November 08, 2022
Takatāpui seek change marae by marae
An organiser of last weekend’s Hui Takatāpui says she’s seeing slow progress in Maoridom’s acceptance of gender diversity.
Tu Chapman co-chairs ITANZ – or Intersex Aotearoa – which represents a rare group of people who do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies.
She says the annual hui is a chance not only to consider issues affecting takatāpui communities but also to consider how far Maoridom has come over the past 20 or 30 years in embracing diversity.
“There’s still a lot of work to do within our whānau, hapū and iwi and definitely on our marae which are those places which are meant to be our safe havens, our whare wānanga, our places for us to be unapologetically Māori and we can’t do that if we don’t bring them along the journey, hence why we hold Hui Takatāpui at marae, so that we have that opportunity to embed our own kaupapa and align it with whatever iwi is hosting at that time,” Tu Chapman says.