Auckland Pride 2020: A year on from police uniform ban, parade won't return

Wednesday, 15 January 2020

A year on from a controversial decision to replace New Zealand's biggest Pride parade with a march, the organisers say there's no plan to return to the status quo.

Auckland Pride director Max Tweedie said the 2019 Pride festival had 'refocused the purpose' of the event to be more inclusive and diverse.

Instead of corporate sponsors parading down Ponsonby Rd, like in previous years, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) community marched from Albert Park to Aotea Square.

'We're happy with how the march went and don't plan to bring back the parade,' Tweedie said.

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Matt Bagshaw is the chairman of Rainbow Pride Auckland.

'The march is free and there's no barriers like with the parade so anyone can feel free to join in, it's about queer people enjoying themselves and acknowledging the whakapapa of pride in Auckland.'

Feedback around 2019's pride had been 'resoundingly positive', Tweedie said, but it had been a crazy ride.

'The decision to ban uniformed police and hold a march instead of the parade was controversial, it always would be, and naturally, we had to leave some people behind, but emotions have died down and on the whole the community is supportive.'

The Auckland Pride Festival 2020 will run from February 1-16 and the march, entitled 'Our March', will take place on February 8.

A newly formed group, Rainbow Pride Auckland, will hold its own parade on February 29. However, it is not part of the official Pride event schedule.

In 2019, the annual Auckland Pride parade was replaced with a Pride march after sponsors pulled out over a ban on police in uniform.

The group's chairman Matt Bagshaw said it had formed as a response to feedback from the community after the 2019 Pride parade was cancelled.

'There's plenty of room for two, four, 40 pride event organisations in Auckland. Pride continues to grow and we're a result of that,' Bagshaw said.

The 2019 Pride parade made headlines after it was announced police marching in the event would not be allowed to wear their uniforms.

Bagshaw said any group wanting to celebrate, who could demonstrate a strong connection with the rainbow community, was welcome at Rainbow Pride Auckland's event.

Tweedie said he was happy with the values behind the march his group was organising.

'I do think in the future we could build in elements of the parade into it, but having floats was too expensive and we had to rely on corporate sponsorship a lot in order to pull it off.

'We're returning Pride to its political roots and I think we've found the sweet spot.'

The February 8 march starts at 4pm in Albert Park.