Opinion: Whether you like it or not, living in an open liberal democracy means we hear lots of different opinions, voices and arguments about all sorts of things.
There are protests and rallies that we roll our eyes at. There are others we're not fussed by. There are ones we join in and support.
Our country has changed for the better because of protests and rallies. Laws have been changed and lives have been liberated and emancipated.
Difference and dissidence makes our country so much richer. Imagine how boring it would be if we were the same.
But just as much as we celebrate the freedom to be ourselves and the progress we've made, we have to celebrate our freedom to speak up in the first place - even when others have opposing views.
As French writer, Voltaire once wrote: "I Disapprove of What You Say, But I Will Defend to the Death Your Right to Say It".
The rights that afford us a platform to voice our concerns are the same rights that allow others to use that same platform to voice their own concerns.
That's life. That's democracy.
Just like we had the right to protest for homosexual law reform, same-sex marriage and prostitution law reform - those same rights allowed Brian Tamaki and Family First to take to the streets with their vitriolic opposition.
So, anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull - and yes, she is anti-trans because she doesn't believe trans-women are women - should be allowed into the country.
She can spout her backwards attitudes to her ignorant followers, and probably rouse the other hate groups too, like what happened in Melbourne when the neo-Nazis hitched their trailer to her wagon.
It also means we can stand up and fight back. That's what our freedoms allow too. We can show that her views and opinions aren't New Zealand and not who we are.
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