Come out to Ponsonby Road on Saturday 17 February – commencing at the twilight time of 7.30pm – for the largest and loudest carnival of equality and diversity in Aotearoa New Zealand!Auckland Pride’s showcase event brings together people from across Aotearoa New Zealand to celebrate our Rainbow communities – which includes people identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, takatāpui, whakawāhine, tangata ira tāne, fa’afafine, fakaleiti, akava’ine, māhū, vaka sa lewa lewa, rae rae, fiafifine, fakafifine, palopa, kathoey, hijra, baklâ, genderfluid, genderqueer, pansexual, asexual, queer and questioning.
A firm crowd favourite on Auckland’s summer calendar, the Auckland Pride Parade is a colourful and inclusive reflection of our great city, and the incredible cultural diversity within it.
Who can participate?
We welcome applications from individuals, groups or organisations from within New Zealand’s Rainbow communities – whether the entry is focused on messages related to the Rainbow communities or not.
Applications from individuals, groups or organisations that are not part of New Zealand’s Rainbow communities are also welcomed – provided the entry communicates a clear, supportive and positive message relating to the Rainbow communities and the 2018 Parade theme.
We encourage commercial organisations that wish to participate in the Auckland Pride Parade to show their support by partnering with local groups from within the Rainbow communities.
Auckland Pride Parade 2018 Information & Rules [PDF]
How to join the Parade
Registrations for the Auckland Pride Parade 2018 have now closed!
If your group or organisation wishes to take part in this year’s Auckland Pride Parade, and has yet to register, please contact the Parade Producer as soon as possible: [email protected].
Rainbow Warriors: Pride and Peace
Human rights and LGBTIQ+ people are under attack all over the world. In 2018, the Auckland Pride Parade will march for peace, love and unity.
Trump’s America is winding back the rights of sexual and gender minorities. Chechnya is conducting a vicious programme of murder and repression. In many cultures, trans-people are stopped from being who they are. Racism, religious intolerance, and environmental vandalism are on the rise. Super powers speak the language of war. Even children worry about the future.
Close to home, Australia’s same-sex marriage debate has descended into an ugly public spectacle. In many Pacific Islands, same-sex relations between men can result in imprisonment. Bali claims to be a gay tourist mecca, while elsewhere in Indonesia, gay men are persecuted and publicly caned.
Aotearoa New Zealand stands strong as an island of relative stability and equality in a dark and stormy sea. We don’t know how lucky we are.
We’ve always been Rainbow Warriors. Woman’s Suffrage. Te Whiti’s passive resistance in Parihaka. New Zealanders have been at the forefront of change. We protested against nuclear testing in the Pacific, and went nuclear-free. We protested the Springbok Tour, and helped defeat apartheid. We marched for the freedom to love and for equality under law, and became the first country in Oceania to legalise same-sex marriage.
Now is the time to march again. Let’s turn our celebration and visibility into a beacon of hope. Show the planet that we are many voices who sing in unity. Protest peacefully about the things that matter to us. Offer an olive branch or rautapu. Set free our doves. Fly a thousand paper cranes. Claim our place in the world as proud LGBTIQ+ people, leading lights, out in front, prophets and trailblazers.
He pōkēkē uenuku i tu ai! Against a dark cloud, a rainbow stands out brightly!
