How much are ratepayers being stung for an online course that has been running for over two years and provides advice to transgender people on sex?
Sponsored by the Wellington City Council, among other groups, the transgender guide to sex and relationships is a free, online course designed to provide “interesting, fun, insightful, and practical information for transgender adults,” according to the website Gender Minorities. According to the Council’s annual reports, over three years, Gender Minorities Aotearoa has received $170,000 of ratepayers money – $43,000 a year for three years plus $40,000 extra in grants.
Sponsors of Online Sex Course
The course appears to have been running for over two years, since November 2022 and is being funded in part by the Wellington City Council. The course says it assists transgender people to explore ideas around their body and sense of self, what they like and don’t like, their needs and limits, communication, sex, and relationships. The course takes approximately 12 hours to complete, and is broken into 6 Chapters.
Among the activity the website appears to be encouraging:
- Urinating on your partner
- Oral sex on your partner’s anus
- Overriding consent concepts tied to BDSM
- Not telling a sex partner you are transgender before engaging in a sex act with them
- Cruising or anonymous sex
- “Chemsex” or sex under the influence of drugs
- The use of dildos and sex toys as promoted by a representative from the Adult Toy Megastore
- The course explores extreme or “niche” kink fetishes such as waterboarding, suturing and being urinated on.
Screenshot of advice from online course sponsored by Wellington City Council
There doesn’t appear to be any age restriction on who can enrol in the website and take part. The mission statement on the website says the site and organisation are for “all ages” and there is a whole section on the site for youth, which comes without any warnings whatsoever. Material that you would consider suitable for adults only, over the age of 18, is not separated out and available to children of all ages.
Anyone of any age seems able to undertake the course, which raises the question about whether the council is involved in promoting a course that could place children at risk for abuse.
Mission Statement on Gender Minorities Aotearoa website
Aside from those extremely important concerns, the other question is whether this is something that the Wellington City Council (any council) should be involved in? We say no. Wellington residents have been facing rates increases of over 22 percent and yet there is money being spent on these sorts of issues.
How much more is being spent in the council budget that is hidden away from ratepayers’ eyes?
All of this has been agreed and approved by your elected council representatives. If you don’t believe this is something that should be funded by ratepayers, make your views known to your city councillor and write to the council.
Some images from the online course are below.
Confused about what “waterboarding” is in a kink sense? Suturing … well, that’s something else altogether!
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