When Phylesha Brown-Acton, MNZM, went door knocking to secure support for an organisation advocating and empowering Pacific LGBTQI+ people, she was met with resistance and a barrage of abusive comments.
“This is the devils work! You bunch of people are sinners! You shouldn’t be encouraging this type of behaviour!”
This was a sample of the type of comments she received from people.
Being subjected to this type of bullying was reflective of what the Pacific rainbow community were facing every day and reinforced to Brown-Acton the importance of giving this community a voice.
Her resilience was rewarded when she established F’ine, a Pasifika Futures partner that has been providing a Whānau Ora navigational service for the Pacific LGBTQI+ community for the past seven years.
“F’ine is ultimately about ensuring the safety of our community and ending all forms of discrimination and oppression that we experience daily. It’s about self-determination for our community to succeed and enhancing their dignity so they can reclaim their space.”
Through F’ine, Brown-Acton has tirelessly worked to end discrimination and bullying in all its various forms. She will be celebrating Pink Shirt Day tomorrow, a day when people around the world wear a pink shirt in solidarity against bullying.
“We live and breathe Pink Shirt Day every day of the week because that’s what our work is about. Bullying is not just isolated to a one-on-one incident that is contained within an environment. Bullying has now expanded to social media platforms, where even adults are getting involved in petty fights, escalating it and making it a lot more harmful and dangerous.”
F’ine has worked in schools, like Kelston Boys’ High School, to advocate for Pacific queer and trans students and work with staff members on anti-bullying policies. But she says it’s important to address all types of bullying.
“People experience bullying for many reasons in our Pacific community. It can be related to having holes in your shoes, your skin colour, whether you speak good English, your literacy and numeracy skills, your body size and of course your sexuality and gender identity.”
She hopes Pink Shirt Day will continue to highlight this critical conversation as it can lead many to depression, anxiety and suicide.
“I encourage people to continue to talk about bullying. It’s embedded within our schools, institutions, organisations and work places. I hope that students and employees are empowered to address the issue and that we are having solution-driven conversations to collectively combat bullying.”
#pmafamily
Date: Thursday 20 May 2021