No Pride in Prisons is hosting a screening of a documentary that follows the progress of the protest group and discussion around the Auckland Pride Parade. The screening will act as a fundraising event for the group, who will use the funds raised for things such as material for banners, printing, directly supporting incarcerated people and resources. Emmy Rākete of No Pride in Prisons believes the conversation around Pride is one that needs to continue and says she will be attending the upcoming Auckland Pride Festival hui but is not planning on showing up with 100 people and banners. “We spent all of last year trying to negotiate with Pride and I'm sure we'll spend all of this year trying to negotiate with Pride again,” she says. “I’m always optimistic.” The documentary mostly enters around the Fuck Pride Rally, organised in response to the Pride Board’s decision to include uniformed police and corrections officers in the 2016 Auckland Pride Parade, despite they say, months of negotiations with No Pride in Prisons. “Given the situation in Whanganui and the absolute evasion of accountability or responsibility for that woman's safety from Corrections, it'd frankly be pretty surprising to me if Pride were bankrupt enough to give the Department a platform,” says Rākete. “If Pride 2016 demonstrated anything, it's that aligning themselves with repressive state aparatuses is no longer viable for them. 100 times more people showed up in 2016 than in 2015. I can only imagine they're working out how many will show up in 2017 if they make the wrong decision again.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 5th May 2016 - 12:23pm