Kirsten Sibbit addresses the gathering The Auckland Pride Festival was hailed as having something for everyone at an invitation-only event held in the downtown corporate headquarters of the Westpac Bank this evening. Around 120 people, representing event producers, Festival sponsors and several venues which will be hosting events, nibbled canapes and sipped wine as Auckland Pride Festival co-chair Kirsten Sibbit told the gathering this evening's event was a replacement for the Gala show which has kicked off past festivals. "I'm excited that rainbow lights will illuminate the Sky Tower and thrilled by the variety and diversity of the festival... it feels like we've got something for everyone. And tonight is a chance to bring together everyone who's contributed to the Pride Festival to get to know each other a little better," she said. Sibbit, a relatively new board member, thanked the 'Auckland Pride whanau' for "their time and energy, they've worked very hard and we're grateful for their creativity and drive." In a possible nod to the on-going difficulty Pride is navigating as it tries to reconcile the wish of the Department of Corrections to march in the Pride Parade with the strenuous opposition by trans-prisoner rights activists, Sibbit said "not everyone is in a position to celebrate... but we see Pride as a conduit for discussion and debate... if we can make a change then we've done our job." Guest speaker Peter Wells, a nationally-lauded gay author and film-maker, spoke of his helming the introduction of a new element in this year's festival, the 'Samesame but different' literary festival. "Like the overall Pride Festival, Samesame is about humans expressing pain, dilemma and joy together, it about people telling their own stories," he said, "gathering together many strands and streams, acknowledging each other." The two week long Auckland Pride Festival will be heralded tomorrow with a dawn ceremony at Okahu Bay and the night-time illumination of the Sky Tower and War Memorial Museum in rainbow colours.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 4th February 2016 - 8:21pm