Pride Pride Pride
Auckland Pride Month 1-28 February
Auckland Rainbow Parade Saturday 21 February 7:30pm
Wellington Pride Festival March 6 - 22
The programme is out on the Wellington Pride Festival website with oodles of events. The dates for the major events are:
- Dawn Ceremony Friday 6th March 6am-7am
- Pride Youth Ball Saturday 14th March
- Out in the City Sunday 15th March
- Pride Hīkoi Tuesday 17th March noon
- Pride Picnic Sunday 22 March
Wellington Pride Parade 7 March
Pae Tū Mōkai Pride Festival Featherston Friday 13th - Sunday 15th March
- Drag Bingo with Rhubarb Rouge Friday 13 March 7:30-9:30pm
- Pride Parade Saturday 14th 11:45am-1pm
- Pride Party Saturday 14th 6pm-late
- Big P Politics Sunday 15th 11am-12:30pm
Follow on facebook and
instagram
Whangārei Pride Festival 1st-28th March
The programme is available on their
facebook page and on
eventfinda with 19 events.
Christchurch Pride all March
The programme is out with a mere 23 events! beginning
with the Pride Parade and Picnic on March 1st ... see the
Christchurch Pride website.
Dunedin Pride Month 1st-29th March
The programme is available on the
Dunedin Pride website with events for everyone ... follow on
facebook and instagram
Hamilton Pride April
Two events announced so far:
- Pride After Dark Cosmopolitan Club on 10th April 7pm–midnight
- Pride in the Park Western Community Centre (Elliott Park) 19th April 11am-3pm
Follow the facebook page and
website
Taranaki Pride Week 10-19 April
The programme is on the Taranaki Pride website with more info about events via the
Taranaki Pride facebook page.
Whakatū Pride Nelson 18 April-2 May
Save the dates! More info coming soon ... follow on facebook.
Divas Head Over Heels weekend retreat
1st - 3rd May @ Vaughan Park Retreat Centre, Torbay
A weekend away for single lesbians 50+ for new conncetions. There will be yoga, beach walks and a Celidh on the Saturday evening with live band ... see the big picture
Ticket prices:
Single room single occupancy accomodation & meals NZ$368 per person
Twin room double occupancy accomodation & meals NZ$352 per person
EARLY BIRD tickets: please note that there are 17 single rooms and 4 twin room doubles - so first
in first served basis. Cutoff date for ordering your tickets is 12 midnight on March 31st
Filling fast ... be in soon to book your place!
Meals include: Fri night dinner; Saturday breakfast, morning tea, lunch & dinner; Sunday breakfast
Vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free and diabetic meals can be catered for. A dietary surcharge
of $15 per day applies.
Email divasheadoverheels@gmail.com for more information including payment details. More information on facebook.
Auckland region:
Charlotte Museum Te Whare Takatāpui-Wahine o Aoteaora, a lesbian
museum for New Zealand ... like their facebook page to keep up to date with their events and special exhibitions.
The Charlotte Museum has digitised their collections - their
0nline catalog is live on E-Hive.
Help needed The Charlotte Museum is facing financial challenges stemming from recent cuts in grants which are affecting charities and not-for-profits across Aotearoa. Please give generously to them via their donations webpage.- Rainbow Women's social night - last Wednesday of the month at the Auckland Women's Centre
- lesbian.co.nz - a directory and more
- aLBa (formerly Auckland Lesbian Business Association)
- EquAsian - an LGBTQI+ group for Asian Aucklanders on facebook
- Chinese Pride NZ
- Indian Origin Pride New Zealand
The Heartland:
- Birds of a Feather lesbian coffee group in Whangarei - facebook group
- Waikato Queer Women (beyond the binary) on facebook - private group - ask to join. Lots going on
- Rainbow Warriors Softball Hamilton on facebook
- Rotorua Chamber of Pride on facebook
- Pride Whanganui and join in the loop. Lesbians visiting Whanganui welcome to email and we'll meet for coffee.
- Ms Q Manawatu meets the first Friday of every month for drinks.
Are you interested in being involved in the womens LBGT community? For more information and confidential support they offer a 24 hour phone line 022 451 6617 or email malgra_lesbian_support@hotmail.com - Wellington Lesbian website - calender of activities and links to other local websites
- LILAC - the lesbian library in Wellington
- Armstrong & Arthur Charitable Trust for Lesbians - a Wellington region charitable trust
- Nelson Pride
- Christchurch lesbians - information on the Women's Centre website
- Out and About Wanaka
New book: That’s What I Am: Oral Histories of Older Lesbians
Lois Cox's book, That’s What I Am: Oral Histories of Older Lesbians, has just been published by Town Belt Press, the publishing imprint owned by Hilary Lapsley and Lois.
