Sun 8 Feb 2009 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
7.30PM: As the setting sun drops behind the distant Waitakeres several thousand picnickers have lingered late at the Big Gay Out to finish their picnic meals, to hear final entertainer Cindy of Samoa channeling Eartha Kitt and Tina Turner, and to enjoy the company of their gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. Sunshiney day: Enjoying the Big Gay Out A senior policeman estimates hat almost 10,000 people attended the flagship event of Auckland's Pride 09 Festival. The crowd was well behaved with no beahavior or medical problems reported despite the almost 30 degree cloudless day. "Today was a huge success, absolutely enjoyable," said NZ AIDS Foundation spokesperson Dawn O'Connor. The NZAF, as underwriter of the BGO, took over the final stages of organising the event using its own staff after budget projections pre-Christmas indicated a financial loss might be looming. "The Big Gay Out has once again been the focus of a massive support from the lgbt communities," says O'Connor. "It was a positive social environment and reached out to people not normally closely connected with our communitiees." O'Connor says she was particularly pleased to see people from all parts of the glbt communities mixing and talking together. "We're extremely happy and pleased with how things went and want to thank the communities for supporting us," she says. A brief video about this year's Big Gay Out is shown below.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Sunday, 8th February 2009 - 7:56pm