Viral Video Of The Day

Via Mashable:

It is the deepest show of respect. A large group of school children in New Zealand have honoured their beloved teacher by performing the traditional dance, the haka, as his hearse rolled into the school for the funeral. At least 1,700 boys at Palmerston North Boys' High School on New Zealand's North Island participated in the epic performance for their physical education and maths teacher, Dawson Tamatea. Tamatea, 55, died in his sleep on July 20, according to TVNZ. He had been a teacher at the school for almost 30 years. "This was a very emotional and powerful performance," the school wrote on its YouTube channel. "We are extremely proud of our boys' performance and we know that Mr Tamatea would be too."

NEW ZEALAND: Queer Group Vandalizes More Banks And A Police Station

Via Stuff New Zealand:

Three ANZ bank branches and a police station are the latest targets of "pinkwashing" overnight. Pink paint has been thrown over the front of the bank's Ponsonby and Mt Eden branches and the Ponsonby police station, accompanied by letters outlining the reasons behind the attacks. The "pinkwashing" comes days after a glittering ANZ ATM money machine was defaced. ANZ gave an Auckland ATM a glittering sequined makeover as a "GAYTM" ahead of the weekend's Pride Parade, but by last Friday someone had smothered it in pink paint, the bank said it was "pretty sad" about the vandalism. The "pinkwashing" was initially billed as homophobic vandalism but a group called Queers Against Injustice has since claimed responsibility for defacing the GAYTM. The group took to social media to explain the meaning behind the vandalism. The group claimed the bank had "co-opted" gay symbolism for commercial purposes, using it to obscure their business practises and treatment of workers.

The bank's LGBT employees group and Auckland Pride have denounced the crimes. Local police are seeking the public's help in identifying the culprits. Auckland's pride parade was this weekend.

NEW ZEALAND: Gay Group Says They Vandalized Auckland Pride GayTM

Via Gay Star News:

What is thought to be a homophobic attack on an 'GAYTM' which was installed on Ponsonby Road by ANZ Bank to celebrate Auckland Pride Festival this month may not be homophobic after all. The GAYTM was reportedly vandalized on Thursday night. A group calling itself  "Queers Against Injustice" posted a statement on Saturday saying they targeted the GAYTM "to draw attention to the commercialization of the Pride Festival" and to "the way ANZ is using GAYTMs to distract attention from the treatment of their workers." It said, "Associating queer politics with personal banking within a gentrified area reduces the queer subject to a bourgeois, cis-gender, white, male subject, and in doing so reproduces many of the intersecting injustices by which queer subjects are marginalized." The statement further mentioned the recent strikes by ANZ workers who were protesting against the bank's "attempts to implement demands for 'flexibility", in the form of irregular rostering and frequently shifting labor demands."

More from the group's statement:

We can understand the media’s interpretation of this as a homophobic act, because being an angry queer subject who disagrees with the co-opting of our identity is irregular in the face of Pride’s projected homonormative and aforementioned presentation of the queer figure. However, the immediate interpretation of our act as homophobic vandalism, rather than as critique from queer subjects themselves, reflects the heteronormative discourse that truly permeates our society. The media has assumed from the outset that we are not queer, an assumption we have become used to in the heterosexual society we are made to live, yet which we are also incredibly sick of. It is disheartening that the representation of our symbolic pinkwashing of the GAYTM has been manipulated into an act of hatred and complicity. This misrepresentation reinforces the image of tolerance that ANZ has spent a lot of money marketing to us.

Comments on the above-linked statement are not very supportive.

NEW ZEALAND: Pride GayTM Vandalized

As I reported last week, a New Zealand bank has decorated its Auckland ATMs in celebration of this week's pride events. Today one of the machines was damaged by an as yet unidentified vandal. The bank took to Twitter this after to vow that the machine will be "glittering again in no time." Let's hope we get to see the surveillance tape. (Tipped by JMG reader NZArtist)

NEW ZEALAND: Auckland Bank Creates "GAYTMs" To Celebrate Pride Month

Via Stuff New Zealand:

Sedate inner-city banking has been transformed with ANZ unveiling four fabulous "GAYTMs" in Auckland and Wellington to celebrate diversity and inclusion for New Zealand's rainbow community. Dripping with rhinestones, the customised cash machines were accompanied today by ANZ staff dressed as their drag queen alter-egos, a colourful scene that stopped passersby in their tracks. "I think it's awesome," said one woman as she photographed the sparkling spectacle in Wellington's Willis St today. The art installations celebrated the bank's partnership with Auckland's Pride Festival, which would run throughout this month, and Wellington's Out In The Park on February 14, and marked its accreditation into the Rainbow Tick programme. The machines welcomed customers with rainbow-friendly messages on their screens and printed "out and proud" on receipts.

