Need the pākehā version? Read it here.

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Ngira nei, taiaki nei:

“Me he pūroi” te kī,

ehē, ki mua o ō matimati ko te rongoā.

Matimati nei, maikuku nei:

“Me he pepa” te kī,

ehē, ki mua o ō whatu ko te Māori.

Whatu nei, ihu nei:

“Me he…”

Engari kāre he kī,

Hongi rā, hongi noa.

“Tēnei au” te kī,

āe mārika, ki mua o ō kanohi ko au.

Ko au kau.

Ki te tīmata?

“Ko te Māori, he momo tangata e kī ana he tāngata taearo”

– Hōne Pēke, Minita Pirihimana o mua, Māehe 6, 2003.

“E ora ana koe…?”

“Āe, heoi          mate aroha      i ngā       wamowa (wahine moe wahine)”

“wāhine…”

“wāhine…”

– Māua ko taku hoa tata, he wāhine takatāpui, he Māori hoki, Ōketopa 14, 2025.   

He ahakoa, i mua mai i te tāwai i te kaitōrangapū rītaia, me whakatakoto he kōrero whakangahau ake?

Tēnā koutou, ko Wharetutu ahau!

He uri nō Ngāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, rātou ko Te Kāhui Waitaha au, he iawhiti, ā, he tino pai ki ahau te wāhine. Me he harakeke ēnei. Te rito ki te awhi rite ki te tīpuna. Hūtia te rito o te harakeke, kei hea te kōmako e kō?

He pai ki ahau te toikupu, he reretau taku reo Māori, ā, e anga ana ōku whāinga ki te ao o te ngā reo katoa. Ka ngahau ōku tāringa i te rongo reo e kōrero ana e te tangata.

Ki te rongo?

Ka noho wāhirua he tangata ki ngā hapori takatāpui, ki te tāone tētahi, ki te tuawhenua tētahi atu, ka rongo i te tūmono kupu. He pai ētahi, ehara i te pai ētahi atu, he hou ētahi, he tawhito ētahi atu. Nā reira, tirohia taua kōreroreo tā māua ko taku hoa, ka pai?

Kimikimi kē te kupu “wamowa”. Ko tāku whakapākehā, ko “wuhluhwuh” nā te mea he kupu tāwhai noa. Ki te ipurangi, kei te tino rongonui haere i roto i ngā hapori takatāpui, ina kite mātou i ngā kōhine kihikihi, ngā kōhine taukinikini, ka mea ka mea…

Ko te mātua takenga o te kupu “wamowa” ko te kupu rāmoto WLW (woman loving woman), engari kāore e pērā noa. I te reo Māori ō-kawa, ko te “wahine moe wahine” kē.

Ka mārama tātou ki te tikanga o te kupu “moe”, nē? Ko te “moe”, ko te “ai” hoki. E ai ki te Māori mai rānō, kāore he whakamā i taua kaupapa (e rua ō hē, Matua Pēke…), ā, he tohu hoki nō te mate urutā ko te huaketo/mate ārai-kore (ko HIV/AIDS). Ka nui kē te whakamā i reira i te kī a te kupu “gay”, (ka nui kē ināianei…) nō reira ka mahia te kupu “tāne-moe-tāne” hei whakahekea iho. Ki runga ki tēnā, i a rātou te kupu “wahine-moe-wahine” hoki. He ō-kawa rawe aua mea i tēnei wā? Tēnā pea! Engari, ahakoa he aha ka pēnei te reo. Ka pū tēnei kupu, ka hao tērā kupu. He tohu nō te tikanga o taua wā, he tohu nō te ahurea hoki o taua wā. E rua e rua kē, nē? Hei tāku, kotahi te aronga, he tohu reo!

He mea tautohetohe nei nō te ao Pākehā: ko ngā tūkapi. He tohu hapori tēnei ki te hapori iawhiti (ehara i te pai kē ki ahau tēnei kupu…), he mea hirahira hei tohu tuakiri ki a mātou.

E ai ki te reo Māori, kotahi te tūkapi kiritūnā takitahi (he tino pai ki ahau tēnei kupu): ko te “ia”. E pai ana (atu i te “gay fanfiction problem”...), heoi ka āhua pōuri i te mea kāore he tohu hapori pēnā i te reo Pākehā. E ai ki te tākuta, ko ngā “she/her” āku, e ai ki āku hoa, ko ngā “she/it” āku, heoi e ai ki te Māori, ko ngā “she/ia”. E toru ngā aronga! Heoi, me mātua mōhio kē koe, he rite tonu ko te “she/her” e whakamahia ana, kei te pai tēnā! Ka rongo au ki ō pātai: “me pēhea he tangata, i te reo Pākehā, e maumahara i ngā āhuatanga katoa o te kupu “ia”?”. Ko tāku whakautu, kāore he tikanga! Kāore au e pīrangi kia kitea koe e maumahara ana ki te “tōna/tāna/tana/ōna/āna/ana” i ā tāua kōrero! Ko taku hiahia kē, he tohu mōu. Ka rongo koe ki te “ia”, he karanga ki a koe – “E hoa, kōrerotia te reo ki ahau!”. He tohu aronga nei!

Ki hea?

“Ko tōku reo tōku ohooho…” ka mea, ka mea.

