RainbowYOUTH’s new Community Wardrobe is providing free identify affirming clothing to queer and gender diverse young people in Auckland.
The initiative, launched in time to coincide with the recent Auckland Pride Festival, is the result of three months work by volunteers including Westlake Girls’ College who ran a clothing drive at the end of 2014 to generate enough clothes to fill the wardrobe.
“Often both money and stigma are barriers to accessing identity affirming clothing for our young people,” said Aych McArdle, education director at RainbowYOUTH. “We wanted to create a safe place where our rangatahi could get what they need and for it to be a really positive experience.”
The Community Wardrobe is open weekdays from 11am to 5pm at 281 Karangahape Road (the RainbowYouth drop-in centre).