The book draws on interviews conducted in the late 1990s with sixteen New Zealand lesbians over the age of fifty. It tells the women’s stories through the decades, capturing memories of childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, falling in love and establishing relationships. The storytellers talk of navigating identity and social stigma and forming connections to Wellington’s lesbian community. Together, their lives paint a vivid picture of resilience and solidarity. Sadly, some of the storytellers whose oral histories are the basis for the book have died.
A vital document for the history of lesbian communities in twentieth century New Zealand, it is a must-read for anyone interested in lesbian lives over time, feminist studies or queer history.
Listen to the RNZ podcast of an interview with Lois.
The book is available from Unity Books Wellington, the Women’s Bookshop in Auckland, and other booksellers. Any queries to townbeltpress@xtra.co.nz
Kiwi media online
FLUNK: The Exchange - Lesbian High School romance web series
Sabina and Esther's relationship is pushed to breaking point when international exchange student Annie comes to stay. The Exchange is a new feature film from the creators of Flunk. Buy or rent on Vimeo to support Flunk and see the whole film first, as well as get access to lots of exclusive behind the scenes videos.
Filmed in Auckland – FLUNK: The Exchange follows the complicated love lives of Annie (Mirene Castelltort) Sabina (Lucy Wyma – ‘Shortland Street’) and Esther (Celine Dam – ‘The Eggplant’) exploring themes including first loves, believing in yourself, and moving on from the past.
Movie Same but Different
The movie Same but Different is available at nzonscreen.com ... And watch the extra scenes after the credits with the real people who inspired the characters.
Produced by RAW Productions, Same But Different: A True New Zealand Love Story follows Rachel, a single working Grey Lynn mum, who breaks a three-year spell of singledom to pursue her escalating feelings for Nikki, whom she meets at a Maori film festival. Things don’t go according to plan, with Rachel’s awkward first romantic attempts fumbling into a sequence of embarrassing events, and her ex-lover, Rob, turning up. With all hope gone, it’s Rachel’s humanitarian efforts that eventually grab Nikki’s attention, and the two finally connect. Based on Kiwi-Samoan writer/director Nikki Si’ulepa's and producer Rachel Aneta Wills’ journey in pursuit of true love.
Pot Luck webseries Season two
Pot Luck, a kiwi lesbian TV webseries Season two launched on 10th December 2017. Both series 1
and series 2 are available on youtube
So no one told you life was gonna be this GAY - interview with
Lil O'Brien
An interview with Lil O'Brien, author of Not that I'd kiss a girl, an account of her experience growing up lesbian in New Zealand. The interview is a long read but excellent - as is the book which is available at LILAC library in Wellington and all good public libraries and book shops.
PrideNZ audio and digital archive
PrideNZ.com is a community website exploring the voices and opinions of Aotearoa New Zealand's rainbow communities through over 600 audio recordings of interviews and of local LGBTI events. Plus there are transcripts, images and video available - some historically important such as Parliamentay debates. More recordings are added regularly.
The Missing Pages Project an online volunteer project that aims to ensure that significant LGBTQIA+ Rainbow people, events, organisations, and legislation in Aotearoa New Zealand are properly documented and made freely available on Wikipedia. Check it out if you are interested and have the aptitude to contribute.
The On This Day page has a rich mix of rainbow life - from today to events that happened over 100 years ago.
Takatāpui resources
Two booklets by Elizabeth Kerekere are available online and to download at takatāpui.nz, a resource hub for Takatāpui and their whānau
Travel and outdoor holidays
- Women Travel New Zealand - essential information for the woman traveller visiting New Zealand.
- Sidetracks women - guided outdoors adventures.
- New Zealand Awaits - small group trips and bespoke adventures.
- Women's Adventures NZ - more outdoors adventures.
Lesbian News Aotearoa
Alas and Woe ...
Lesbian News Aotearoa ceased publication in 2018 when their group became too small. The historical archive of articles is still on the website but the Social, Support and Dyke Diary pages are no more. Very sad ... but their facebook page is worth following esp for Auckland notices
Quality care for lesbian, gay and bisexual residents in aged care facilities
A kit created by the School of Nursing at The University of Auckland in collaboration with a working group drawn from the aged care sector and the Auckland LGB community is available at dropbox. It a short video, training workbooks for facilitators and participants, and guidelines on caring for LGB residents.
Social media places
A selection of the facebook groups that may be of interest - most are private groups that you need to join.