(also spelled ; ) is a Māori term that is used in a similar way to LGBT. When speaking Māori, LGBT people of any culture are referred to as . In English, a person is a Māori individual who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, Intersex () and/or transgender. In contemporary use, is used in response to the Western construction of "sexuality, gender, and corresponding identity expressions" (gender identity and sexual identity). incorporates both a sense of indigenous identity and communicates sexual orientation; it has become an umbrella term to build solidarity among sexuality and gender minorities within Māori communities.
is not a new term, but the application of it is recent. After a long period of disuse there has been a resurgence since the 1980s for a label to describe an individual who is both Māori and non-heterosexual.
One of the great love stories of the Māori world is the legend of Hinemoa and Tūtānekai. The story remains popular and is retold in songs, films, cultural theatre and dance. Hinemoa defies her family to claim Tūtānekai, her "heart's desire"—the love-child of a chief's wife who was not her social equal. While no-one can say Tūtānekai and Tiki were sexually involved, their relationship was accepted to be intimate beyond mere friendship, and the story illustrates the concept that in traditional Māori life was not exactly the same as constructions of contemporary homosexuality in Western societies.
Uses
One of the first contemporary uses of was in a report to the Public Health Commission by Herewini and Sheridan (1994), which used the term to encompass Māori gay men as well as men who have sex with men but who do not identify as gay. The historical usage of the term might not correspond with contemporary understanding of LGBT identities, while information on non-heterosexual sexuality and variations from gender roles as we understand them today has been substantially eradicated by Victorian morality brought by colonisers and Christian missionaries. Although circumstantial, there remains some evidence that lived without discrimination in pre-European times. Some contemporary Māori LGBT people use the terms gay and lesbian as a convenience, while others self-identify as to resist the colonisation of their identities and bodies which would "deny access to important ancestral knowledge". Some use both terms depending on the context. serves as an umbrella term for all these identities.