Ahakoa he Māori, he takatāpui, kei te tino ngahau au i te huhua a te reo e kōrerotia ana e te hapori. Kia whakarangona! He aha tō rongo? Anā tāku: i te mihi tuatahi ki te hoa, ka kite au i tōna haukiri, i tōna mahi. Heoi, mēnā ko koe taku kare, ka rongo au ki tō mita. Ngā mita takatāpui, ngā mita tuawhenua, ngā mita taone, te whakawhiti reo. Anā te tuakiri! Ko te tuakiri ki Hui-te-rangi-ora! Ko te papa ki runga o aku waewae, ia kōhatu ia kōhatu. Kaua i te Pourewa Kohe (Babel), ehē! He Ara Kohe kē, e hoa ē! Haramai, haere ki taku taha! Mā te kupu, mā te kōhatu mai i te arero ki te papa – te rōreka hoki! Ki te whatu, ki te taringa, ki te arero, ki te matimati, ki te waewae!

Haumi ē, hui ē, tāiki ē!

Tēnei au! Tēnei rā au! Haumi ē, hui ē, tāiki ē! Tuku!

Promenade of Babel

I pursue you through hinges,

And through the green’d lock

And onto the palm of my hand

I can smell you within the broadness of my pale Māori nose

And can hear your voice, through the knots and callouses of the door

And it whispers, whispers with the delicate strength of a spider’s silk:

I am alive, and so are you

So how to start?

“The Maori [sic] race is generally what you might describe as heterosexual”

– John Archibald Banks, former NZ Minister for Police, March 6th, 2003.

“E ora ana koe…?”

“Āe, heoi          mate aroha    i ngā   wamowa”

“wāhine…”

“wāhine…”

(“You alright…?”

“Yeah, but              yearning for           wuhluhwuh”

“women…”

“women…”)

– Me and a friend, both passionately lesbian and Māori, October 14, 2025.    

Anyway, rather than throw shade at retired politicians, shall we get onto something a little more interesting?

Kia ora, I’m Wharetutu.

I’m Māori, I’m trans, and I’m definitely into women. They’re a complete set, you see. Can’t leave home without all three. I like poetry, I’m a (mostly) fluent speaker of te reo Māori, and my passion is in language. I like to listen to the words people use, the words people don’t use, and how people talk.

So what have I heard?

When you’ve been around the block like I have with urban and rural queer communities, you find a lotta different words, some I love, some I hate, some new, some old. Let’s go back to that little passage I took from myself and a close friend of mine’s DMs, shall we?

“Wamowa” is completely made up. I translated it as wuhluhwuh because it's literally just a calque of that word, which has gained a lot of popularity among online queer circles whenever two girls hold hands, kiss, or whatever else (yuri fans unite!!!). It comes from the acronym WLW (woman loving woman), which does have an equivalency in Māori – wahine moe wahine, though note that moe means less like “love” and more like “have sex with”.

Ain’t that a fun little tidbit? It’s just a little insight into history and culture, as wahine moe wahine shows the openness Māori have long had around sex and sexuality (that’s 2–0, Mister Banks!), but is also a relic of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, where, in order to reduce the stigma of accessing services to help prevent transmission, there came the need for a more neutral term, rather than the politically charged word “gay”. Therefore, you get terms such as “men who have sex with men”, and “women who have sex with women” as a disambiguating term, regardless of identity. Not so common nowadays, as I’ve seen Burnett Foundation Aotearoa uses “gay and bi guys” far more often now, but just another testament to language and identity being so closely connected.

Now in the modern world of pronouns (here’s to you, my fae/faer users!), us trans people are always using them to express ourselves. If anyone reading this knows what Polari is, you might be able to see where I’m getting at here.

On every official document and/or interview with anyone cis, my pronouns have always been she/her. Plain and simple. Lately I’ve been experimenting with she/it, which I’ve

also enjoyed! I save that one for my in-groups and it’s a rare (but very welcome) surprise for someone to use it. Now in my Māori groups (read, group), I put myself down as she/her/ia.

Why? Why do I use pronouns that people aren’t even gonna use in the first place?

It’s a litmus test, in a way, to see who (pardon my French) fucks with my vibe. Now especially the she/her/ia bit, it’s an invite for you to speak Māori, talk Māori, and show that I am Māori. I just find it fascinating

So where am I going with this?

Language is important. There’s a massively different vibe from an event for “gay people” versus “queer people”, I get good vibes from seeing a “Queer Aotearoa” rather than neutral vibes from a “Gay NZ”. Hell, I feel a little more at ease when glancing at a cisgender person’s profile and seeing the (coveted) she/they or he/they pronouns on their page. Of course they/them is for everyone, but seeing people dip their toes into this beautiful pool I glide through day-to-day is music to my ears (the music in question is breakcore and Māori soul, just so you know). I find my friends first being chosen by their personality and actions, but second, in order to upgrade them to the status of “bestie”, I wanna hear how you speak. Gay accents, rural and urban slang, code switching… I could go on. Each of these help construct my world around me. It’s certainly no Tower of Babel, but something solid and permanent – Promenade of Babel, anyone? If we wanna take a stroll down memory lane in this way, let’s hear your voice, let’s lay bricks down the promenade, let’s talk to one another.

Can you hear me?!

Tēnei au! Tēnei rā au! Haumi ē, hui ē, tāiki ē! Tuku!