Human Rights Commission treads on new 'Terf'

New appointees to the HRC aren't too popular

Let me be quite clear from the outset—the Human Rights Commission is just an activist group that should be immediately defunded. But the Government has just appointed some new staff, and a bunfight has resulted.

If you want evidence of why you the taxpayer should not be funding activist groups like the Human Rights Commission - that’s the “human rights for people we like” commission - you only need to look at their recent publication – 102 pages of pure bunkim that wasted a tree in printing. The Conversion Practices Insights Report

Now remember – according to the HRC themselves, the $2.2m taxpayer-funded complaints centre set up by the Human Rights Commission for receiving complaints about ‘conversion therapy’ has struggled to obtain any formal complaints about the use of ‘conversion therapy’ in the two years since the new law was passed, despite significant advertising about its services, and they have referred no complaints to the Police. The NZ Police have also acknowledged that they have received no direct complaints which have warranted an investigation over the past two years. This is consistent with numbers before the law was passed. The taxpayer via the Human Rights Commission has spent $2.2m looking for a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.

Now this report took 18 months to write – think of all the wages paid by you for this report – I mean they had $2.2m to spend quickly so they had to justify their existence somehow!!

But here’s why the report is useful only for starting fires.

We received a small amount of feedback from those supportive of conversion practices as a way to uphold what they perceived to be the ‘rights’ of families and religious communities to discipline or try to change those in their care. We have not given space to those views in this report …

Shocking. In an earlier OIA I referred to, they admitted

“The Commission has not knowingly had any engagement with individuals who made submissions against the new law and who had positive experiences of receiving counselling to deal with unwanted sexuality and gender confusion issues.”

The Human Rights Commission don’t want to hear any contra view. They don’t want the feedback. They don’t listen to the feedback. They only want “human rights for those they agree with”.

You can read more indepth analysis of this waste of paper on an earlier episode of McBLOG.

But then last week, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced that he was appointing Dr Stephen Rainbow as the new Chief Human Rights Commissioner.

“Dr Rainbow’s career has encompassed a range of roles including managing government relations for the largest infrastructure project in New Zealand, lecturing at Victoria University, as Director of Urban Strategy at Wellington City Council, and National Manager of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust,” Mr Goldsmith says. “He served as a Wellington City Councillor from 1989 to 1998, and has been active in promoting LBGT rights and is a former board member of the Burnett Foundation Aotearoa.

In 2012, during the same-sex marriage debate, he wrote an opinion piece in the NZ Herald saying that allowing same sex marriage could “draw home expats and boost economy. At a time when New Zealand is losing 1000 people a week to the rich pickings of Western Australia, has anyone thought that legalising gay marriage might be one way of attracting people back?”

Great theory. Same sex marriages represent just 2% of all marriages. That hasn’t changed.

OK – Mr Rainbow seems to tick the boxes. Victoria University. Active in promoting LBGT rights. Involved with the AIDS Foundation. And the surname. Perfect! What could possibly go wrong?

Well, plenty actually. Because the activists went digging and found this

They dug up this old article,

Auckland Transport is investigating a social media post by a member of management about gay conversion therapy, which has sparked anger and allegations of transphobia from a council employee.

On Tuesday night, AT’s Stephen Rainbow replied to a post in the Rainbow Auckland Networking Group on Facebook. The post was calling for people to sign a petition to ban gay conversion therapy. Rainbow’s reply said: “be careful...there’s some elements of the trans agenda being sneakily promoted through this campaign”. It's prompted complaints about transphobia. Those speaking out against it include one of Rainbow’s colleagues at AT.

Rohan Fozzy, administrator for the Facebook group where the post was made, said he has removed it while reminding other members to refrain from comments that are “hateful and hurt others.” Fozzy, who is also a member of the executive team of Rainbow Auckland, said “those kinds of comments are not welcome at all,” and is still recovering from the “shock” that something of this nature was posted in a group which he felt should be inclusive. “That just doesn’t live to our values,” he said.

Correction: Fozzy means “my values”.

Of course Stephen Rainbow is dead right. The conversion therapy law means that someone who is struggling with gender identity issues and wants help is now unable to receive counselling even if they consent to it. The counsellor is committing a crime because it comes under the definition of “conversion therapy” – even if the person requests it. That's how desperate politicians and activists are to shut down down any dissent against the trans agenda – because it cannot stand critique on its own merits.

