Tue 3 Mar 2015 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
The new Mr Gay New Zealand is a former firefighter with the New Zealand Defence Force who is now working in the media. Competition organisers have formally confirmed this afternoon that Aucklander Matt Fistonich, 24, has been selected by a panel of judges to represent New Zealand at Mr Gay World in South Africa late next month. The 2014 Mr Gay New Zealand and 2015 competition organiser Troy Williams was among the judges, along with representatives of the gay media, the New Zealand AIDS Foundation and Family Bar, which will host a full competition in 2016. There were three entrants, from around the country, in a slimmed-down version of the Mr Gay NZ competition. Williams says the judges felt that while all the entrants were worthy winners in their own right, Fistonich’s many accomplishments and enthusiastic persona made him a worthy choice to represent New Zealand. “The judges were particularly impressed by Matt’s courageous decision to be openly gay during his six years of service for the RNZAF.” “Matt’s currently fundraising and will be representing New Zealand in South Africa at the end of April,” Williams says. Fistonich spent six years in the Air Force, signing up at age 17. “For the majority of my time In the RNZAF I was openly gay, and helped many people after me ‘come out’,” he says. He now works for gay lifestyle website Eikon Online, which he says he wants to use “to change the often negative stereotypes that are often associated with being gay”. In his entry, Fistonich said he takes pride in and has a passion for supporting the gay community of New Zealand and it would be an honour and a privilege to represent it on an international level. “I believe I have the required attitude, persona and attributes for this international competition and that I would be a great representative for our community and also our Nation. As a highly motivated, enthusiastic, goal driven person, achieving the title of Mr Gay New Zealand, and competing in the Mr Gay World competition is a goal of mine that I would love to achieve in 2015.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 3rd March 2015 - 1:56pm