Fire and Emergency NZ will not attend Auckland Pride Parade in 2019

Friday, 30 November 2018

The parade became mired in controversy when police were banned from marching in uniform. (Video first published in Jan 2019)

Fire and Emergency New Zealand is the latest group to announce that it will not attend next year's Auckland Pride Parade following a ban on police in uniform.

The announcement on Friday comes after a raft of other sponsors and participants, including SkyCity, the Defence Force, Westpac and Fletcher Building pulled out of the event.

A Fire and Emergency NZ spokeswoman said the move had been made 'after consultation with our people in Auckland'.

Fire and Emergency NZ is the latest organisation to pull out of Auckland Pride Parade 2019 (file photo).

'Participation in the parade is voluntary and this decision has been driven by our people – we support them in this,' she said.

* 'Turning the negative into a positive': Auckland Pride crowdfunding campaign launched

* NZ Police and Pride Board in 'negotiations' over uniform ban

The Pride board's decision to ban police from marching in their uniforms has resulted in controversy.

* NZ Police 'banned' from wearing uniforms to Pride Parade**

'Pride parades are an opportunity for our people to show unity to the communities we represent and serve, which is why we are still fully committed to attending the Wellington Pride Parade.'

The Auckland Pride board announced earlier in November police would be banned from marching in the parade in their uniforms.

The board cited concerns raised by transgender people and people of colour within the rainbow communities about police treatment of them.

The decision sparked a storm of controversy, with heated arguments on both sides.

A Givealittle page was set up by ActionStation's director Laura O'Connell Rapira on November 23 to replace the corporate funding that had been pulled.

Since then, public donations have reached about $23,000.

On Monday, Pride board chairwoman Cissy Rock told Stuff that the response on Givealittle was 'incredibly uplifting'.

'The amount of money and the messages that have come along with the donations have been incredibly uplifting and really restored my faith in community and solidarity and a collective approach,' Rock said.

The board now had enough money to create 'some form of celebration of pride', she said.

'Pride Parade was never meant to be dependent on corporations and we welcome the challenge to find creative avenues to celebrate our community's sexual and gender identity.'

'I'm optimistic that what is going to go ahead is going to be something that is really community-driven,' Rock said.