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Overview
Wellington Pride Festival in 2017 was the second year of this particular LGBTQI+ festival, with over 70 events across the city, including several youth events. Te Papa was part of the programme, providing behind-the-scenes tours of its LGBTQI+ collections.
Bella Simpson created the youth representative role on the Wellington Pride Festival committee. While in the role, she worked closely with Wellington City Library to organise Wellington’s first Drag Queen Storytime, and worked with local businesses and individuals to help create the first Pride Youth Ball (held on 18 March). The ball was a great success where young people could be themselves, comfortable in expressing their identities while having a great night out.
Bella (born 1996) is a young trans woman who came out socially as a transgender girl when she was 11 years old, and began a public life as a trans advocate when she was 12.