An overwhelming majority voted for the name change at the Gay Auckland Business Association (GABA) AGM held at Marcello’s Caffé on Wednesday 6 April. 47 members against five voted in favour of 
officially changing the institutions name from GABA to Rainbow Auckland. Founding board member of the GABA Charitable Trust Geoffrey Marshall also announced a possible tagline, “connecting business professionals in our community,” which will assist in the transition between the perception of a business orientated community, to a community that welcomes all facets of professionals.
The change will take place officially on the 6 July and members hope that it will help to welcome people who have felt excluded in the past.
There was conversation from the floor concerning the retention of the important history tied to GABA, and a desire for permanent reference to this history in platforms such as the soon to be refurbished website. One member commented that “there is a great heritage there. I would like to see that there is some reference written in the minutes of the group that refers to those people who bravely stood up and raised their hand to say, yes – I am a criminal.”
It is still in conversation whether the GABA Charitable Trust will also change it’s name.
Following this notice, GABA President Heather Carnegie announced that in celebration of the 30 years of Homosexual Law Reform and as a platform to officially announce this name change, a Gala will take place on 9 July in the New Zealand room at SkyCity, Auckland. 
“We are working hard to create the most fabulous event” Says Heather, heralding SkyCity’s support in putting the event together. “They are going to light up the tower for us” she says. SkyCity, who are coming up for their third year of being a Rainbow Tick recipient, say that they are very excited to be hosting an event to celebrate the GLBT community.
Around 800 tickets will be on sale for the event which promises a huge array of entertainment with more information to be released in the coming weeks.
