Auckland pride has a well-earned reputation when it comes to
ignoring the needs of the wider community in favour of the demands of the few
wealthy elite within the community. With the exception of the first Auckland
Pride Parade in 2013 every pride parade since has been met with controversy as
members of the community objected to the presence of some (often not
specifically LGBT) groups in the parade. These members of the community have
been met with violence often from security guards who are (or at least should
be) accountable to Auckland Pride. This sort of response to community concerns
is shameful and when it is repeated every year it makes members of the
community feel ashamed. Pride is supposed to be about empowering LGBT people
many of whom still face discrimination in the wider community it is not about
empowering organizations that still discriminate against members of the LGBT
community.
Pride is an International movement that sprung from the
major cities of the United States in the 1960s usually from movements lead by
trans women of colour. Yet these people were so quickly cast aside as pride
became more acceptable to the public. Indeed Auckland pride is following a long
standing international trend where the T in LGBT is an afterthought if it is even
thought about at all. the people who helped start the movement have become
nothing but a doormat trans women (especially trans women of colour) are not
being listened to.
Perhaps the biggest disgrace to befall the 2016 Auckland
Pride Parade was the presence of government minister Judith Collins the
politician that oversees the department of corrections and the New Zealand
police. both these institutions are notoriously oppressive to people of colour
(especially indigenous people) and trans people (especially those assigned male
at birth). Both are now regular fixtures at the Auckland Pride with the blessing
of the establishment within pride. but the presence of the government minister
who oversees this oppression against members of our community and does not care
to do anything to stop the continued injustices suffered by trans people and
people of colour at the hands of these institutions is simply shameful and an
insult to the community.
Pride is the feeling we get when we can be ourselves. The
feeling we get when we are free of oppression. Pride is not what I feel when I
attend the Auckland Pride Parade. I feel shame because the Pride movement is
content to leave so many of our community behind.
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