Pride Events
The first gay pride events were held in the 1970s. In the 1990s, the Hero Parade was held annually in Auckland. It was a significant public event which was publicised throughout New Zealand, and which created a significant amount of attention during the period when the Parade was held (1992–2001). The controversy it created amongst conservative Christians was dwarfed by crowds of extraordinary size by New Zealand standards. The Hero Festival continues but it does not attract as much attention, because there are no longer any Parades.
Another LGBT event is the Big Gay Out, a family event which is held annually in Auckland at Pt Chevalier's Coyle Park, the numbers of people attending has risen steadily over the past few years and includes appearances from the current Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposing Party and many other politicians showing their support for the LGBT community.
Read more about this topic: LGBT Rights In New Zealand
Famous quotes containing the words pride and/or events:
“A whole village-full of sensuous emotion, scattered abroad all the year long, surged here in a focus for an hour. The forty hearts of those waving couples were beating as they had not done since, twelve months before, they had come together in similar jollity. For the time Paganism was revived in their hearts, the pride of life was all in all, and they adored none other than themselves.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
“A curious thing about atrocity stories is that they mirror, instead of the events they purport to describe, the extent of the hatred of the people that tell them.
Still, you can’t listen unmoved to tales of misery and murder.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)