- Location: Hamilton
- Room: Hamilton
- Start Date: Tuesday 3rd Feb, 2026.
- End Date: Tuesday 17th Mar, 2026.
- Time: 6.00-9.00pm.
- 7 Weeks.
- 3 hours per week.
Are you new to the Rainbow community?
Are you an adult (18+), just starting to question your gender or sexuality?
Have you been wondering how to connect with other people who are also on this journey?
This course is for you!
As a group we will talk through all the big questions you have – you will learn about terminology and the history of our communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. We will talk through the fears and joys of coming out and how to negotiate this with family and friends. We discuss relationships in the Rainbow world - dating, dancing and dynamics. You will be invited to think and learn about takataapui-tanga, and you will meet a group of people who are all on the same journey, with very different perspectives.
About your Facilitators
Bex is a non-binary queer person who has lived in Hamilton for the longest parts of their life so far, and they work at Hohou te Rongo Kahukura as Executive Lead. They are partnered with a 24 year old offspring and they mostly enjoy a quiet life; gardening, heading off to the beach for swims, writing poetry and organising community stuff.
Oriana is our resident musician!! And she has many skills, being Hohou te Rongo Kahukura’s chairperson, as well as the guitar lead for Waiata Fridays, on top of her day job. She is bisexual and of Māori descent. She will be joining the facilitation team for the first time and is looking forward to getting to know everyone and feeding into the kōrero.
Carole is a non-binary/trans/bi pākehā participant from the first Club Kahukura many years ago, who has become our lead facilitator. In other mahi, they have facilitated a group for transwomen working on transition through the Waikato Hospital. They set up a LGBTQ+ addiction recovery group and have given individual sessions to recovers of any identity for over 20 years.
Before terms such as transgender and gender-fluid existed, Carole first identified as queer in 1976 while living and working in France. They have worked in teaching both adults and adolescents. They retired from education in 2008 to give more time to visual art practice.
They live with their wife, have four children and nine grandchildren with whom they are closely engaged.
Hohou te Rongo Kahukura is a rainbow and takataapui organisation dedicated to creating safe communities for us to flourish in. You can find lots of resources about healthy relationships and safety on our website.
Tutors:
Bex Fraser
This course is supported by the TEC (Tertiary Education Commission) to assist with literacy, numeracy and wellbeing needs of students. You must attend 80% of the class. At the same time we hope you will learn other useful and interesting skills and have a lot of fun learning with us.