The concept first appeared in Sydney last year.

(Tipped by JMG reader Brenton)

New Zealand Rings In 2015

NEW ZEALAND: Christian Pastor Tells Gay Author To Commit Suicide

"We are not interested in your filthy lifestyle or book. Romans 1 clearly says god has rejected homos and they are worthy of death. You cannot be saved. Leviticus 20:13 reads 'If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.' The Bible says you are vile, strange (queer), reprobate, sodomite, natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed (2 Peter 2:12). I pray that you will commit suicide, you filthy child molesting fag." - Pastor Logan Robertson, responding to an email from a former "ex-gay" activist. Robertson's message was picked up by Reddit and has gone viral, earning national headlines in New Zealand and Australia. From the "doctrinal statement" on the church's website: "We believe anything and everything found in the King James Version of the bible."

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has been charged with attempted murder for hire.

The 60-year-old appeared in a New Zealand court Thursday afternoon facing a count of attempting to procure the murder of two men, said Bay of Plenty Police District representative Kim Perks. He was also charged with threatening to kill, possession of methamphetamine and possession of cannabis, Perks said. The names of the men he allegedly wanted killed and the name of the alleged potential hitman are suppressed, CNN affiliate TVNZ reported. Rudd entered no plea to the charges at the Tauranga District Court, and was bailed until November 27, local media reported.

AC/DC's new album will be released in three weeks. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2003.

Tweet Of The Day

We now BROnounce you husband and husband - http://t.co/vd7lO9hLkX
— The Edge (@TheEdgeNZ) September 12, 2014

Details.

NEW ZEALAND: LGBT Groups Angry Over Radio Station's "Gay Marriage" Stunt

Two heterosexual men will marry in New Zealand tomorrow as part of a radio station stunt that will earn them a trip to the Rugby World Cup in Britain. LGBT groups are furious.

A celebrant would make the union legally binding and Crowd Goes Wild television presenter James McOnie would be MC. The pair said their wedding vows would touch on their friendship and recall their time playing rugby together at King's High School in Dunedin. They were undecided if they would take hyphenated surnames and who would walk down the aisle. The couple's wedding song is Cruisin', by Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow. Mr McIntosh said he thought the marriage would last at least two years. Otago University Students' Association Queer Support co-ordinator Neill Ballantyne, of Dunedin, said the wedding was an"insult" because marriage equality was a"hard fought" battle for gay people. "Something like this trivialises what we fought for." The competition promoted the marriage of two men as something negative,"as something outrageous that you'd never consider", Mr Ballantyne said. LegaliseLove Aotearoa Wellington co-chairman Joseph Habgood said the competition attacked the legitimacy of same-sex marriages. "The point of this competition is that men marrying each other is still something they think is worth having a laugh at.

Two hundred straight same-sex couples reportedly entered the contest.

Kimbra - 90s Music

Last year Kimbra and Gotye won the Grammy for Record Of The Year with Somebody That I Used To Know. There's somewhat of a Missy Elliot vibe to this, the lead single from her coming album, The Golden Echo, due in August. Billboard reviews:

"Everyday be listening to 90s music!" Kimbra and her echoing chorus exclaims on the track, which sounds like it's taken every single pop hit from the 90s, threw in the kitchen sink and condensed the affair to a crisp three-and-a-half minute running time. There are chirping vocals, trap drums, powering-down electronics and, just for the heck of it, a gorgeous pop hook that apparently features Foster The People's Mark Foster on vocals. Altogether, "90s Music" offers something unexpected, and that can always be appreciated in pop.

Headline Of The Day

Via Daily Beast:

William and Kate will burnish their ultra-modern credentials on Wednesday when they will introduce Prince George to the child of gay parents, it is reported today. Kate and William will take George to a playgroup organised by the New Zealand parent support organisation Plunket, where he will meet gay fathers Jared and Ryan Mullen and their daughter Isabella. Jared who comes from Oregon, in the USA and Ryan, from Australia, were chosen to represent the growing numbers of same-sex couples in New Zealand who use Plunket’s parental support services.

(Tipped by JMG reader Eric)

Just Because

The clip can't be embedded here, but I'm guessing many of you will enjoy this. (Tipped by JMG readers Ed and David)

NEW ZEALAND: Parliament Unanimously Passes Resolution Slamming Russia

Via the New Zealand Herald:

Parliament has unanimously passed a motion in support of gay rights in Russia ahead of the Winter Olympics. Green MP Jan Logie moved that "the House wish our athletes competing in the Winter Olympics in Sochi well, and note Russia's recent passing of anti homosexual legislation, and ask the New Zealand Government to urge other governments and the Winter Olympics Organising Committee to protect the rights of all people in Russia regardless of their sexual orientation." Russia's anti-gay legislation has drawn severe criticism from international leaders, athletes and rights activists ahead of the Games, which begin on February 7. Gay New Zealand speed skater Blake Skjellerup said last week he would not compete at next month's Games.

