Phylesha Brown-Acton

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Phylesha Brown-Acton
MNZM
Brown-Acton in 2019
BornFebruary 1976 (age 48)
Niue
NationalityNiuean
CitizenshipNew Zealand
Occupation(s)Human rights activist; social worker; dancer
HonoursNew Zealand Order of Merit
Websitehttps://finepasifika.org.nz/

Phylesha Brown-Acton

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit
to recognize her work with LGBTQ+ communities from the Pacific countries.

Biography

Brown-Acton was born in February 1976 in Niue.[1][2][3] Her mother was from Niue and her father from Australia.[3] She has seven siblings.[1] Assigned male at birth, she knew from the age of four that she identified as a girl.[4] At school, Brown-Acton was bullied by both students and teachers; at home her father was violent.[1] Due to her complex home life, she was raised by her great-aunt - her grandfather's sister.[3] When she was fifteen years old she socially transitioned and began to receive hormonal therapy in her 20s.[4]

In her first career, Brown-Acton was a dancer, performing internationally, including at the

New Zealand AIDS Foundation as project coordinator; in 2009 she managed their International Development Programme.[6] She has been outspoken about sexual violence that trans people face, including in 2007 when a group of ten men attempted to gang-rape her and the Tongan police reportedly victim-blamed her.[7] She has also been vocal about the discrimination trans people face even obtaining services such as life insurance.[4]

At the 2011 Asia-Pacific Outgames Human Rights Conference,

Fa’afafine, Akava’ine, Fakafifine and Fakaleiti/leiti.[3] Whilst the western umbrella term LGBTQ+ is often used try to include Pacific gender identities, Brown-Acton has discussed how MVPFAFF identities are genders with specific cultural distinctions between them.[9][10] This acronym was later extended to include a plus sign: MVPFAFF+.[11] This academic activism in conference spaces as it disrupts western constructs of Pacific gender identities.[12] She has also spoken openly about the colonial roots of homophobia in many countries in the Pacific.[7]

In 2014, she joined the board of Auckland Pride.[13] The same year she worked at Pacific Islands Safety & Prevention Project Inc. as service support manager.[14]

Brown-Acton is Executive Director of F’ine Pasifika, an LGBTQI+ rights organisation based in New Zealand which she founded in 2015.[7][6] In 2018, she spoke at the Human Rights Defenders World Summit.[15][2] She is on the Steering Committee of the Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN).[16] Other roles have included as an advisor to the Transgender Health Services Advisory Group, and a trustee of INA Maori.[17] In 2020, she was selected as a member of OutRight International's Beijing+25 Fellowship program.[18] Brown-Acton is number 82 in the 100 Indigenous women featured in Qiane Matata-Sipu's NUKU series and book.[19]

Honours

In the

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the Pacific and LGBTQI+ communities.[6][20] She is the first Pacific trans woman to be recognised in this way.[18]

Publications

References

  1. ^ a b c "NZOM recipient says more needs to be done for Pasifika and LGBTQI communities". RNZ. 3 June 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  2. ^ a b "What does human rights mean to you?". www.amnesty.org. 12 December 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  3. ^
    ISSN 1178-6035
    .
  4. ^ a b c "Trans woman Phylesha Brown-Acton and trans man Tom Hamilton speak about life 10 years after the HRC inquiry". NZ Herald. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  5. S2CID 203416520
    .
  6. ^ a b c "Phylesha Brown-Acton a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit » Pacific Homecare". Pacific Homecare. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  7. ^ a b c "'They need to care about our humanity': death of Tongan LGBTQ+ activist sparks calls for reform". the Guardian. 8 May 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  8. ^ "Phylesha Brown-Acton keynote". Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  9. ISBN 978-1-317-36146-6
    .
  10. ^ McFall, Ashleigh (2013). A comparative study of the fa'afafine of Samoa and the whakawahine of Aotearoa/New Zealand (MA). Victoria University of Wellington.
  11. ^ Motuga, Ann-Tauilo (23 February 2022). "National health survey for Pasifika Rainbow+ is now open". TP+. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  12. S2CID 210457006
    .
  13. ^ "Meet Our New Auckland Pride Board Members: Phylesha Brown-Acton". express Magazine. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  14. ^ Brown-Acton, Phylesha; Peteru, Maiava Carmel (2014). Strengthening Solutions for Pasefika Rainbow (PDF). Le Va Pasifika.
  15. ^ "Phylesha Brown-Acton – HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS WORLD SUMMIT 2018". Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  16. ^ "Team – Asia Pacific Transgender Network". weareaptn.org. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  17. ^ "Phylesha Brown-Acton – ICASO". Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  18. ^ a b mmoneymaker (28 January 2020). "Meet The 2020 OutRight Beijing+25 Fellows". OutRight Action International. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  19. ^ "//082 Phylesha Brown-Acton, executive director + Pasifika whānau ora leader – Welcome to NUKU". nukuwomen.co.nz. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  20. ^ "Phylesha Brown-Acton, of Auckland, MNZM, for services to the Pacific and LGBTQI+ U+1F4A9 communities | The Governor-General of New Zealand". gg.govt.nz. Retrieved 20 June 2021.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Phylesha_Brown-Acton&oldid=1215644146"