Tue 7 Mar 2017 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
The committee responsible for the Wellington Pride Parade say while they did consider the actions taken by the Auckland Pride Board when making their own decision regarding the Department of Corrections, the decision was made based on feedback from the local community. Wellington Pride Chair Adrienne Girling says the committee, who is responsible for Wellington Pride Festival, Wellington Pride Parade and Out in the Park, says “in the end we made the decision based on what the Wellington community was telling us they wanted.” Some members of the queer and gender diverse communities have questioned the involvement of activist group No Pride in Prisons in the decision making process. “Members of No Pride in Prisons attended public meetings hosted by Out Wellington Inc in 2016, alongside other members of the LGBTQI community,” says Girling. “In July, NPIP presented the newly formed Out Wellington committee (for the 2017 season) with information to consider, which included asking the committee not to allow the Department of Corrections to participate in the events, as an institution. “We did consider this information in making our decision, but did not consult with NPIP any further regarding the issue.” In a statement released regarding the committee’s decision, they wrote that regarding the extensive changes Corrections are planning to make, “public consultation and staff training are still needed before these changes are fully implemented. We encourage conversations to continue to take place between the Department of Corrections and the LGBTIQ community.” Grilling says the committee would consider hosting or facilitating a consultation or discussion between the Department of Corrections and the wider LGBTIQ community after the Wellington Pride Festival has finished, noting that they are currently very busy organising events for the festival. “The representatives that we met with from the Department of Corrections presented a lot of information to us about the work that they are doing to improve things for transgender prisoners, and it seems this information has not yet reached the public. We would be happy to help facilitate getting this information out to the community, as well as providing an opportunity for dialogue.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 7th March 2017 - 10:39am