Rainbow Wellington $10,000 sponsorship for Outgames speakers

Rainbow Wellington is making its largest-ever sponsorship commitment by covering the costs of two international speakers for the 2nd AsiaPacific Outgames. The sponsorship has a maximum value of $10,000.

The sponsorship will bring Sunil Pant, an openly gay MP from Nepal, and Malaysian-born activist and lesbian filmmaker Grace Poore, to Wellington for the Outgames human rights conference on 16-18 March next year.

“We are delighted that Rainbow Wellington has been so generous in its support for the conference and these two speakers,” Outgames Co-chair David Hindley says. “The conference programme that we recently announced has participants from 15 countries. It is a huge undertaking, and support such as that from Rainbow Wellington is very welcome indeed.”

Tony Simpson, Rainbow Wellington Chair, says that the organisation is very pleased to be able to provide practical support to the Conference.

"This is a very important conference focused on LGBTI human rights issues, both within New Zealand and across the Asia-Pacific region," Mr Simpson said. "We are keen to support such important activists as Sunil Pant and Grace Poore. They will make significant contributions to the regional dialogue at the conference.

“Sunil’s reputation precedes him as a campaigner for LGBTI rights in a part of the world where such action is sorely needed. Grace is a lesbian activist and Coordinator of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission’s Asia and Pacific Island Program. We are really pleased to be able to sponsor her. To help those of us in New Zealand to appreciate our own situation, and why it behoves us to sponsor people like Grace, I would like to direct readers to the following link, where Grace describes another conference that she attended, earlier this year; http://iglhrc.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/threats-to-lgbt-in-surabaya-part-1/

“Rainbow Wellington's main focus is on advocacy for LGBTI issues. The 2nd AsiaPacific Outgames Human Rights Conference is a huge opportunity to profile LGBTI issues," Mr Simpson said.

Rainbow Wellington members will be able to meet and speak with Sunil and Grace.

The conference will have by far the strongest lineup of LGBTI speakers and presenters to ever meet in New Zealand. The programme is available on the website www.wellingtonoutgames.com, and registrations can be made on the same website.

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