Sat 9 Oct 2010 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
2.45pm: The Gay Auckland Business Association has offered its congratulations to Len Brown on his victory in the Auckland mayoralty, saying it's likely to be a popular result among its membership. "Len addressed GABA recently and impressed with his consistency on issues that are of importance both personally and professionally," says GABA President Glenn Sims. "We look forward to working with him in the coming years. We would however, and in spite of trumping John Banks in the fashion stakes on the cover of Metro, urge Mayor Brown to stick to what he's good at and leave drag to the professionals in future. "We'd also like to send our best wishes and congratulations to all of the other successful LGBT candidates standing in local elections across New Zealand." ******** Bruce Kilmister 2.25pm: Longtime Auckland local body politician Bruce Kilmister has missed out on a local board seat in the Auckland super city. The Body Positive CEO has just missed out by around 500 votes to another gay candidate, Christopher Dempsey, who just made the cut on the Waitemata Local Board, which has seven members. The other gay candidate to gain a local board seat is Simon Randall, who romped home in the Maungakiekie Subdivision. ******** 1.05pm: Len Brown has been elected Mayor of the new Auckland Council. Len Brown Brown has approximately 221,000 votes to John Banks' 161,000, with 90-95 per cent of the vote counted. Just before the announcement, left-leaning former Auckland local body politician Lindsey Rea told GayNZ.com Daily News she hoped Brown would win. "As the gay community knows John Banks never has been our friend, despite what he attempts to say – generally in an election year but not at other times. And Len Brown comes from a good political background and I think he'll be a good mayor," she said. You can discuss this New Zealand glbt community news story in our GayNZ.com Forum
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 9th October 2010 - 1:05pm