Near the Lesbian and Gay Rights Resource Centre (6 Boulcott Street, 1981)

The Lesbian and Gay Rights Resource Center (LGRRC), formerly the National Gay Rights Coalition resource centre in 1978, was established in 1981 as a central archive for literature on law reform, censorship, human rights, lesbian and gay health, as well as cultural material on lesbian and gay history and identity. In 1983, the LGRRC gathered and assimilated material on AIDS prevention strategies, medical resources, and education, and wrote and distributed the first New Zealand AIDS leaflet.

Since its opening in 1981, it would be another five years until the decriminalisation of sexual acts between men thanks to the Homosexual Law Reform Act, and longer than that for social acceptance of lesbian and gay people to become wider spread, making the vast archives held on 6 Boulcott Street particularly sensitive as well as culturally significant for the gay community.

On 11 September, 1986, two months after the success of the law reform campaign, two arsonists attacked the LGRRC premises, vandalising the interior and setting furniture ablaze. Fortunately, the materials held on the premises suffered few losses, and were recovered by the Alexander Turnbull Library and other locations, such as the HIV/AIDS counselling and information center.

Want to learn more?

To learn more about LAGANZ, please visit their website.

Image Credit

PrideNZ.com