OutLine Aotearoa

OutLine is a nationwide, all-ages rainbow mental health organisation. We’ve been operating since 1972, and currently provide a free peer support phone line, a transgender peer support service for trans and non-binary people in Auckland, and specialist face-to-face and video counselling exploring gender and sexuality for rainbow people across Aotearoa.

Call us on 0800 OUTLINE (0800 688 5463) any evening between 6pm and 9pm to talk to a trained volunteer from the LGBTIQ+ community. It’s free & confidential. Some of the topics people call to talk about include family relationships, loneliness and isolation, sexuality and gender identity, sexual health, navigating gender-affirming healthcare and meeting people.

Our support line is answered by volunteer rainbow community members who have been trained to help others over the phone on issues around sexual orientation and gender identity. Currently the organisation has over 50 telephone volunteers who have all undertaken ongoing training and supervision.

Our Objectives

To support, affirm and advance the Aotearoa New Zealand rainbow communities* to achieve successful outcomes by;

- providing programmes which cater for social, educational and emotional needs
- advocating for social, cultural and legal rights
- nurturing and providing resources to meet community aspirations

* We use rainbow as an umbrella term to describe people who do not identify as heterosexual, do not fit typical gender norms, and/or were born with bodies that do not match common biological definitions of male or female. This includes a range of identities and experiences, and encompasses:

- Sexual orientation other than heterosexual (for example gay, lesbian, bisexual, takatāpui, queer, pansexual)
- Diverse gender identity and/or expression (for example trans, transgender, transsexual, takatāpui, whakawahine, tangata ira tane, fa’afafine, fa’afatama, genderqueer, fakaleiti, leiti, akava’ine, fakafifine, vakasalewa, FtM, MtF, non-binary)
- Diversity of sex characteristics including genitals, gonads or chromosome patterns (intersex)