Outspoken gays in the capital are disappointed that their condom-crusading Poster Boys did not turn up to Wellington's biggest outdoor LGBT event earlier this month - and some are demanding answers from the NZ AIDS Foundation as to why the prime opportunity to promote their safe sex message to a wide local audience was missed. The NZAF's Safe Sex Poster Boys Several thousand people passed through Wellington's Out in the Square LGBT outdoor fair on the first of March - but the NZAF's Safe Sex Poster Boys were a no-show, as they were in Sydney taking part in the Mardi Gras Parade that weekend. "I thought your work was supposed to be to prevent the spread of HIV in New Zealand - I simply don't see how sending these boys to Sydney achieves this," writes Education Vice President at Victoria University's Students Association Paul Brown in an open letter to the NZAF. GayNZ.com has heard from other Out in the Square attendees who were surprised to see the boys had bypassed Wellington's Civic Square in favour of Mardi Gras, when all six had been out in force for Auckland's Big Gay Out in February. "Do people think that NZAF sending them to Mardi Gras was an effective campaign effort for the Rainbow Community here in NZ?," asked one public posting on our Forum, and several emails took a similar tone. "By ignoring the largest gay event in Wellington, you have basically slapped the Wellington community in the face," Paul Brown's letter to the NZAF announced. "A community which seemed to get behind the campaign more than other centres - as demonstrated by the fact that four of the six winners were from Wellington. "Further 'slaps' were dealt to the Wellington community by having large banners up in the Square featuring the boys, but not having them there. Even further insult was placing a two-page advert in the official Out in the Square newspaper saying 'The Safe Sex Poster Boys wish you a happy day out in the square' or something along those lines - perhaps it needed a further line of 'But we're gonna party it up in Sydney instead'?" Out in the Square was a chance for the NZAF to engage members of the community who don't frequent the night clubs these boys were judged in, Brown further points out. "Having the boys at Out in the Square would also have been a great way to stand tall and proud following the controversy over one of the boys barebacking with his partner [rumours shown later to be unfounded]. Remember that as four of these boys live in Wellington, it was a VERY common talking point, and Out in the Square would've been a positive way to address this." Poster Boy Josh Chapman has been upfront about the criticism on GayNZ.com's Forum, explaining that the trip to Mardi Gras - on Air New Zealand's Pink Flight, was part of the prize each of the guys received for winning a place in the campaign. "There was also some resentment in Wellington that not even the four of us Wellington boys were not going to be at the Out in the Square," Chapman acknowledges, "but all I can say is that it was unfortunate that they both happened to be on the same weekend, otherwise I would have been there with bells on!" Eamonn Smythe, Acting Executive Director of the NZAF, knows that Wellington's Gay Smythe says.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 13th March 2008 - 11:11pm