Gay topics and issues hardly surfaced at the first public forum of Auckland mayoral candidates last night, though several candidates occasionally struck chords with the predominantly glbt audience and some noted gay foes observed in silence. All three candidates - encumbent John Banks, Christine Fletcher and Dick Hubberd - indicated repeatedly that they aimed for social equity in the city, though there differing views on how to achieve it. A highlight was Hubbards recounting of a story about his family struggles with Council bureaucracy. He told how his family's attempts to get assistance for a gay streetkid generated just three pages of corrospondence, while his attempt to cut down a diseased tree generated 50 pages of reports and corrospondence. All three contenders highlighted gay-friendly credentials. Mayor Banks highlighted his years of business in the restaurant trade and said that the many, many gays he had employed would not have a word said about him. His predecessor, Christine Fletcher, highlighted her commitment to the gay community during her mayoral term and since, she is currently patron of GABA which organised the evening's forum. Hubbard said he had created a non-discriminatory environment in his breakfast cereal business and that attitude would follow him into the Mayoralty. In a rather quiet and uneventful evening Mayor Banks received the most heckling and expressions of frustration, particularly from some of the women the audience, while long-time cowboy-hatted activist Lisa Prager provided spice with suggestions of corruption in the Council. Noted amongst the audience were Deputy Mayor and anti-gay campaigner David Hay - who is stepping down from the Council this year but is standing for the more regionally powerful Auckland Regional Council, and Christian anti-gay and ex-MP Graeme Lee. Neither man spoke. GayNZ.com content editor Jay Bennie was present in the audience and said none of the candidates said anything new or unexpected, though he noted a friendlier, more relaxed approach to gay issues from Mayor Banks who has been stridently against gay initiatives in the past.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 9th September 2004 - 12:00pm