“OurMarch Was Awesome”
Gender Minorities Aotearoa Auckland marched today, with local trans folks and friends and whanau marching in the Auckland Pride March.
Photo credit: Henry Laws
Over 7,000 people turned up to Albert Park, with banners and signs, dress ups and rainbows.
The trans float sported an enormous transgender flag, lots of placards, and an abundance of energy celebrating our wins and calling for housing, healthcare, and human rights to be enacted.
Photo credit: Henry Laws
Messages included calls to prioritise trans housing, to stop surgeries on intersex infants, to give trans people equitible access to health care including surgeries, respect Indigenous genders, fund trans led services, pass the BDMRR, decolonise the health and legal system.
Suicide prevention was on the list, alongside increasing regional services for trans people, and allowing legal gender recognition for trans asylum seekers.
Photo credit: Peter Jennings
– Annalucia Stasis, GMA Auckland
”The highlight for me was just seeing so many trans kids and their friends in the front holding up trans flags and non-binary flags, and they were so excited, and their parents were with them supporting them and wearing t-shirts like ”I love my trans child”
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Photo credit: Henry Laws
– Molly Black, GMA Wellington
“After starting up a chant calling for Trans Rights I could hear it echoing down the march as more people joined in, even after putting the megaphone down. I felt connected to everyone and strong in my community, and it’s so important to be able to feel like that”
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Photo credit: Henry Laws
– Chanting Rainbow Crowd
“Who’s streets? Our streets”
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Photo credit: Henry Laws
– Ahi Wi-Hongi, National Coordinator, Gender Minorities Aotearoa
”Trans communities have always formed themselves, as trans folks come together to awhi each other. We fight isolation with community spirit, and that’s what we saw at Our March today; people coming together out of empathy for each other’s struggles, and out of fierce love and passion. Queer solidarity is a beautiful thing.
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Photo credit: Henry Laws
Thank you to Auckland Pride Board and supporters for organising #OurMarch 2020, special thanks to val smith, Molly Black, Annalucia Stasis, Jack Byrne, and everyone else who helped to organise the transgender float with GMA, and huge thanks to everyone who came along and walked together! What an incredible turn out.
Read a great media article about OurMarch by clicking [here].
You can catch some of our Auckland crew on Wednesday February 12th at the What’s Up? Pride Activist Gala [click here].
