We need to talk about gender identity
A webinar, a NZ tour by Helen Joyce, a Media Council ruling, and the hush-hush Human Rights Tribunal.
In October 2025, let’s make the most of opportunities to talk frankly about gender identity.
Genspect webinar 16 October
In this hour long webinar, hosted by Genspect NZ, Fern Hickson will describe the basics of gender identity belief, why it is not a new human right, nor Gay rights 2.0, and the negative impacts this doctrine is having in schools. Fern, a retired teacher with over 30 years’ experience, will explain why schools need to maintain a neutral space, free from ideology, in which all children can flourish.
The presentation is intended for parents and school trustees who are confused and puzzled by the conflicting messages in our community around gender identity and who seek information that will help them to advocate for good quality policies in schools.
There will be a Q&A session at the end.
Tickets are free ( a donation is welcome) and can be obtained via this link. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/genspect/1884259
Helen Joyce tour 24 October - 8 November
In her two-week visit to NZ, Helen will traverse the country twice, hosted by the Women’s Rights Party in the first week and by the Free Speech Union in the second week.
Helen Joyce is the Director of Advocacy for Sex Matters, and the author of Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality (2021). Helen has a PhD in Mathematics and was a longstanding editor for The Economist, where she first wrote critically about transgender ideas in 2018. When Helen met some detransitioners and realised the extent of physical harm being done to gender non-conforming teenagers, she felt compelled to write her book and went on to help establish the human rights charity, Sex Matters.
Helen’s extensive knowledge about transgender activism and her ability to communicate with clarity and compassion make her an outstanding speaker, not to be missed. Her speaking dates are:
Auckland 25 October
Christchurch 27 October
Dunedin 29 October
Wellington 30 & 31 October
The above events will be hosted by the Women’s Rights Party and include panel discussions with local women’s rights activists in each city. Tickets are $30-40 waged / $20-30 unwaged. Click here for details and tickets. (Venues will be advised just before the events.)
The following week, hosted by the Free Speech Union, Helen will visit:
Auckland 3 November
Hamilton 4 November
Wellington 5 November
Palmerston North 6 November
Christchurch 8 November (AGM of the FSU)
Tickets are $25. Click here for details and tickets.
Media Council announces a double standard
A flurry of complaints about ‘transphobia’, ‘misgendering’ and a lack of balance was received after RNZ published the tragic story of Vanessa in June. Seventeen complaints were made to the Media Council, covering almost all of the 12 possible grounds for breaches of Media Council principles, and this week the MC has ruled that the story did breach the principle of fairness and balance.
The Media Council found that the report was of significant public interest, that RNZ was entitled to cover it, and that the original story was not gratuitous and was an accurate record of the parents’ perspective. However, in a majority decision (two members disagreed), the Council ruled that there was a lack of balance because “the initial article could have been corrected as complaints and information came in after the initial publication.”
The Media Council majority said RNZ should have been aware:
“that there was a wider agenda at play and another side of the story that needed to be told, particularly when further information emerged after the publication of the first story. They could have provided a balancing alternative perspective in a number of ways, in the original story or subsequently.”
This decision is an obvious double standard, with the Media Council now contradicting one of its own previous rulings. In December 2023, in response to a complaint from Nicole Evans about a lack of balance in coverage of Posie Parker’s visit to Auckland that year, the Media Council ruled that “balance can be achieved over time when there are a number of stories on a particular subject.”
There has been plenty of “balance over time” in RNZ’s coverage of transgender stories, for example: the 2020 series “Here We Are” that included nine different stories about transgender experiences, the 2021 podcast “Lets be TRANSparent” that told the personal story of the host’s gender transition, and a 2022 interview with another transgender person, Kyle Newburn. None of these personal stories was criticised for not providing “another side of the story” but as soon as a personal story from a different point of view is published, balance within the one story is demanded.
RNZ disagrees
RNZ disagress with the MC decision, saying “It sends an alarming message to newsrooms if they are expected to balance first-hand perspectives from people directly involved in a story and information contained in verified documentation with second-hand sources.”
Only two Media Council members seem to understand this basic principle - that first person accounts belong to the tellers and they are fully entitled to relate their experiences from their own perspective.
Free speech for pronouns
One positive outcome of the MC ruling is that the right to use correct-sex pronouns has been upheld.
The angriest and most common complaints to the Media Council were that RNZ had been disrespectful to the teenager and had shown an anti-trans attitude by using a female name and pronouns, in accordance with the wishes of Vanessa’s bereaved parents. Thankfully, the Media Council has recognised that it would be preposterous to rule that first person accounts must use the speech demanded by others.
“Those opposing the parents’ view of Alex’s gender identity might strongly dislike the stance the parents took on Alex’s name and gender, but one of the Media Council’s overarching principles is protection of freedom of speech, and RNZ is entitled to report their stance. Once further information came to light about the teen’s gender identity, RNZ edited the story in part, but continued to use female pronouns and the pseudonyms Vanessa and V when discussing the parents’ point of view.”
RNZ has committed to a review of its Rainbow Guidelines and Editorial Policy and it is to be hoped that this aspect of the ruling will strengthen its resolve to use pronouns accurately.
Many complaints not upheld
It is significant that the MC did not uphold the many other complaints about a breach of privacy, subterfuge, gratuitous or inappropriate reporting, and inaccuracy.
The MC acknowledged that the story was of considerable public interest and that, as well as interviewing Vanessa’s parents, RNZ had access to her medical records and had sought input from all of the agencies involved in her care.
The subterfuge complaint was made because the original source of the story was “a group with an anti-trans perspective” (RGE) and some complainants thought that should have alarmed RNZ and they should have declined to cover the story at all. RNZ rightly responded that it receives news tips from many different sources and it makes its own investigations before publication. In this case, RNZ dealt directly and extensively with the parents and contacted a large number of additional people who were connected with the case, all completely independently of the source.
Two things are clear from this saga: (1) Even when transgender ideation contributes to ending a person’s life, transgender ideologues would rather suppress the story than be faced with difficult questions in public. (2) The majority of the Media Council has proven it is not able to adjudicate neutrally on transgender coverage.
Hush-hush Human Rights Review Tribunal
In our substack in July, Is it hateful to say humans can’t change sex?, Fern reported on her experience of being a witness in the LAVA vs Wellington Pride case that is currently under consideration at the Human Rights Review Tribunal in Wellington.
Fern attended another few days of the hearing in September and was planning to report on the evidence she heard, given in support of Wellington Pride, but a suppression order from the Tribunal has prevented that.
Read more about the case and the order in the Ministry has Fallen substack: The Curious Case of Pride vs the Lesbians: Part 7.
“Pride appears to be quite keen that what happens in Tribunal stays in tribunal.”
The suppression order is to be lifted in early November when the final arguments will be heard in court and after that, hopefully, Fern will be free to publish her commentary.
I’d love to speak to a NZ audience one of these days! Helen is brilliant. No doubt she will have much to contribute
Power seems to go to the heads of such groups. Have they considered adhering to principles as a kaupapa?
Wasn't the Media council in fact refusing to rule on trans related reporting due to the numbers of complaints from gender critical people? Yet more hypocrisy I feel.