After Sunday’s rally at Wellington’s Bucket Fountain, trans rights messages were still chalked on the pavement, organisers said. The organisers put the turnout at more than 100. People had come to Cuba Street to ask New Zealand’s next Parliament to keep a lapsed bill off the agenda.

Queer Endurance in Defiance held the rally on 15 November, eight days after the general election. At one point, the group said, young people carrying Pride flags chased a performer wearing a papier-mâché head of New Zealand First leader Winston Peters. The crowd chanted, “We defy your definitions.”

The bill was brought by New Zealand First MP Jenny Marcroft. It would define “woman” and “man” in the Legislation Act by biological sex, with corresponding definitions for “female” and “male”. It passed its first reading in May. By September, the select committee said it had received more than 40,000 written submissions. It had heard from Marcroft and had held no other oral hearings on the bill.

Sunday’s organisers also wanted to celebrate an earlier High Court ruling that struck down restrictions on new puberty blocker prescriptions. The bill lapsed when Parliament dissolved on 1 October. The next House can vote to pick it up where it left off.