Thu 3 Sep 2015 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
4.05PM: The proposed sports, cultural and human rights festival planned for Auckland in February will not be an Outgames after GLISA-AP this afternoon announced it is withdrawing its formal involvement in, and oversight of, the project. An organisation set up in Auckland late last year to create and run the 4th Asia Pacific Outgames for Auckland hit trouble as this year progressed with little in the way of sponsorship of funding being secured. In early August it was discovered that the board of the organisation had resigned en masse in mid-July, later explaining that they had lost confidence in the organising team's ability to deliver the Outgames on time. A delay until later next year had not been approved by the Gay and Lesbian International Sports Association - Asia Pacific (GLISA-AP). A new group formed to rescue the project by re-shaping it in the hope it would be approved by GLISA-AP as an Outgames. But in this afternoon's media statement, dated yesterday and not yet released to the media but already placed in the public domain by a sports organisation, GLISA says "it is with sad news that today GLISA-AP announces that the event planned to be held in Auckland in February 2016 will no longer be supported as the 4th Asia-pacific Outgames." It is understood that some conditions GLISA required the new organising group to have been met by August 31, such as securing appropriate professional standards oversight of the running of each sports event, have not been met. The statement goes on to say that "GLISA-AP understands that a rainbow community sports and human rights event will continue to be planned and such an event in principle will still be supported by the Association and its members." GayNZ.com Daily News will provide more information as it comes to hand. The full statement beginning to circulate can be read here. UPDATE 4.30PM: Although the GLISA Press Release has yet to be released formally, GayNZ.com Daily News now understands it to be an at least largely accurate version of what GLISA will say.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News
First published: Thursday, 3rd September 2015 - 3:44pm