PRIDE - PASIFIKA STORIES - SHANEEL LAL
Shaneel Lal
(They/Them)
Activist/ Student/ Co-Founder of “End Conversion Therapy NZ”
Fiji
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Shaneel Lal is a multifaceted and intersectional activist. They have been vocal and influential in bringing to light various issues around racism, transphobia, indigenous land issues, systemic injustice and much more. Shaneel is a co-founder of the organisation “End Conversion Therapy NZ” and has been an avid voice around the need for a ban on Conversion Therapy. They’re currently a student at The University of Auckland, and on top of all that is actively educating people on social media on how to be more conscious citizens of humanity.
If you could have the world's attention, how would you introduce yourself?
I am many things, but deep down, I am a young person who wants to change the world. I do not wish to be protected. I want to be free. And I want the same for my people. A young person who has seen, felt, and experienced too many things that I shouldn’t have. But as much I have been hurt by a racist and queerphobic world, I have been prepared to fight with my community. I cannot say I am a son or a daughter, a brother or a sister (well, a sis to some), an uncle or an aunt because I do not exist in the limitation of gendered relationships. I am trans, non-binary, and the world hasn’t figured out where I fit, but I know my place. I am a child of the Pacific.
If I had the world’s attention, I would tell the world to wake up. I would tell the world the time of racist queerphobic bigots is over. And that requires more than decorum and kindness. The world may see a tough exterior, but I envision a world where lives of Black, Indigenous Queer People of Colour (BIQPOC) not only matter but are nurtured, respected and loved. I believe in the supremacy of BIQPOC, who the white state has marginalised. The world would learn my community is the most important thing to me.
What does “Pride” mean to you?
Pride is an f you colonial patriarchy. It is a protest against the oppressive white state. For years we have fought to be free. To be equal. We have never asked to be more than anyone else, yet we are still not afforded the luxury of equality. When asking politely doesn't work, it calls for disruption of the system that doesn't listen. Queer people have not protested on the streets for a long time, but there is a sudden uprising of young queer people hungry for change and ready to fight for it.
I have always questioned why I must first help white cis-gays get equality with cishet white people before this equality can trickle down to me as a trans person of colour? Trickle-down economics hasn't worked, and I have no hope for trickle-down equality to work. Frankly, I am sick of playing an extra in a white gays journey to freedom. As queerness cha-chas into a realm of liberation, brown and Black bodies remain criminalised and target of state violence.
The queer body has detached itself from criminality and defined itself firstly by whiteness before queerness. The experiences of white queers measure progress for the queer community. The struggles of BIPOC have been erased to achieve a progressive image for the community. In reality, Black, Indigenous queer People of Colour (BIQPOC) have battles left to fight that white gays have already won.
The most privileged amongst us may see pride as an opportunity to party. Some see it as a celebration. It is a celebration of the victories of the community, but it isn't a celebration for all. For me, pride is still a protest.
For you, how important do you feel it is for BIPOC voices to be uplifted in LGBTQIA+ spaces?
White gays have assumed the spokesperson's role for the queer community, but they can only speak from their privileged white bubbles. White gays are not the spokesperson for the queer community. If people are genuinely invested in listening to and uplifting us, they must empower trans people and BIPOC. The queer community has little value for BIQPOC, but the community would cease to exist without our labour. Yet they aren't rushing to our rescue. I am brown before I am queer. If I am not first liberated as a person of colour, I will never be welcomed to celebrate the achievement of queer people.
When a white cis-gay became the first known gay deputy Prime Minister, I did not feel seen. I did not feel joy. And while my white gay friends celebrated and told me to cheer up, they were the same people holding the door shut tight for people like me. But I said I ain't playing no extra in a white gays liberation; I got my own battles to fight. I am tired of white people claiming they represent the diversity and intersectionality in the queer community.
