OBITUARY Alison Jean Laurie 20/4/1941 - 16/8/2024

by Julie Glamuzina

Photograph courtesy of Gareth Watkins

Alison was a writer, broadcaster, linguist, activist, oral historian, feminist, academic, animal-lover, amongst other achievements and interests, but above all, a proud lesbian. Sharing Pākehā and Māori whakapapa, Alison is an important figure in the development of the unique lesbian and feminist knowledge and communities of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Alison’s perspective was global and multi-level. She understood relationships and power structures, including across culture, gender, sex, sexuality, class, race. Her extensive life experiences enabled her to articulate these both practically and theoretically. Her networking abilities brought domestic and international perspectives to lesbian politics in this country. Alison’s personal experiences led her to help others on an individual basis. She was generous with her time, her knowledge, and her possessions and was a mentor to many women.

Alison’s contributions to Homosexual and Human Rights law reform campaigns during the 1970s and 1980s is undeniable. Her energetic contributions included public speeches, letter writing, attending street marches and protests, formal submissions, press statements, interviews, and organising. As an outspoken activist, at great personal risk and often personal cost, Alison was unafraid to stand before TV cameras or hostile and abusive crowds, to assert basic rights for lesbians and gay men.

Alison’s life as a proud, uncompromising lesbian accelerated when, at around the age of 16, she was forced by her parents to leave home because of her lesbianism. As a consequence, she left New Zealand in search of greater freedom and larger lesbian communities in England and Europe. From England she followed her lesbian partner to Scandinavia. She became fluent in Scandinavian languages, taught English as a second language, went to university, and, given her linguistic abilities, found work as a tour guide, taking travellers throughout Scandinavia, Europe and even Russia in the 1960s and 70s.

Throughout this period, she enjoyed the lesbian clubs and social scenes in London, Oslo, and Copenhagen. She also became involved in the homosexual rights movements in those countries. These experiences reinforced her conviction that for lesbian lives to improve, it was necessary to have lesbian organisations and spaces.

In 1973 on a return trip to Wellington, she brought a stack of lesbian and other political literature which she made available to local lesbians and helped establish the lesbian magazine Circle, one of a number of organisations and initiatives indicative of a growing lesbian political consciousness. Such literature was not readily available at that time (pre-internet, social media and mass communication channels).  She was also involved in helping establish the lesbian CLUB 41, which functioned until 1977 providing a private space for lesbians to meet and to socialise.

Alison returned to permanent living in Aotearoa/New Zealand in the early 1980s and later became a lecturer in Women’s Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. During her academic career, and after, Alison produced articles, books, lectures, as well as a PhD thesis, on many aspects of lesbian, feminist and lesbian-feminist experience. She became Director of the Gender and Women’s Studies Programme at Victoria University, where she pioneered lesbian studies in the university setting. She was also a strong participant in the Women’s Studies Association.

She was one of the initiators of the Lesbian Radio Programme, Wellington Access Radio, over many years broadcasting a weekly show with news, interviews, commentaries and entertainment.

Alison was a committed member of LAVA. Alison and Anna were present with other LAVAites at our protest at the Ministry for Women in 2021 because of our shared concern about the erosion of women's and lesbian's rights.

The significance of Alison’s contribution to the development of lesbian-feminism, lesbian consciousness and community, and lesbian perspectives in Aotearoa/New Zealand is indisputable. Because she was unafraid to stand out as a proud lesbian, she inspired other women to do the same.