Some people really know how to make an entrance.
Freshman New Zealand Minister of Parliament Ricardo Menéndez March used his first speech to voice his commitment to fighting for the poor and underrepresented. He is one of 21 out gay lawmakers in the parliament out of only 120 seats.
One quote from the first generation Mexican immigrant’s remarks has resonated especially well with supporters.
“In our queer community there is a saying that I love,” he told his colleagues. “It goes ‘be gay, do crime.’”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
As the laughter subsided, March explained the expression.
“To me it means to be transgressive, to acknowledge that decision makers have created rules that criminalize our survival and our existence,” he said, noting, “the rules were simply not made for us.”
He also spoke from his experience growing up in financial hardship, a reality shared by many immigrant families struggling to secure stable housing and a livable wage.
“We talk about increasing incomes and public housing for all because we know what it is like to count your dollars before the next paycheck,” he said.
“While we were being blamed for buying up all the houses, we were also being blamed for bringing low-skilled, low-wage labor that didn’t contribute to the economy — or so they claimed.”
And speaking to why he felt compelled to seek office, March explained it was politicians’ “dismissing the labor of low-waged workers as low-skilled and low-value that made me tune into local politics.”
Watch:
wooly101
He sounds like a radical.
WSnyder
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Sam Adams, John Adams and George Washington were called Radicals. So was Fredrick Douglass, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Albert Einstein, Galileo and Isaac Newton were a few more.
He keep in good company I guess…
HollandChrlstopher
“the rules were simply not made for us.”
Ah, it seems the Americanization of politics and the rhetoric/terminology surrounding it has reached New Zealand. As a Canadian in the Netherlands, it’s been really curious watching certain people respond with a kind of hysteria or doom and gloom outlook to the situation in their country – clearly appropriating American political language and convincing themselves that America’s problems are just like their countries problems. I’m sure New Zealand has had it’s problems in the past, and I’m sure there are still some today, but this person has clearly spent too much time on Twitter/tumblr and is now deluding themselves into thinking New Zealand is some type of America-adjacent hellscapre. Proof of this is the fact that New Zealand consistently ranks among nations with the highest standard of living on earth.
Heywood Jablowme
That’s a great point. And what “crime” is he talking about? Sounds like he’s talking more about Mexico (or maybe certain parts of the U.S.) than about New Zealand. What queer-related crime – aside from, say, sex in a public place – would there be in NZ? This could use some more explanation.
nunya
They do it because it’s worked so well for them in the USA.
Kangol2
It might be nice to have a follow-up article on this young out gay legislator, who is politically outspoken and just won a Green Party list seat to New Zealand’s House of Representatives. His background as an immigrant from Mexico, LGBTQ and labor activist, and advocate for poor and working-class New Zealanders is worth hearing about. That might help clear up confusion about his quote, which is apparently being misinterpreted here. New Zealand is a very progressive country but it is not without its challenges, including racial and class ones, and Menéndez March has highlighted many of the latter during his time as an activist and budding politician.
Mundo
Gracias!
Joshua333
I love my country sometimes. NZ is great.