Use the hashtag #biggayout and make sure you’re following @loveyourcondom to get your pics on 'Big Richard' A huge screen is being set up beside the main stage for the Big Gay Out on Sunday, which will feature tweets and Instagram pictures from the crowd at Pt Chevalier’s Coyle Park, in Auckland. Love Your Condom (LYC) says the centrepiece for this year’s fun and entertainment has cheekily been called “Big Richard”. It says you just need to tag everything with #biggayout and make sure you’re following @loveyourcondom to be able to show off what a great time you’re having. “That screen will be quite a central point for people during the day,” says Digital Social Marketing Co-ordinator Trak Gray. LYC will also run a Snapchat Scavenger Hunt. “If people add loveyourcondom on Snapchat, then they’ll get sent out challenges during the day and, if they want to, they can take part in the Scavenger Hunt. We’ve got thousands of dollars’ worth of prizes from UE Boom speakers and Health 2000 natural health shops and Durex and our own gear from LYC,” Gray says. “You’ll have to go to a secret place and say a secret word or do an embarrassing dance or just be one of the first 10 people to get to a certain place… so if you suddenly see 100 people run across the park all at once, they’ll all be going for a prize.” The latest forecast for Sunday’s Big Gay Out is for a hot and sunny day, with a high of 24-26 degrees, and perhaps a little relief from some clouds. The event is about celebrating diversity and pushing the safe sex message. The New Zealand AIDS Foundation will be offering free testing, and it’s also a chance to stock up on a year’s supply of condoms and lube. “Durex has a massive giveaway where you can win condoms and lube and things like that - we give out something like 20,000 condoms or something ridiculous like that every time, so it’s a good chance to really push that message,” Gray says. “But Big Gay Out certainly makes it on to all gay calendars around the world as a date for February which is quite exciting to see. We get visitors from all over - particularly from Australia – and we often see on social media people saying it was great to check it out while I was travelling. “So we’re all about engaging with the community and celebrating diversity and all of the beautiful rainbow stuff that comes along with a bunch of homos being in a park.” Setting up for Sunday is well underway at Coyle Park. Big Gay Out Coyle Park, Pt Chevalier Sunday, from midday A bus will run to and from Coyle Park, from outside K’ Rd’s Family Bar, which is $4 one way and $5 return.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 7th February 2015 - 10:40am