MP Logie says that New Zealand is the first national government to make such a statement. (Tipped by JMG reader NZArtist)

New Zealand Might Change Its Flag

The prime minister of New Zealand today suggested holding a public referendum on changing the national flag.  Proponents argue that the current flag suggests that New Zealand remains a colony of the United Kingdom. Others point out that the flag is often confused with the national flag of Australia, which is almost the same except it carries two more stars.

Labour Party deputy leader David Parker said it was not an important issue, but he supported a change to a red, white and blue design by an unnamed Dunedin designer which incorporated Maori and colonial influences. United Future leader Peter Dunne said the present flag "smacks of British imperialism" and recommended the Union Jack be removed. Mana Party leader Hone Harawira, who negotiated with the Government to get a Maori flag flown from the Auckland Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day, said it was "time for for us to grow up and move on". He flew the Tino Rangitiratanga flag on his car but said any flag would be an improvement on the Union Jack and Southern Cross. The present flag dates from 1865, when the British Government asked vessels in its colonies to fly flags with the Blue Ensign. In 1869, Governor Sir George Bowen directed that the Southern Cross be added, as the constellation could be seen only in the Southern Hemisphere. The present design was adopted as the national flag in 1902.

I always get the Cuban and Puerto Rican flags confused.

New From Air New Zealand

The airline held New Zealand's first-ever "same-sex marriage in the skies" yesterday and is promoting this clip with a sponsored hashtag on Twitter.

(Tipped by JMG reader Russell)

Marriages Begin In New Zealand

It's Monday in New Zealand and the same-sex marriages have commenced.

The big day is here - it is now legal for same-sex couples to get married. And there are many lining up to finally tie the knot, with almost 1000 marriage forms downloaded, four couples racing to be the very first and 31 ceremonies around the country. One of the first same-sex couples to be married in New Zealand have arrived to a huge welcome at the Unitarian Church in Ponsonby this morning. Tash Vitali, 37, and Mel Ray, 29, arrived at the church about 8.15am where a large, colorful crowd had gathered. Reverend Dr Matt Tittle, who will conduct the ceremony, said it was an honour. "It's history in the making and hopefully it will help other countries to do the same and help New Zealanders to realise that everyone has worth and dignity no matter who they love."

Air New Zealand is celebrating the day with a special flight to feature "New Zealand's first same-sex marriage in the skies." On board is recently married actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson and his husband, Justin Mikita. Also on board is my pal and New Zealand Express editor Leif Wauters, who just posted a photo of his boarding pass.

New Zealand's One News is running a live blog of today's events.

Updated Global Marriage Map

After last week's first gay wedding in France, the Agency France-Presse posted the above map.

New Zealand's List Of Banned Baby Names

New Zealand's government gets the final say on what you can name your baby. Just released is the latest list of banned names.

Lucifer cannot be born in New Zealand. And there's no place for Christ or a Messiah either. In New Zealand, parents have to run by the government any name they want to bestow on their baby. And each year, there's a bevy of unusual ones too bizarre to pass the taste test. The country's Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages shared that growing list with CNN on Wednesday. As the agency put it, acceptable names must not cause offense to a reasonable person, not be unreasonably long and should not resemble an official title and rank. It's no surprise then that the names nixed most often since 2001 are "Justice" (62 times) and "King" (31 times). Some of the other entries scored points in the creativity department -- but clearly didn't take into account the lifetime of pain they'd bring. "Mafia No Fear." "4Real." "Anal." Oh, come on!

Other names on the banned list: Duke, Major, Majesty, Queen Victoria, Emperor, and Lord. Names that have brackets around them and names that feature a backslash are also banned.  One poor child was allowed to be named Number 16 Bus Shelter. A set of twins was allowed to be named Benson and Hedges.  (Tipped by JMG reader Win)

New Zealand Billboard Controversy

A New Zealand brewery is raising claims of homophobia with the above addition to their long-running "Yeah Right" campaign.  A spokesman for the company explains:

This joke would traditionally say ''wife'', as in the person isn't happy with their Dad's new partner.  However, now that marriage is open to homosexual couples, so too will be situations where Dad gets a new husband. The joke teller isn't necessarily ... not happy with Dad's new husband because he (and Dad) are gay ... The joke is more a reflection on recent events, and if anything, promotes gay marriage because we no longer have to say ''Dad's new Civil Partner seems nice."

The company's slogan: "Distracting the boys from the task at hand since 1889." (Via Boy Culture)