LGBT Centre planners look at Ponsonby Rd

Posted in: New Zealand Daily News
By GayNZ.com News Staff - 6th June 2008

new Council-funded study will look at the feasibility of running a community centre on Auckland's Ponsonby Road, on the site currently occupied by Liquor King, in the hope that it can be utilised by the LGBT community.

Centre study: Jenny Rankine presents her research to Rainbow Youth's Robert Marshall

The announcement of the new scoping project came at last night's presentation of an LGBT Community Centre Needs Assessment, also funded by the council. The study found a major need for such a centre in the inner Auckland suburbs, where concentration of LGBT people is at its highest in New Zealand.

In presenting her research, the study's author Jenny Rankine noted that while her survey sample of 124 completed surveys and twenty in-depth interviews was small, it generated rich qualitative information. In a symbolic gesture, she gifted the first copy to "the future", represented by Robert Marshall of Rainbow Youth.

Western Bays Community Board member Bruce Kilmister said that in the current climate of Council funding cutbacks, projects like a new LGBT Community Centre are unlikely, but he promised to "keep fighting the good fight" in case an opportunity arose in the future to advance the project.

Ponsonby Road is currently home to several LGBT-owned businesses, including Dorothy's Sister bar, and The Women's Bookshop. The last few HERO Parades made their way down the famous street, known for its street-side latte-drinking culture.

The Liquor King site at 254 Ponsonby Road was recently bought by the Council, which has yet to make any firm plans for its use.

The full text of Jenny Rankine's LGBT Community Centre Needs Assessment report will appear online at GayNZ.com this weekend