Gay Pride Week was held in New Zealand during the week June 24-30. It is in part a commemoration of the Stonewall riots on June 29, 1969 in New York. In the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village homosexuals decided to fight back during a regular police raid which was allegedly made to check an "infringement" of the liquor laws. On this particular evening the clientele decided that the true reason lay elsewhere, i.e. that it was because Stonewall Inn was a well known homosexual dance bar. Tired of what they viewed as a form of social oppression, they resorted to physical resistance. Thus began the gay liberation movement and groups sprang up all over the United States.

New Zealand has gay liberation movements in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch most of which were founded in 1970. They also have chosen this week as an opportunity to increase self-awareness and more importantly, public awareness. In Wellington the programme was arranged mainly by the Wellington Gay Liberation Front with invaluable assistance from the Psychology Department, the Homosexual Law Reform Society and various individuals.

Gay Pride Week in Wellington began on the Tuesday when a table was set up in the foyer of the Student Union Building offering both free pamphlets and other moderately priced literature. A background board displayed articles, pamphlets etc about homsexuality.