David Hindley with fellow co-chair Virginia Hopkins-Burns For eight days in early March, thousands of gay men and lesbians made Wellington city their own. They played sports in our venues, sang, danced and conferenced in our town hall, partied for most of the night, made friends, made love, built networks, Facebooked, blogged, ate, slept, and at the end of it sat lazily in the Sunday afternoon sun. As Co-chair of the Outgames, I was approached by more than a few Wellingtonians who were enormously proud of our city and how well it had hosted the event. The sun on both opening and closing weekends helped, as did the compact nature of the city, but it was ultimately the local people whose work preparing for the event and support during the week made the Outgames hum. My thanks, and those of the whole executive team, to the local GLBTI community, and beyond that to mainly straight organisations – from the Kilbirnie Bowling Club to Wellington Scottish Athletic Club – who got behind the Outgames. Several people have said the Outgames will make a lasting impression on the capital and its GLBTI community: I hope so. At this long distance from the high-profile struggles of the past (2011 is the 25th anniversary of homosexual law reform) it is easy to sometimes think of our community as little more than a few bars and bathhouses. Is there even a role and a purpose for our community anymore? I think the Outgames answered that with a powerful ‘yes’. Gay Pride is as important in the 21st century as it ever was. Even in as liberal a country as New Zealand, we are still marginalised by mainstream media. We are still discriminated against in marriage, adoption, and other areas, with little prospect of this changing soon. We need to be proud, and to be angry at times. The Outgames also opened for us a door on the world, particularly through the spectacularly successful human rights conference organised by Barry Taylor and his team. 18 countries in the Asia Pacific region outlaw homosexual activity, with prison terms of 10 years common, and even up to 20 years in some countries. These are our neighbours. At the conference we met participants from some of these places and heard their stories. I hope that after the Outgames, now that they have become friends, we have changed our view on our place in the world, we have a new sense of connectedness, and we have become inspired to maintain these new friendships. There has been nothing like the Outgames in Wellington before. Many people have taken part in political campaigns, but the Outgames programme of sport, arts and cultural events, and parties, was an upbeat celebration. We have shown what a relatively small community can achieve when it realises that it is a community. Those of us who have spent the last two and a half years working to bring the Outgames to Wellington will catch up on sleep, and get on with our own lives. For some, it means moving to other countries to new partners or new businesses. We are thankful for all the help we received in making the Outgames possible, and we are passionate and proud about what we achieved. - David Hindley, Co-chair 2nd AsiaPacific Outgames David Hindley - 21st March 2011