the opposite way in the southern hemisphere.

Tim Corrimal
GoRainbowRadio.com

Kalv1n said...

I really enjoyed this podcast. It made me think of one of my favorite quotes when you talked about tolerance as opposed to acceptance. "The bourgeious however is tolerant. He loves people as they are and despises them for what they might become." However, that seems more fitting for America than what you have described of NZ. It's strange how I found myself correcting minor grammar mistakes in your speech (I'm sure that I make many). It's just you speak so correctly that it puts me in academic mode almost. I think it's interesting how you don't seem to have sort of a gay ghetto. I just don't like the whole bit about no PDA's. I love kissing my friends when I see them. I loved that Simpson's episode as well. Do you know if the NZ chapter and the US chapter of the Salvation Army are affiliated. I seem to remember hearing things about them not being the most gay-positive organization here in the states as well. Anywho, I enjoyed the show greatly, and I think it is interesting how progressives seem to find equality across the board important. It kind of brings up the question of whether we should start addressing economics instead of diversity because in some ways it covers all cross sections. Sigh. Take care!

Anonymous said...

I find it amazing that NZ went from no support for gays to total support for gays. I can't imagine the US moving that quickly to support a group of people. I also find it amazing that prostitution is legal. I can't see that happening here at all because of the religious right. Great episode! Thanks for sharing all about gay life there. I love learning about NZ!

d said...

Finally caught up on all your podcasts. Thanks for mentioning my blog and my "how to speak Kiwi" post. =) Here's another one I forgot to mention - flashlights = torches! haha! love it.

As for gay life, it is alive and well here in Wellington. Maybe because it is the arts capital? There are quite a few bars/clubs that are specifically gay and not mixed at all. In fact, one of the clubs is holding a "Mr. Gay Wellington" contest tonight! The gay community also seems quite strong here - we went to a birthday party for a (gay male) friend of ours, and almost everyone in the room was gay or bi.

Also recently opened is a bar called "Our Bar", which has screenings of 'The L Word' on Tuesdays.

So, we propose you and your partner come visit us, hang out for a weekend and do a podcast from here. We are an all-Mac household. =)

Oh, and I totally knew that about the toilet water. ;)

d said...

And some links:

http://www.ourbar.co.nz/
http://www.gayline.gen.nz/where.htm

d said...

Another comment. =) Maybe I should have waited until I heard the entire podcast?

Anyway - I noticed the moon back in December and told Darren it looked like an egg with the face upside down. Now, I had had a glass of wine, so he wasn't buying it.

But once I did some research, I found the moon isn't upside down so much as we are just seeing it from the flip side (no, not the dark side). Our moon phases are opposite those of the northern hemisphere. Fascinating!!

Arthur Schenck said...

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

Tim: You all are welcome to come and visit anytime. Maybe we should have a Podcamp Downunder!

Kalvin: Funny you should mention grammatical errors; I usually hear them, too, when I listen after I post an episode. Sometimes, though, it could be deliberate.

It's not that there aren't any PDAs in New Zealand, they're just not all that common. If I wanted to kiss a friend, I would--it just hasn't ever come up for me. My partner will often put his arm around me in public or we have a little cuddle. Even so, I'm a pretty reserved person, so that's probably why the lack of rampant PDAs doesn't bother me.

All Salvation Armies are affiliated, apparently. But NZ's has definitely moved off of political interference.

Interesting comment about addressing economics instead of diversity. Maybe you could expand on that in your podcast?

Archerr: Obviously I love talking about New Zealand and sharing what I've seen and experienced. Your questions help me find topics to address, so thanks!

D: Thanks for listening to my podcasts! And thanks, too, for adding the information about Wellington and the links. We were last down there in October to show it to a friend from the US. I'm sure we'll be back, and it would be fun to do a special Wellington-cast! You guys would have to be on it, though...

Funny you should mention being all Mac. I've been persevering with creating these podcasts on a PC (and I do mean persevering), but I hope to be switching back to Mac in a couple months. Stay tuned.

Funny thing about the moon: It's one of those things that was sort of in the back of my mind, like "hm, something seems different..." but I never really looked at it enough in El Norte to notice the difference here. Now that I know about it, though, I totally see it. The specific mention of it was in the "Any Questions" column of the NZ Listener of April 7-13.

d said...

Of course we'll participate on your podcast! =)