But as I mentioned earlier, the Human Rights Commission don’t want to hear any contra view.

But now they've just appointed somebody with a contra view. Shocking.

He’s like….. a TERF. You know – a feminist who believes that only a woman can be a woman, that a dude cannot be a woman, and that only women get pregnant and can breastfeed. Yeah, I know, radical.

But then it got worse!

According to this report in Stuff

During an interview with Stuff earlier this year, Rainbow made a series of attacks against the Green Party for criticising Israel’s attacks on Gaza. The war, which started when Gaza-based Hamas militants attacked Israel in October and killed about 1200 people, [which has been verified by Israel and was even lowered from original estimates by Israel because they actually investigated the truth of the figures] has seen Israel’s Defence Force kill more than 40,000 Gazans [a completely made-up figure which has not been corroborated and actually increases as the left wing media decide]. Meanwhile, tensions in the West Bank - a Palestinian territory separate from Gaza - are also boiling.

Rainbow called the Green Party’s focus on those issues “a distraction” and said it was “turning away voters”. In subsequent posts to social media, he called on his followers to “back Israel”.

The other – say after me - “independent media” immediately lockstepped into the narrative with the NZ Herald

New chief Human Rights Commissioner Stephen Rainbow’s pro-Israel Facebook posts, ‘transphobia’ accusations

Newly-appointed chief Human Rights Commissioner Stephen Rainbow has previously made pro-Israel posts on his personal Facebook page and was once accused of being “transphobic”, prompting an investigation by his then-employer Auckland Transport. But Dr Rainbow, who takes up the role later this year, said his views on Israel weren’t “particularly relevant”, and his focus was on human rights in this country. “You don’t get to my age without having some opinions, okay? But I intend to be absolutely professional in this role and to encourage dialogue and discussion around the critical issues that New Zealand is facing with regard to human rights.”

Good luck on that! The Herald continues

But others [pro-Israel comments] were made after the October 7 2023 Hamas-led assault that killed about 1200 people in Israel and led to around 250 more being abducted and taken into Gaza. A military offensive launched by Israel in response has killed more than 40,000 civilians and combatants in Gaza, 

Now where have I heard that exact narrative before. Oh yes – of course – the Stuff report.

And Radio NZ joined the pile-on

In 2021, Stuff and 1 News both reported that Auckland Transport was investigating a social media post by Rainbow to the Rainbow Auckland Networking Group.

And the odious SpinOff website also went on the attack

Can you be a human rights commissioner and transphobic at the same time?

They note that “Rainbow is a gay man, and been a vocal advocate for gay marriage as well as a former board member of New Zealand AIDS Foundation… On first glance, Rainbow’s history suggests at the very least a support of the full rainbow community…”

But the love for our LGBT ally only goes so far – and when you dare challenge the holy grail of the conversion therapy law. And when you dare to express support for Israel, then that love is no longer... inclusive. Kind of ironic eh.

Either you’re with us 100% or you’re out. Keep your personal opinions to yourself.

Radio NZ could smell blood. So, there was another interview this morning:

The newly appointed Chief Human Rights Commissioner says he's committed to continuing the commission's work protecting the rights of trans people, despite facing accusations of transphobia.

Dr Stephen Rainbow, who takes up the role later this year, is defending his appointment after he posted pro-Israel views on Facebook, and was once investigated for making a comment about the "trans agenda".

Here’s the interview which starts well for the left – but definitely went AWOL at the end. Free speech. Shocking.

Those statements about suicide and AIDS and leaving the country – not quite sure about the credibility of that.

But then things got worse! According to the press release from the Beehive,

Dr Melissa Derby will become the new Race Relations Commissioner. “Dr Derby is a senior lecturer at Waikato University, teaching early literacy and human development. Her primary area of research is early literacy, and in particular, exploring the role of whānau in fostering foundational preliteracy skills. Her work has been recognised through a range of awards, including a Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Graduate Award.

