The community of Auckland's Hobsonville Point will rally together and fly 300 pride flags around its suburb in response to recent anti-LGBTQIA+ incidents.
The event, Hobby Pride, will see the pride flags flown around Hobsonville Point between November 18 and 27.
It follows a complaint about a pride flag being flown at Hobsonville Point Secondary School during its 'Lil Gay Out', which was an event to help make rainbow students feel safe at school.
There are also reports that one Hobsonville Point home has a history of being egged when it has the pride flag raised.
Emily Davidson, a Hobsonville resident who volunteered at the school event, was the first to raise the issue of the complaint which sparked the idea.
Along with Davidson, local resident Mark Kaneko - who is also the programme coordinator for professional and continuing education at Te Kunenga Ki Pūrehuroa Massey University - is also part of the event and said he wanted to make residents feel safe and more inclusive.
"The hope is that supplying these flags provides those who want to show support a way to continuously do so. Often people want to be involved and show allyship but don't know how. These flags can be used throughout the year, especially during Pride, and is a simple way to signal support."
Once the pair formulated a plan, they pitched it to the community's resident society where they began planning the event with input from Massey’s diversity and inclusion advisor.
Kaneko applied for a community grant and raised $2000 with the help of local businesses, with the funds going towards buying the 300 flags.
In a statement, Massey University said 150 of the flags will be progress pride flags, showing greater inclusivity by including black and brown stripes to represent LGBTQIA+ communities of colour. This flag also includes the pink, light blue, and white of the Transgender Pride Flag and the purple circle over a yellow triangle representing the Intersex Pride Flag.
People can make a donation on Hobby Pride's website, where funds raised will be shared between Rainbow Youth and Gender Minorities Aotearoa.
