"The issue with this Delta outbreak is that by including some people, you are excluding others.
"You have to take into consideration the immune-compromised, those people who cannot take the vaccine and those who do not want to take it.
"All those people are represented in our community and everyone needs support to connect."
Registrations to participate in festival creation including the parade, market stalls, performance, art, and producing rainbow-focused events as part of the Whangārei Pride Festival which began on November 1.
White said while there were few things in the pipeline they had not landed on a final blueprint, but it definitely included putting things online.
"We will have different things happening in the community and make things accessible with social distancing. However, you would require a vaccine certificate in some situations where you need to be present in-person to enjoy those events."
Lunicke said this festival would be an opportunity to get creative, "do a pride festival in a way that no other region has done it before."
"While many pride festivals have been cancelled due to Covid-19 alert level restrictions, we have very strongly decided to go ahead."
After spending eight years in the queer scene in Auckland, co-founder White said they felt "dead" and "separated" after moving to Whangārei.
They knew a lot of gay people in the district but there was nothing connecting them with each other, White said.
"My friend and I started a Facebook page called 'Whangagay - Love it Queer'. However, feedback from the community was the words 'queer' and 'gay' are not necessarily inclusive.
"So this year we did a rebranding, which involves changing the name to Whangārei Proud. We feel it is something everyone can relate to."
Lunicke said Paparoa's pride parade last year was the ultimate kick-off they needed to launch a pride festival in Whangārei.
"The population in the region is growing. The amount of rainbow people is approximately 10 per cent; currently, the population of Whangārei is nearly 100,000 people, which means we would have about 10,000 rainbow-identified people, whether or not they are out.
"We looked at Paparoa's Pride Parade and thought they were such a smaller community compared to Whangārei and yet they had managed to do something so empowering and exciting.
"We are not working along the same lines as Paparoa Pride, but also taking in the entire Te Tai Tokerau area as an area that has heaps of rainbow people who could use this as an opportunity to feel empowered by their individuality and identity."
Lunicke said the festival was a public way of letting people know "we are here, we are queer, we are proud, and there is an alternative to the isolation and shame that a lot of us have experienced while growing up as a minority.
"We and the people who have felt really isolated are excited, to have even one opportunity let alone an entire month of festival options to participate in various ways that allow them to be able to express themselves as out and proud and flamboyant as they want to, or to witness and participate within the safety of whatever their personal circumstances are.
"It is a great opportunity and time to establish and strengthen the communities and the neighbourhoods that are around us."
For more information, visit www.whangareiproud.org.nz or contact the Whangārei PROUD team at whangareipride@gmail.com.
