Gay pride
Gay pride events are legal in New Zealand and were first held in the 1970s. The Hero Parade, the showpiece of the Hero Festival in Auckland, was held annually between 1992 and 2001. Parades were typically attended by more than one hundred thousand people (and at its height, by as many as two hundred thousand). The Hero Festival continues to this day, usually without a flagship parade. In February 2013, however, Auckland held a pride parade, called the Auckland Pride Festival.