Valentino "Valery" Wichman is an LGBT rights activist from the Cook Islands. She is the president of the Te Tiare Association, the oldest association for LGBT rights in the Cook Islands, and has been involved with the group since its inception in 2008. [1] [2]
Wichman grew up in Rarotonga. [3] She began attending the University of Auckland in 2007. [3]
In 2016 Wichman was admitted to the High Court in New Zealand as a barrister and solicitor. [3]
Wichman works as a solicitor and barrister for the Cook Islands' government, and has worked in the role of Director of Central Policy and Planning. [3]
Through the Te Tiare Association, Wichman has worked since 2019 to petition the government to repeal the country's laws which criminalises homosexuality. [4]
Wichman was chosen for the University of Auckland's 2021 40 Under 40 list. [5]
Wichman is a trans woman. [1]
The Cook Islands is a self-governing island country in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. It comprises 15 islands whose total land area is 236.7 square kilometres (91 sq mi). The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers 1,960,027 square kilometres (756,771 sq mi) of ocean.
A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to practise there as such. For example, in England and Wales a solicitor is admitted to practise under the provisions of the Solicitors Act 1974. With some exceptions, practising solicitors must possess a practising certificate. There are many more solicitors than barristers in England; they undertake the general aspects of giving legal advice and conducting legal proceedings.
South Auckland is one of the major geographical regions of Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. The area is south of the Auckland isthmus, and on the eastern shores of the Manukau Harbour. The area has been populated by Tāmaki Māori since at least the 14th century, and has important archaeological sites, such as the Ōtuataua stonefield gardens at Ihumātao, and Māngere Mountain, a former pā site important to Waiohua tribes.
Manurewa is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand, located 6 km (3.7 mi) south of Manukau Central, and 26 km (16 mi) southeast of the Auckland City Centre. It is home to the Auckland Botanic Gardens, which receives over a million visitors a year. Manurewa has a high proportion of non-European ethnicities, making it one of the most multi-cultural suburbs in New Zealand. Employment for many is at the many companies of nearby Wiri, Papakura, and at the steel mill at Glenbrook.
David Vernon Williams is a professor, and former deputy dean of the University of Auckland's Faculty of Law. He comes from the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand, and was educated at Wanganui Collegiate School.
New Zealand lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights are some of the most extensive in the world. The protection of LGBT rights is advanced, relative to other countries in Oceania, and among the most liberal in the world, with the country being the first in the region and thirteenth in the world to enact same-sex marriage.
New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island and the South Island —and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country by area and lies east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland.
Ngā Tamatoa was a Māori activist group that operated throughout the 1970s to promote Māori rights, fight racial discrimination, and confront injustices perpetrated by the New Zealand Government, particularly violations of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Unitarian Universalism, as practiced by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), and the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC), is a non-Creedal and Liberal theological tradition and an LGBTQ affirming denomination.
Auckland Law School is one of the eight faculties that make up the University of Auckland. The Faculty of Law is located at the City Campus, between Waterloo Quadrant and Eden Crescent. It is in close proximity to the Auckland High Court. In 2020, Auckland Law School ranked 50th in the world and best in New Zealand according to QS World University Rankings. The University of Auckland's Faculty of Law is the largest of its kind in New Zealand. It advertises experts in a variety of fields, including commercial, public, human rights and environmental law.
New Zealand society is generally accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) peoples. The LGBT-friendly environment is epitomised by the fact that there are several members of Parliament who belong to the LGBT community, LGBT rights are protected by the Human Rights Act, and same-sex couples are able to marry as of 2013. Sex between men was decriminalised in 1986. New Zealand has an active LGBT community, with well-attended annual gay pride festivals in most cities.
Dame Mary Anne Salmond is a New Zealand anthropologist, environmentalist and writer. She was New Zealander of the Year in 2013. In 2020, she was appointed to the Order of New Zealand, the highest honour in New Zealand's royal honours system.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the Cook Islands face some legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents, but these challenges have gradually lessened in recent years. As of 1 June 2023, homosexual acts between men became legal in the Cook Islands after a vote by the Parliament of the Cook Islands. Female homosexual acts have never been illegal. Same-sex marriage is outlawed. Nevertheless, LGBT people do enjoy some limited legal protections, as employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has been banned since 2013.
Akava'ine is a Cook Islands Māori word which has come, since the 2000s, to refer to transgender people of Māori descent from the Cook Islands.
Vaine Iriano Wichman is a Cook Islands politician and development economist. She is a member of the Cook Islands Party.
Sexual minorities in Sri Lanka have been counted in recent times as consisting of as little as 0.035% of the population to as high as 19.6%. It is likely that there are around 1,100,000 according to current mapping conventions.
The Te Tiare Association (TTA) is the LGBTQ+ advocacy organisation in the Cook Islands. It works to celebrate the country's 'akava'ine, akatututane and LGBT communities.
Vereara Maeva-Taripo was a Cook Islander political organizer also known for her quilting of tivaevae.
Sonya Apa Temata is a takataapui human rights activist and nurse of Cook Islander, Māori and Tahitian descent. She specialises in advocacy for the LGBT+ community in Oceania. She has spoken out about how the criminalisation of gay men is a legacy of British colonialism in the Pacific.