David Russell One of the prominent members of Auckland’s Gay Liberation Front and the editor of an early gay New Zealand newspaper has died in Hamilton. David Russell died in Waikato Hospital yesterday, after becoming unwell nearly two weeks ago. Russell was a member of Auckland Gay Liberation in the 1970s and passed many of its records on to the Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand. He was also the editor of NZ Gay News, which was ultimately bought out and rebranded as OUT! magazine in 1977. Russell moved to the Netherlands in the 1980s where he became involved in the International Gay Association. He and partner Gerrit Nicolaas Zuijderhoudt returned to New Zealand and living in the Coromandel. They owned and ran the historic Coroglen Tavern from the mid-2000s till 2012, after which they moved to Whitianga. During the marriage equality debate, Green MP Kevin Hague quoted an email from Russell in his speech, saying “In one of the many messages that I have received on this Bill, one man said ‘my partner and I have been together for 30 years. It would be great to celebrate our anniversary with a wedding’.” The couple married in May, on their 31st anniversary. If you would like to share your tributes to or memories of David Russell, please email news@gaynz.com
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 16th December 2014 - 8:50am