Since January 2020, the Wellington Rainbow Affiliation Towards Hope (WRATH)​ has been advocating for a more inclusive and accessible, community-centered pride parade. This stems from our belief that the Wellington International Pride Parade (WIPP) does not represent us, is not about us, nor for us. Our concerns are that:

• WIPP is not connected with rainbow people broadly, nor with the community organisations who engage with rainbow people on a daily basis;

• WIPP organisers are not representative of rainbow populations, nor are they elected by a demographically representative diverse group; and

• WIPP refuses to engage meaningfully with community feedback, including requests by  rainbow community support organisations to meet for discussion.

​

The Affiliation is made up of various LGBTQIA+ organisations, groups, and small business owners in Wellington. They include InsideOUT, Gender Minorities Aotearoa, Ivy Bar and Cabaret, UniQ Victoria, Naming NZ, TranzForm, The Gender Centre, Aunty Dana’s Opshop and more.

 

What We Want To Achieve

While this is not an exhaustive list, the Affiliation believes that the issues concerning WIPP could be resolved by:

• having a diverse ‘rainbow community’ elected board, with requirements for representation of different populations of rainbow people (e.g. lesbian, gay, transgender, etc.);

• having more community floats than corporate floats—e.g. every corporate entry to sponsor two community entries; and

• asking the community what we want—open and meaningful community consultation.

 

Calls For Consultation

The Affiliation has embarked on a number of efforts in order to increase awareness around the issues concerning WIPP and prompt WIPP to hold numerous public hui in order for there to be open and meaningful community consultation. This includes an open letter to the community and organisations outlining our position and providing them the opportunity to sign on, and an open letter to the Wellington International Pride Parade Committee again outlining our position and calling for consultation.​