Around 200 people crowded out the Birdcage Bar in Ponsonby last night for the official launch of Hero 2006, at a party hosted by the Gay Auckland Business Association. GABA President Johnny Givins says he's pleased with the turnout. "GABA's all about interacting with the community. There's a real positiveness around it, and that's what I really loved about last night," he told GayNZ.com. "We're thrilled to be supporting the community and all these people that are involved with Hero. Getting them all together in a room is fantastic." Drag queen Miss Ribena hosted the evening, which included a speech from Auckland Central MP Judith Tizard, an introduction to the guys (and lone girl) from the Gay Auckland Swim Team, and a performance from the team of Glory Hole, a controversial new show which is being described as a "queer multimedia flesh circus". Also on hand were the Flirt Police, from Sarah Lambourne's forthcoming Flirt dating evening for girls. "At Flirt, their job is to help hook people up," Lambourne explains. "If you fancy soeone and you're too shy to ask them, then you go and ask one of the flirt police and she goes over and susses it out for you, sees if the other person is single and keen, and she hooks it up." Lambourne is part of the Hero Festival organising committee this year, and she says last night's launch had a real sense of community about it. "I thought it was a great turnout, I thought it was fabulous," she says. "I spoke to a friend who was there with me, and she just felt it was great, she felt she was part of the community coming along. I took that away and thought that was really cool."
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 2nd February 2006 - 12:00pm