An official opening reception at Parliament and a welcoming powhiri at Te Papa have already been planned to open a major glbti human rights conference scheduled for Wellington in 2018. The biennial conference has been held in cities all around the world in its 40-year history but this will be the first time it has been held in the Oceania region. Attracting the conference was achieved by a collaborative bid by the Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand, Tiwhanawhana Trust, and Rainbow Youth, with the support of the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency and the city's mayor, Justin Lester, who contributed to the submission. Lester says he feels the choice of New Zealand as conference-host is also significant as the country has been at the forefront of law reforms relating to GLBTI community. He says WREDA will now be looking at more of the city's facilities to see how they could be utilised for the conference. "It will be a real community event backed by Wellington City Council and WREDA. It will highlight the city’s commitment to an open, accepting and diverse society, where every is welcome and no one is left out or left behind," Lester says.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 15th December 2016 - 9:24am