GovernorGeneral to Present Prestigious Awards

MEDIA RELEASE: 25 November 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GovernorGeneral to Present Prestigious Awards

The GovernorGeneral will present Life Membership of the New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF) to five people in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the organisation.

The GovernorGeneral, who is also the patron of the NZAF, will present the honours in a ceremony at Government House, Auckland on 27 November, coinciding with World AIDS Day on 1 December. The recipients of are: Graeme Carpenter; Charles Chauvel; Shona Fordyce; Michael Stevens and Mama Tere Strickland. This year’s awards are particularly noteworthy as the NZAF marks its 25thanniversary a quarter century of work in the age of HIV. Diane Shannon, is also a recipient and will be presented with her NZAF Life Membership award at a ceremony in Christchurch in the future.

2010 NZAF Life Members

Dr. Graeme Carpenter practised as a GP in Christchurch where, for many years he was the GP with the highest caseload of patients living with HIV and became notable for seeing them free of charge. Dr Carpenter’s medical practice in the centre of the city played a key role in promoting sexual health, HIV testing and safe sex and he became a reference point for many gay men further afield in the South Island. Dr Carpenter served as Chair of the NZAF Trust Board from 1998 to 2000 and continues to practice in Northland.

Originally from Gisborne, Charles Chauvel began lobbying for Homosexual Law Reform in 1985 and joined the NZAF as a volunteer in 1988 in what was known as the Human Rights Programme. He has been a member and supporter, served on the Trust Board first as a member, and then as the Chair, from 1990 to 1996. In 1994, he was appointed to the Public Health Commission and seconded to the team that worked to successfully see the Bill of Rights and Human Rights Act amended to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or disability. Mr Chauvel worked tirelessly to secure the passage of the Civil Union Bill. In more recent times, his work has been integral to the abolition of the ‘homosexual advance’ or gay panic defence and he was appointed to UN Global Commission on HIV and the Law.

Shona Fordyce has been very prominent in the fight against HIV in Southland. As the Sexual Health Nurse in Invercargill, Ms Fordyce has served a geographically isolated and widespread area and a community with deepseated attitudes to HIV and diverse sexual orientations. Each year she has singlehandedly organised the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial – the most Southern of the memorials run by 1,200 community organisations in 115 countries.

Michael Stevens returned to Auckland in the mid 1990s after many years living in Turkey. He publicly acknowledged his HIV positive status and shortly thereafter became involved with the NZAF as a volunteer. He was elected to the NZAF Trust Board August in 1998, where he served as Deputy Chair, and then Chair from 2000 to 2004. He has supported and attended many HIV related events since 1998 and is an active gay community member. Throughout this time, he has been a leading and articulate advocate for the NZAF as a regular letter writer and Op Ed contributor to the NZ Herald on issues of HIV and safe sex. Mr Stevens was the first recipient of the NZAF Matt Whyte Research Grant in 2005 and then again in 2006 and 2007, for his PhD thesis on The Social and Cultural Context of Recent HIV Infection among Men have Sex with Men in Aotearoa New Zealand. He has regularly speaks to the media on issues related to HIV, both as a person living with HIV, and as a sociologist and has taken an articulate stance in New Zealand’s gay media against barebacking, the lower profile of HIV and the need for more gay community advocacy for safe sex.

Mama Tere Strickland (Ngā Puhi me Aitutaki), has been involved with the NZAF since 1996 and has been a strong advocate for the mission of the NZAF and safe sex messages for more than 15 years. She has been an active participant at the NZAF Hui Takatāpui since 1997 and represented the takatāpui communities on the NZAF Trust Board from 1999 to 2001. She has provided guidance and support for NZAF Kaimahi in the Hau Ora Takatāpui programme (1999 to 2008) and continues to do so for current Māori staff. She is one of the advisors to the Trust Board on issues for Māori. At the time of the Life Membership Award nominations she was the Coordinator of Te Aronga Hou Inaianei where she offered support for takatāpui a iwi and their whānau. She is a community worker and an outspoken campaigner for transgender rights, takatāpui tane and vulnerable rangatahi in South Auckland, in one of New Zealand’s most challenging urban areas.

"This year marks the 25th anniversary of the NZAF. Over the last quarter of a century these people have made a genuine contribution to an HIV resilient New Zealand," says NZAF Trust Board Chair Alastair Cameron. "We are very grateful to these people who have made an invaluable and meaningful contribution to the communities we serve and our mission of preventing the transmission of HIV and supporting people affected to maximise their health and wellbeing."

ENDS

NOTES TO JOURNALISTS

NZAF Life Memberships are awarded to exceptional individuals who have positively enhanced and substantially contributed, over a significant period of time, to the NZAF mission of preventing the transmission of HIV and to support people affected by HIV and AIDS to maximise their health and wellbeing. The recipients are nominated by NZAF members and selected by the Trustees according to the criteria.

Five NZAF Life Membership Awards, sculpted in bronze by New Zealand artist Terry Stringer, will be awarded on 27 November 2010.

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