Phylesha Brown-Acton

Phylesha Brown-Acton MNZM (born February 1976) is a Niuean fakafifine LGBTQ+ rights activist. In 2019, she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit to recognize her work with LGBTQ+ communities from the Pacific countries.

Phylesha Brown-Acton

MNZM
Brown-Acton in 2019
BornFebruary 1976 (age 47)
Niue
NationalityNiuean
CitizenshipNew Zealand
Occupation(s)Human rights activist; social worker; dancer
HonoursNew Zealand Order of Merit
Websitehttps://finepasifika.org.nz/

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 Venice Biennale.[3][5] In 2006 she began work for the Pacific Peoples Project 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,[8] Brown-Acton was the first person to introduce a Pacific specific acronym for western LGBTQ+ communities: MVPFAFF - Mahu, Vakasalewalewa, Palopa, 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]

Honours

In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours, Brown-Acton was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the Pacific and LGBTQI+ communities.[6][19] She is the first Pacific trans woman to be recognised in this way.[18]

Publications
  • Brown-Acton, P. (2020). Hands and feet: A reflection on Polynesian navigation—a Niue Fakafifine community practitioner perspective in Aotearoa-New Zealand. Te Kaharoa, 15(1).[3]

References
  1. "NZOM recipient says more needs to be done for Pasifika and LGBTQI communities". RNZ. 3 June 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  2. "What does human rights mean to you?". www.amnesty.org. 12 December 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  3. Brown-Acton, Phylesha (25 February 2020). "Hands and feet: A reflection on Polynesian navigation—a Niue Fakafifine community practitioner perspective in Aotearoa-New Zealand". Te Kaharoa. 15 (1). doi:10.24135/tekaharoa.v15i1.298. ISSN 1178-6035.
  4. "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. Zemke, Kirsten; Mackley-Crump, Jared (1 March 2019). "'Sissy that walk': Reframing queer Pacific bodies through the FAFSWAG Ball". Queer Studies in Media & Popular Culture. 4 (1): 85–98. doi:10.1386/qsmpc_00007_1. S2CID 203416520.
  6. "Phylesha Brown-Acton a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit » Pacific Homecare". Pacific Homecare. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  7. "'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. Campbell, Jim; Gillespie, Morag (28 April 2016). Feminist Economics and Public Policy. Routledge. p. 14. 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. Nicolazzo, Z.; Jourian, T. J. (2 January 2020). "'I'm looking for people who want to do disruption work': Trans* academics and power discourses in academic conferences". Gender and Education. 32 (1): 56–69. doi:10.1080/09540253.2019.1633461. ISSN 0954-0253. 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. mmoneymaker (28 January 2020). "Meet The 2020 OutRight Beijing+25 Fellows". OutRight Action International. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  19. "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.
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