The owner of a Hamilton gay venue has heavily criticised Hamilton Pride organisers for ignoring his business and for playing it safe with this year’s programme. GuyZ Sauna Marc McKenna is the owner of Hamilton’s only gay venue, GuyZ Sauna and says he was never approached by anyone from Hamilton Pride seeking GuyZ support or inclusion in this year’s Pride Week. McKenna, whose commitment to gay rights stretches back to his involvement in Homosexual Law Reform and who was once the owner of another popular gay venue, says ”I am the only person in Hamilton who is currently investing time, effort and a considerable amount of money into the Hamilton gay community and the so called gay leaders can't even be bothered to drop me down a poster”. He highlights the fact that the theme for this years Pride Week is ‘Togetherness’ and says “Huh!". The lack of inclusion of his venue is not the only thing he criticises, McKenna also believes that this year’s programme “is so low key that one has to ask whether the organisers even have a pulse?”. "Its hard to know how a 50 guy sex party would have gone against a poetry reading or a quiz night?” he says. Hamilton Pride organisers were contacted for comment regarding this criticism but have not responded.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 13th September 2016 - 11:39am