OH MAN! So in the first week of ‘official’ semester break I went down to Christchurch. Gross right? But actually, it was really cool. Canterbury University was hosting the Annual UniQ Aotearoa Conference, a get together of all the different tertiary queer support groups from around the country to talk about stuff and party. I was a bit weary at first, like, did you know that in Christchurch you’d be lucky to find a rubbish bin even on a corner, it’s the WORST thing ever. However, they put on a pretty spiffy job, they had some sweet seminar/speaker/workshop type things including lots of awesome fringe groups that we don’t think about much. Not to mention the fact that the catering provided was SOOOO good.
So we had talks from a gay Christian, WINZ about what constitutes a relationship, benefit styles, NZAF and their Get It On campaign with a discussion group about why young gay and bi men are using condoms less and less, an interesting discussion from Vic’s own Geraldine Christmas about intersex people and the mutilation of genitals at birth. But by far the stand out was a certain couple who just happened to be into BDSM, it was beyond fascinating. They explained all the different roles and they brought toys to show us, it was fantastic… til I had to leave the room because the man was going to show us a piercing, and I’ve seen enough on Google images to know that I did not want to see that in real life. Then the same couple, it turned out, were polyamorous and also talked to us about that… This topic I might write more about later as it’s something I’m interested in.
On the Saturday night they threw a ball for us, with a theme I didn’t know about til I got there and a slightly boring DJ that everyone enjoyed and danced awesomely to. The corner by the door also became a large hug pit for some unknown reason but it was beautiful. The party migrated to Cruz, the local gay bar, where, as I am prone to do at gay bars, made them play ‘Love Shack’. They also tried to charge us for water… but that’s another story.
We also went karaoke and I got to sing my K-Pop faves :), ice skating which makes me bitter about Wellington not having a rink (or an amazing bus system), so apart from lack of rubbish bins and the distance from the city to the uni, Christchurch isn’t so bad perhaps. Can’t wait for next year’s conference in Hamilton.