Founding member Michelle Mascoll recently visited the city as part of Dunedin Pride, hosting a community gathering at the Fringe x Pride hub on Friday.
London-born and of Afro-Caribbean heritage, Ms Mascoll knew at 14 years of age she wasn’t going to have a "nuclear family".
She did not have a specific "coming out story" of sitting her parents down to tell them who she was.
A more dynamic phrase she used was "letting people in".
"It is constantly who you choose to let in to see the true you."
As an "’80s baby gay" living in London, her story was shaped by the emergence of HIV and Aids.
It was a different time, when "queer bashing" wasn’t a crime, it was a sporting event, she said.
"You couldn’t be out, because you would lose your job."
While this environment shaped her experience, there were also ethnic differences as well.
"There is flamboyance, or perception of flamboyance of ethnic communities."
"So sometimes you can be queer in plain sight, but they associate that with your culture."
In the late 1980s and ’90s Ms Mascoll and her friend Mark Paterson ran house parties and club nights called the Funky Divas.
"Our DJs were Meran of Indian descent, Funky G, a black queer woman, Chris McCoy RIP and Sugar Bear, both black gay men."
For the time to have this level of ethnic diversity was "ahead of the curve".
These early events helped shaped her interest in community and diversity.
When she moved to New Zealand in 2005, going to local queer clubs gave her a "1980s flashback" of limited ethnic diversity.
"I was like, ‘that is not possible that I’m in a club and there was no Māori, Pacific’."
Using her skills as an audio engineer she set up Same Same but Black to show positive and joyful images of people of colour within the LGBTTQIA+ community.
Then in 2021 she met Shay Singh and together they founded the Ethnic Rainbow Alliance.
They hope to ensure the community is represented in an authentic and inclusive way, moving beyond superficial diversity measures to more meaningful policy changes.
"Diversity exists if there is visibility, and if there is no visibility then it is just a word."
"So we are trying to be visible for our community so that it is not just a tick box exercise."
She encourages people to visit ethnicrainbowalliance.co.nz who are interested in connecting with others.
"I know from being younger, just being there and seeing it in the paper makes people feel safe."