Radio NZ said

Derby has previously been named as a member of the Free Speech Union. In an April 2023 column by RNZ's Mediawatch on protests around anti-trans rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, it was reported that Derby "liked a tweet calling for [trans activist Shaneel] Lal to be "locked up" and retweeted one saying the "trans movement" cannot be tolerated in civil society."

Actually she was backing a petition for Shaneel Lal, to be fired as a NZ Herald columnist. And interestingly enough – and thankfully – he did eventually lose that job – but is now working for a Labour MP Jenny Salesa.

These were the tweets which Shaneel has posted

“cis men uphold the patriarchy. So here’s a big F** you”

“F** off fag” Apparently that’s not homophobic language when Shaneel says it.

“Transphobic gays and lesbians are the ugliest part of the queer community… F** the patriarchy and f** transphobia.”

And to Posie Parker “You coward TERF… we say, F** TERFS”

That type of messaging gets you the Kiwibank young Person of the Year.

And a job in a Labour MP’s office.

But the media don’t see a problem with that.

Derby has also appeared in a series of videos for the website The Common Room with titles like "Equity or Equality" and "Is the system stacked against some Kiwis?"

Here's a clip that the media wants you to be offended by –as she challenges the notion that we can blame success or failure purely on systemic racism.

Transcript: Now, if I promoted hard work, good manners, and a winning attitude as a tried and true combination that has contributed to the success of countless individuals and groups for many generations, I would be accused of all manner of sins. That’s because what is suggested nowadays is that it’s the system that causes success or failure, it’s our skin colour or ethnic background that matters, and ultimately, that until things like ‘systemic racism’ or ‘privilege’ end, the outcomes that some people experience will never change. We find these sorts of ideas everywhere, and they seem to be directed at Māori in particular.

Now it is important to acknowledge that no system is perfect, and that racism has affected many and is something to be abhorred. However, the idea that systems are the sole or primary cause of particular outcomes is largely based on assumption, and they actually ignore a lot of evidence about success that paints quite a different picture. This idea also raises some crucial questions that need to be answered for the rhetoric to ring true. For example, if ‘systemic racism’, which we are told permeates our systems and institutions, is the cause for a disproportionate number of Māori experiencing poor outcomes, why don’t all Māori experience poor outcomes? In fact, on many measures, the vast majority of Māori perform perfectly well. How is this possible if systemic racism is everywhere, causing poor outcomes?

Another critical question we must ask ourselves is what damage is being done to Māori perceptions and potential by promoting these ideas?

Yeah – shocking eh. Where’s the critical race theory in all of that. Where’s the victim narrative or oppressed card?

The SpinOff whined and said:

Then there’s Melissa Derby (Ngāti Ranginui), our new race relations commissioner. Derby is a founding member of the Free Speech Union and has also raised eyebrows by sharing posts that were decidedly anti-trans. In 2023, after the trans rights protest in Albert Park, Derby shared a tweet saying the “trans movement” cannot be tolerated in civil society.

Exactly right. The trans movement as we saw at Albert Park last year with its violence, intimidation, assaulting of women, and censorship cannot be tolerated in a civil society.

But wait – there’s more!

In 2020, Derby spoke at an event hosted by anti-trans group Speak Up For Women, the same event cancelled by Massey University amid safety concerns. She opened with a mihi then confusingly followed it with a joke about how apparently “you’re not allowed to criticise anything Māori”. Derby then wasted no time in making her general views known: “As far as points in the oppression Olympics are concerned, I’m always off to a pretty good start, being female with Māori heritage. Although now that people who are biologically men want to compete in our sports teams, my winning streak may be coming to an end.”

Now you can tell when the Government gets it right when Helen Clark comes out criticising things.

And out she came

“Looking at profiles of some new appointees to #NZ Human Rights Commission, there are grounds for concern. Such senior statutory appointments need to be able to command respect. Ideologically extreme appointments won't & would diminish the institution.

Just let me translate that for you. Helen Clark is saying “People should only be respected if they agree with me”

While there’s some improvement in terms of staffing, I finish with how I started.

It’s time to wrap up these activist governmental groups. The Human Rights Commission has served no useful purpose. Despite some of the good statements coming from the new appointees, I’m not sure it’s any more relevant and any more needed.

Let’s save some taxpayer dollars and get some nurses and teachers.