'Turning the negative into a positive': Auckland Pride crowdfunding campaign launched

Saturday, 24 November 2018

The parade became mired in controversy when police were banned from marching in uniform. (Video first published in Jan 2019)

A campaign to fund Auckland's 2019 Pride Parade through community donations has been created after major sponsors pull out.

Many corporate sponsors pulled out of the parade following the Auckland Pride board's announcement last week that police uniforms were not welcome in the annual event.

ActionStation director Laura O'Connell Rapira said she had decided it was time to replace the corporate sponsorship with help from the community.

'This isn't something I'm doing as an ActionStation thing. A couple of us were just talking about ways we could help support the Pride Board when the idea of crowd funding came up,' she said.

Auckland's Pride Parade is held on Ponsonby Rd each year.

* Pride board could be rolled

* Kiwis who don't want police at Pride

* Fletcher Building pulls out of Parade**

'I'm really proud of how far we've come as a rainbow community – but we need to look at who has been left behind.'

Many transgender people still didn't feel safe around the police, O'Connell Rapira said.

Laura O'Connell Rapira has created a coalition to help fund the 2019 Pride Parade.

'So many trans people have stories about negative experiences with the police, from being purposefully misgendered, to being strip-searched by an officer of the opposite sex.

'For many the police uniform represents childhood trauma. Those who grew up in poverty have memories of police coming into their homes often.

O'Connell Rapira has set up a Givealittle page which she hoped would be a good chance for the community to 'reclaim pride'.

'We're trying to turn this negative situation into a positive one.'

Forty people had donated nearly $3500 by Saturday morning.

A special general meeting will be held in early December regarding the ban. O'Connell Rapira said the funds raised would be given to the board to run the parade after that meeting.

Board members said they could be rolled at that meeting, and O'Connell Rapira said if that happened, the donations would be distributed to a number of organisations.

'We would want to split the donations between groups who work for a truly just and racially equitable Aotearoa where all members of the rainbow community feel safe and loved.'

Despite the controversy the uniform ban has caused, Auckland Pride isn't the first to enforce such a ban, with many parades in both Canada and the USA enforcing similar bans in the past two years.