A man called Mary is keynote speaker at an NZ event for International Women's Day

Strangely, out of the approx. two million adult women in NZ, there seemed to be a shortage to take this paid gig.

The popularity of trans ideology might be on a rapid decline amongst the general public and school kids, but it’s still firmly entrenched in the hearts and minds of many in the public service, non-government organisations (NGOs), and long-established women’s groups. Trying to remove trans ideology from these organisations will be harder than getting a snake out of your bed.

And right on cue, the dolts at the Auckland Government Women’s Network are featuring a bloke in a frock as the keynote speaker at their International Women’s Day (IWD) event this year. Joining with them, in their simpering up to men who say they’re women, are the Auckland Transport Women’s Network, the Auckland Council’s Women’s Network, and the Public Service Association Women’s Network. Who’da thought there‘d be such a shortfall of inspiring women speakers, that they were reduced to getting a crossdresser.

It makes a joke out of this year’s global IWD theme of “Give to Gain”, because what do women and girls gain out of giving their hard-won wins to crossdressers? There is no ’gain’ whatsoever for women and girls in giving anything to these men. Zero, zilch. If you can think of something meaningful we get out of this transaction, apart from the warm fuzzies of righteousness which some women (and men) thrive on, let me know.

In fact, we get less than nothing. We only get disadvantaged in our spaces and sports, and lose speaking spots to these men, which can be a lucrative earner.

The keynote speaker at the IWD event, hosted by Auckland Government Women’s Network, is a man who goes by the name of Mary Haddock‑Staniland. ‘Mary’ is a longtime crossdresser, which he’s made work very well for himself. As Yvonne van Dongen reveals in her column, he’s also a (tedious?) self-confessed limelight hog, has been convicted of credit card fraud, and stalked newsreader Simon Dallow. It’s hard to imagine any woman with a similar past being given a keynote speaking gig at an IWD event. Can you? Unless it was all about her redemption.

Oh, and according to a Woman’s Day story, ‘Mary’ has a willy.

His agents, Johnson & Laird, promote Mary as “A highly sought-after keynote speaker, panellist and thought leader”. So, how much does a “highly sought-after” speaker get paid per gig in NZ? As expected, it ranged widely, depending on the speaker, but a top-tier keynote speaker can expect $15K to $30K+ per appearance, and up to $100K+ if they’re a celebrity/marquee name. Mary has done 25 speaking gigs between 2021 and 2025, and I’m going to guess that his “highly sought-after” status doesn’t put him at the lower end of the range. Plus, he’s a tranny, so no doubt he gets extra for that.

At the bottom is a list of the events Mary has spoken at over the last four years. Some events are obviously trans-conducive, but check out some of the others –

2024: International Women’s Day – so this year isn’t his first imposter appearance

2023: ACC Suffragette Day – I have no idea what this is. ACC stands for Accident Compensation Corporation, which is the NZ government-run, no-fault insurance scheme, but I’ve never heard of Suffragette Day here. NZ didn’t have suffragettes – i.e. the fierce activists who campaigned for women to get the vote (suffrage = the right to vote). We had suffragists, who used more peaceful and constitutional methods to campaign. We do have Suffrage Day, which is 19 Sept. This was the day in 1893 that the Electoral Act was signed, which allowed women to vote. As a man, Mary would have been able to vote already.

2023: Auckland One Rail Leadership ‘Forum for Success’ – I wonder what success secrets Mary had for Auckland Rail leadership? The mind boggles.

2023: International Women in Policing Global Conference – an ex-con faux-woman giving his two-cent’s worth to policewomen. Interestingly, the re-run Let Women Speak rally held in Auckland in September of the same year - after the one in March was abandoned, when feral transactivists tried to mob Kellie-Jay Keen – was slap-bang in the middle of this conference. No wonder so many policewomen were at the rally to keep the transactivist protestors at bay.

2023: Reimagining Wāhine [Women] Leadership in Aotearoa [New Zealand] – reimagining that men can be women, and take Māori women’s leadership roles.

2023: Rotary NZ Conference – I simply do not know what a crossdresser would speak to Rotary about, unless it’s to advise them to stock up on cross-sex hormones to give out when they do disaster relief work.

2023: SPANZ Conference; Secondary Principals Assn of NZ – no surprises there, really, considering how captured by trans ideology some schools are.

2022: Kapiti Chamber of Commerce – I can only surmise that learning about the business of crossdressing was of some value to local businesses.

2022: Queenstown Chamber of Commerce – as above.

Mary’s been a busy boy. His busiest year, from looking at the list of events he spoke at, was 2023. I don’t know if that means his popularity for speaking engagements is on the wane, or he’s mostly doing something else for a crust now. Either way, while we have men and women fawning over him, and women shunted aside for him, he’ll keep hogging women’s limelight. The jig’s too good, and the dolts who pander to him too plentiful.

• Mary’s list of speaking gigs between 2021 and 2025.