Fri 30 Apr 2010 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Shortland Street's portrayal of Tauranga being intolerant of gay people has angered the local tourism boss. In an episode on Wednesday night, bisexual character Nicole complained it was difficult to come out in the city. The night before, Nicole's mother told asexual character Gerald that he should change his shirt before he went out, implying it was "too gay" for Tauranga. The Bay of Plenty Times reports the episodes have Tourism Bay of Plenty general manager Tim Burgess hot under the collar. Burgess says the show has been a "hot topic" in Tauranga this week and he plans to write to South Pacific Pictures about the issue. "Talk about a negative stereotype," Burgess told the paper. Meanwhile, ex-national OutLineNZ counselling service general manager Lesley Belcham, who now lives in Mt Maunganui, says she is likely to start a lesbian women's coffee group along similar lines to a men's group which is apparently active in Tauranga, although the group has never publicly listed itself.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 30th April 2010 - 1:59pm