It's perhaps a sign of our times that the true rivalry at this year's Big Gay Out, part of Auckland's Hero Festival 2006, wasn't between religion and rationality, but between the political left and right. When I first spoke to Labour MP Chris Carter, not long after his arrival, he said he didn't have too many comments to make, because the day was all about having fun and relaxing. Miss K, Don Brash and visually by Buckwheat's enormous blue 70s Elton John spectacles. It's at times like this you realise that whoever put "fun" into the word "fundamentalist" was a master of irony, and that the first person to coin the word "gay" in a fruity context knew exactly what they were doing. Chris Banks - 13th February 2006