A new politician in New Zealand is urging citizens and fellow lawmakers to “Be gay. Do crime.”
Back in October, New Zealand became the country with the gayest parliament in the world. With 21 openly queer members within their National Assembly (which is 9 percent of the legislative body), it is the gayest parliament on Earth. And one of those new parliament members, Ricardo Menéndez March, is now trending for his controversial and iconic first speech to the House of Representatives.
According to 1News New Zealand, Menéndez March’s first speech as an official parliament member was a memorable one. Menéndez March, who is a self-described “transgressive queer socialist,” spoke about the need to actively and aggressively fight discrimination and legalized hate.
“I want to start by acknowledging everybody who has had to lie to work and come to survive,” Menéndez March stated. “In our queer community, there’s a saying I love that goes, ‘Be gay. Do crime.’ And to me, it means to be transgressive, to acknowledge the decision makers who created rules that criminalize our survival and our existence.”
The maiden speech, which you can watch in full above, lasted 15 minutes and passionately discussed the need for “transgressive” action on issues like low wages, public housing, benefit levels, and immigration.
“The rules were simply not made for us,” he reasoned. “They were made to uphold a system where the wealthy few keep getting richer at the expense of our planet, and this House is enabling it.”
The Mexican-born MP was especially adamant in the need for transparency when it comes to the treatment of migrants.
“While we were being blamed for buying up all the houses, we were also being blamed for bringing low-skilled, low-wage labour that didn’t contribute to the economy — or so they claimed,” he said. “It was politicians dismissing the labour of low-waged workers as low-skilled and low-value that made me tune into local politics.”
Today was hella hectic–did my first question in the house to advocate for increasing benefits. Then went and spoke at a rally on Liveable Incomes alongside my mentor Kathleen Paraha. Wrapped up the day delivering my maiden speech w/the bro @teanau_tuiono. We just getting started! pic.twitter.com/mjrSsYC2e5
— Ricardo Menéndez for Mt Albert (@RMarchNZ) December 8, 2020
But did the Green Party MP’s take effect? Will he create change in the fields of immigration, LGBTQ rights, food safety, and more? We’ll see in the future. For now, we’re excited to see what he’ll say and do next.
Source: 1News New Zealand,
