Police presence and politics at Big gay out.

In my opinion there is a huge difference between a political group offering support and solidarity to the LGBT community  and a political group that attends such an event in order to boost their popularity. Right wing prime mister  John Key and an entourage of about 20 supporters from the National party youth wing attended the 2014 Big Gay Out festival distracting the media from the real issues facing the LGBT community. meanwhile the police dealt harshly to anyone who dared to publicly criticize the Prime Minister in front of the media. also present at the event was controversial Auckland City mayor Len Brown who also attracted protest although the police were much less interested in doing anything about it. late in the afternoon two Socialist Aotearoa comrades were attacked by police for protesting the Prime ministers presence at Big Gay Out while a third Socialist Aotearoa member who happened to be Transgender was separated from the the group where she was harassed by the police and asked to present ID to the police officer she was then deliberately misgenderd by the officer. Sadly Big Gay Out was reduced to an election year farce where the needs of the LGBT were very much a secondary concern and were completely ignored by the police present at the event.