Organisers of the Rotorua-based Bay Pride festival say the event will return in 2014. There have been two previous events in 2012 and 2011, giving the Bay of Plenty community a chance to gather for fun in the sun at the All Seasons Holiday Park. One of its organisers Tama Matene told GayNZ.com Bay Pride was about having a good time, as well as raising awareness of both mental health and safe sex, with the region’s suicide and HIV statistics far from happy reading. “It’s about celebrating the diverse community in which we live,” Matene said. “The fantastic town and the Bay of Plenty as a region … we tend to focus on negative things too often. And we see lots of things in the newspaper about Rotorua and the Bay of Plenty that don’t necessarily reflect us in a positive light. So we’re saying ‘hey, yes we know about that, but at the same time there are some really cool things that are worth celebrating.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 30th December 2013 - 10:58am