Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Zizi Sparks: Pride parade needed in Rotorua and Tauranga

Rotorua Daily Post
18 Nov, 2019 09:35 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

The 2017 Auckland Pride Parade on Ponsonby Rd. Photo / File

The 2017 Auckland Pride Parade on Ponsonby Rd. Photo / File

Tauranga's Pride Picnic is returning to the city next year with aims of making the world a better place for vulnerable young people and celebrating society's different factions together, free of discrimination and judgment.

But what is Rotorua doing?

Hundreds of people attended the first Tauranga Pride Picnic in March this year and organisers launched the second last week. It will be held in March 2020.

There were hopes the picnic could one day be a full-blown parade and while there is work to be done before that happens, at least Tauranga is further ahead than Rotorua.

The 2017 Pride Parade along Ponsonby Road. Photo / Norrie Montgomery
The 2017 Pride Parade along Ponsonby Road. Photo / Norrie Montgomery
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

I'm not saying Rotorua isn't inclusive but the last mention I could find of a pride event in Rotorua was a picnic in 2015, held for the first time since 2012.

Waiariki MP Tamati Coffey chose to take his Proudly Rotorua float to the 2015 Auckland Pride Parade.

He even chose to announce he and husband Tim Smith were expecting at Auckland's Big Gay Out 2019.

Waiariki MP Tamati Coffey with  Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern after announcing he and his husband were expecting at the 2019 Big Gay Out. Photo / File
Waiariki MP Tamati Coffey with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern after announcing he and his husband were expecting at the 2019 Big Gay Out. Photo / File

Perhaps if Rotorua or Tauranga had Pride events then he'd have done it in the region he represents.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

More can be done in Rotorua, and more can be done in Tauranga.

I'd like to see Rotorua have an equivalent pride event to Tauranga and maybe one day both events could match Auckland's old Pride Parade, which attracted thousands in its heyday.

Discover more

Oh the memories: Te Puna celebrate centenary

27 Oct 09:00 PM

Mr G legacy exhibition brings a large-scale visual feast

07 Nov 07:00 PM

Mental health team builds 40-minute walkway

08 Nov 06:44 AM

'Making the world a better place: Pride Picnic returns to Tauranga

16 Nov 02:00 AM

As Tauranga Pride Picnic organiser Gordy Lockhart says: "We all remember being a teenager; You are struggling to find your identity regardless of what that even is. And to understand as you get older that you might be different from what society views as the norm, it can be a scary and not happy place to be."

Labour MP Tamati Coffey and his husband Tim Smith at Big Gay Out where they announced they were expecting. Photo / File
Labour MP Tamati Coffey and his husband Tim Smith at Big Gay Out where they announced they were expecting. Photo / File

I don't know what it is like to identify as LGBTQI, what it is like to struggle to fit in or struggle with your own identity. But I can only imagine an event like a pride parade or picnic would make it that much easier to go through those things.

Same-sex marriage was legalised in New Zealand on August 19, 2013.

Since then, New Zealand has come so far.

It's time Rotorua and Tauranga caught up.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Second venomous sea snake washes ashore in Coromandel

12 Jul 06:00 AM
Sport

'My moment': NZ-born boxer becomes first Māori to be crowned undisputed world champ

12 Jul 03:58 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Puchner makes history with silver at U23 canoe slalom world titles

12 Jul 03:37 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Second venomous sea snake washes ashore in Coromandel

Second venomous sea snake washes ashore in Coromandel

12 Jul 06:00 AM

These snakes are highly venomous – the public and pets should keep clear.

'My moment': NZ-born boxer becomes first Māori to be crowned undisputed world champ

'My moment': NZ-born boxer becomes first Māori to be crowned undisputed world champ

12 Jul 03:58 AM
Puchner makes history with silver at U23 canoe slalom world titles

Puchner makes history with silver at U23 canoe slalom world titles

12 Jul 03:37 AM
One taken to Tauranga Hospital after SH29 crash

One taken to Tauranga Hospital after SH29 crash

12 Jul 02:27 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP