While the Auckland Pride Festival wrestles with participation decisions for the forthcoming Auckland Pride Parade, the organisers of the Festival's other signature event say there will be no Parade-like restrictions on participation in the Big Gay Out. the Prime Minister and national MPs on last year's Big Gay Out main stage with MC Mika Pride Parade organisers were forced to confront the issue of appropriateness and human rights commitment of parade participants when a protest group took strong exception to the inclusion of Corrections, who have a demonstrably poor record of treatment of trans prisoners, and the Police, who they also object to, in last year's parade. By contrast, the Big Gay Out, an independent event run in association with Auckland Pride, has long had a formal police presence - as opposed to policing the site - and participation, and a stall staffed by representatives of the National party, the majority of whose MPs have traditionally voted against human rights legislation benefiting glbti people. “The Big Gay Out is a community event for all members and supporters of the LGBT community, and we aim to be as inclusive as possible,” says David Friar of the NZ AIDS Foundation which is behind the Big Gay Out as part of it's HIV prevention awareness and outreach programme. He says a screening process for examining organisations' commitment to human rights for glbti people along the lines of the Auckland Pride model is not likely to be adopted for the BGO. “We will continue to apply the same approach” as recent years, Friar says. The Big Gay Out is traditionally a platform for the major political parties to strut their stuff with National, Labour and the Greens for some years having a presence and a slot to address the crowd from the main stage. GayNZ.com understands from an NZAF source that those three parties have again been invited to participate this year. It is not yet known if the Police or Corrections intend to have a stall or similar presence. “It is appropriate that all major political parties have a presence at the Big Gay Out,” Friar says, “given that they all have the potential to influence our goal of ending all HIV transmissions as well as advancing the interests of the LGBT community. In our view, it is in the community’s interest to engage with all politicians. Further, marriage equality was a conscience vote, with support across the political spectrum. More than two dozen National MPs, including the Prime Minister, voted in favour of marriage equality. We should not turn our backs on any of our supporters from any political party.” Asked if the high-profile presence at last year's BGO of national MPs Melissa Lee and Alfred Ngaro who both voted against marriage equality was appropriate, Friar says It would not have been appropriate to exclude the pair from the Big Gay Out. “We disagree with both MPs’ stance on marriage equality, but we do not believe in excluding people from the event because of their political views. We believe that we can make progress by dialogue and engagement, not exclusion. By coming to the BGO last year, these MPs showed a willingness to engage and try to understand the issues. They are likely to hear community members’ opinions about their vote and the issues, and we hope that this will help advance social and political change." Lee also marched with the National entry in the last Pride Parade, waving and smiling to lgbt people for whom she voted to deny legal equality in marriage. GayNZ.com Daily News has forwarded questions to Auckland Pride as to what effect its new human-rights-based criteria might now have on such participation.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Sunday, 31st January 2016 - 2:55pm