Over 200 people attended today's funeral service for long-time Out! magazine editor Brett Sheppard. Sheppard died a week ago after a long battle with cancer. Speakers at his Remuera, Auckland, funeral remembered him as a generous, ebullient and determined man. His business partner at the Out! empire, Tony Katavich, spoke of the pair's epic battles with customs and other government agencies to be allowed to import and publish gay material. MP Georgina Beyer related anecdotes from the time she worked in Bloomers revue at Alfies nightclub which was co-owned by Sheppard. Others spoke of his closeness to family and considerable involvement with competitive NZ rollerskating throughout the country and overseas. A unique element of the non-religious service was the playing of excerpts from a Queer Nation programme on Sheppard which included clips from gay porn movies.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Saturday, 23rd November 2002 - 12:00pm