Wellington's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) group ‘GAP' has changed its name to ‘Rainbow Wellington'. “For some years there has been a debate going on within the organisation over how appropriate the name GAP was,” says newly-elected Rainbow Wellington Chair Tony Simpson. “Some people thought that it was an organisation confined to professionals and business people only, rather like the Gay Auckland Business Association (GABA). Others didn't know what it meant at all, and there was nothing about it to identify it as a LGBTI organisation. “Over the last couple of years we have extended our role beyond its traditional core activities to regularise an annual grants scheme and to take on a number of LGBTI community issues. If we're to do that with the optimum measure of success, then we need the support of the broader gltb community. We know that there are a lot of LGBTI people in the Wellington region who don't belong to GAP and we want to encourage them to join the organisation.” The name change, which was decided at the recent Annual General Meeting, is presently going through the formal legal processes required for its registration will form the basis of a recruitment campaign through the community media. “The achievement of civil unions was a great step forward, but there are plenty of issues out there remaining to be taken up, and we need to be focussed as a community in doing that,” concluded Simpson. Ref: Rainbow Wellington (m)