This week will be a little bit more colourful than most in celebration of Pride 2018.
The rainbow flag flies high and with that a new social media campaign to recognise New Zealand as a country that's becoming more accepting, loving and respectful
Social media presenter Aziz Al-Sa'afin spoke to Duncan Garner on the AM Show about Spark's Pride campaign, 'Thanks To You'.
"We are usually talking about all the colourful stuff; the parade, the drag queens, the rainbow flying high. This is a little twist on that."
To celebrate Pride 2018, Spark is celebrating the organisations and individuals who have helped move forward perceptions and attitudes towards LGBTQI+ communities over the years.
The campaign invites New Zealanders who have been positively influenced by the rainbow community and its allies to voice their appreciation by saying #thankstoyou.
"They've recognised that there is another side to Pride. It's the face-to-face counselling and telephone support and stuff that people in the community need," Aziz said.
"This video has just gone online, it's got about half a million views already.
"What you can do to support the campaign is pay some sort of gratitude to someone in and around the LGBTQI+ community."
Aziz said while it's easier to come out as gay now than it was five years ago, there is still a massive stigma around it.
"If it's not in the workplace, it's certainly in sports."
"It's about how teammates would view him in the locker room, there's a lot of embarrassment around that."
Aziz said he was bullied for his sexuality in school.
"I've felt it before, definitely, especially in school. It's so unregulated, you get bullied in so many different ways and that was one of them.
However, Aziz said he hasn't had it as hard as others.
"Personally I've been quite lucky. I've got a couple of friends who have gone through some pretty tough things.
"It's campaigns like this, it's about talking about it."
The Harbour Bridge and Sky Tower will both be lit up in rainbow lights to celebrate Pride 2018.
Newshub.