A white person does not represent me. I don't need a white person to be my voice. I can speak for myself, so all I need white people to do is step aside and hold my mic. We lead very different lives to white people. Our struggles are different. Take banning conversion therapy, for example. Queer POC have a preference to stay with their family. But there seems to be no conversation about how we are to navigate situations where a young brown person is being put into conversion therapy but doesn't want to tear their family apart. Further, if the child prefers to stay with the family regardless, fining and imprisoning parents directly affects the child. Taking $10,00 away from the parents is taking $10,000 from the child. There are so many loopholes in the current bills to ban conversion therapy that will cause more harm to ethnic minorities rather than free them. This is due to the failure of white politicians to engage with us.
Nothing for us can be created without us.
Youre someone who hasnt had the easiest time online, with trolls and fake accounts sending you homophobic harrasment. Where have you found your strength to continue speaking out and up despite everything?
If you want to get to your destination time, you can’t stop to throw a stone if every barking dog. There is a reason why some people are stuck on the sidelines critiquing others without anything going for them. My purpose and goal are far greater than unhappy bigots. The love I have for my people is beyond any amount of hate I could receive. I have been called many horrible things, received many death threats, a note was left on my door that said “go to hell homo,” and I have even had three men banging at my door at 3 AM. None of these things have made me question my commitment to my people.
There are so few queer people able to fight for the community. When you put the intersectional lens of queerness and BIPOC, there are even less. Every single person in the BIQPOC is burdened with some task. There is no one to fill in for me on the bad days. Sometimes I am here due to necessity. But I recognise that all the work we are doing now will create a world where queer people will grow up and thrive instead of fighting to survive. It is worth it!
How has being Pasifika either aided or hindered your journey as a Queer person in this complicated world?
(TRIGGER WARNING: VIOLENCE AGAINST LGBTQIA+ COMMUNITY) I
I was born in Fiji, and Fijians are known to be some of the kindest people. But that kindness comes with an exception. 2 years ago, on the International Day Against Transphobia, a body of a trans woman was found lying in a pool of blood in the capital of Fiji. A year before that, a gay couple was attacked and left to bleed. I was afraid of growing up in Fiji. When I moved to Aotearoa, I escaped a country ready to kill me and a government ready to justify it. But people close to my heart at home don't have that luxury of being who they are in safety. My people in Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands are considered criminals. I cannot be free until all my people are free.Being a pacific person has provided me with knowledge and wisdom that has eased accepting who I am. My great grandmother calls my flamboyancy a gift, and my authentic queerness my ancestors wildest dream. On the other hand, many cishet Pacific people have made it incredibly difficult for me to exist.
Pacific peoples will preach love on a Sunday morning and harass queer people on Instagram as they drive to Maccas from the church. The same people who breach all the archaic rules of the bible are the first to use the bible against queer people. There is no need to act holier than thou. We all have done things that aren't morally right but being queer is not one of them. Queer Pacific people are phenomenal. I am just entering the ballroom community, and I can already feel the love, respect and appreciation for my work. I have the same respect for the pioneers and contributors to the ballroom. This community has been forced to create their own space to express their authentic self freely. The resilience of the community is ancestral.
In what ways would you like to see the Pacific community become active allies to the LGBTQIA+ community?
It is a difficult conversation to have. I recognise that indigenous people of the Pacific weren’t always queerphobic. Queer people were integral to our communities and essential to our survival. Colonisers took that away and, over time, ingrained queerphobic values into our community. Queerphobic is an arm of racism, but very few recognise it.
Here are some things for people to consider:
* If you are making space for men and women, are you making space for trans non-binary people?
* If you are recruiting a pacific advisory group, are you uplifting marginalised queer voices?
* Are you having conversations with your friends and family, or are you only writing sweet words for social media?
* Do you intervene in situations that are unsafe for queer people?
* Are you teachable? Cis-het people, no matter how hard they try, will mess up sometimes. That’s okay. Remain teachable.
* Do you respect all queer people?
In this endless cycle of homophobia and transphobia, there is only one winner: the coloniser. The white gays got gay marriage, and they got over it. But Indigenous queer people are left to fight our battles since we were colonised and criminalised. If we, as Pacific people, uphold colonial systems of bigotry, a day will come when we cease to exist. And that day, we would crush the dreams of our ancestors.
