Michael Fowler Centre to be lit up in transgender flag colours

Friday, 17 May 2024

The Michael Fowler Centre has been lit up in trans colours before, in 2021. (File photo)

Wellington’s Michael Fowler Centre will be lit up in trans-inclusive flag colours on Saturday night, hours after a conference is held down the road at Tākina convention centre.

Wellington mayor Tory Whanau said she was “extremely concerned” that the event’s rhetoric would be harmful to the trans and queer community and the city council had a “long-standing commitment to recognising diversity and inclusion in the capital”.

“In this city, discrimination will never be tolerated. Pōneke is a place where everyone can live with dignity, equality, and respect. End of story.”

A group called Inflection Point New Zealand has planned an event at Tākina on Saturday to stop “gender indoctrination and medicalisation of our children”.

Its speakers include former National MP Simon O’Connor and Destiny Church’s Brian Tamaki, whose fiery speech on Tuesday in Wanganui led Whanau to get security advice.

The council previously lit up the Michael Fowler Centre in trans-inclusive colours in 2021 when Speak Up for Women, a group against changing a person’s sex marker on their birth certificate, booked a room at the council-owned venue.

Destiny Church’s Brian Tamaki is amongst the speakers at the conference in Wellington.

Te Papa, which manages Tākina’s bookings and located across the street, confirmed on Thursday the conference would go ahead, but the museum will be flying a trans-inclusive rainbow flag on its flagpoles on Saturday.

“Our assessment at this point in time is that the event can be conducted safely and we are proceeding on that basis. We will continue actively monitoring the situation,” it said.

Pōneke Anti-Fascist Coalition and Queer Endurance in Defiance have confirmed they will organise a counter-demonstration at Te Papa’s forecourt on Saturday morning.

Wellington city councillor Teri O’Neill, who chairs the council’s social, cultural and economic committee, said allied businesses and community networks willset up temporary safe spaces for the capital’s rainbow community.

She would also be on the ground as a marshal on Saturday.

A police spokesperson said they were aware of the planned protest and would respond to incidents as required.

“Police recognise the right to peaceful protest, but also the right of the general public to go about their normal activities safely.”