New Zealand trans woman injured during Auckland pride march
By Ryan Love
An LGBT pride parade in New Zealand reportedly ended with a transgender woman’s arm being hurt by police.
The Maoiri woman was marching with the group No Pride in Prisons when she was allegedly assaulted by police and security.
According to Stuff, she was thrown to the ground and is currently waiting for results of an x-ray to find out if her arm is broken. While the unidentified woman was not arrested, it has been reported that a bystander who filmed the incident was removed.
Spokesperson Tim Lamusse explained that the group “wanted to highlight the fact that the queer, Maori and Pasifika communities are disproportionately harassed and targeted by police.”
He said: “It is ironic that, during a protest aiming to highlight police brutality, that a Maori trans woman was so brutally treated. This is a clear example of racist and transphobic targeting, yet another example of institutional racism and transmisogyny.”
No Pride in Prisons are now said to be seeking legal advice and are planning to file a complaint with the country’s Police Conduct Authority.
Meanwhile, a group calling itself Queers Against Injustice has claimed responsibility for an act of vandalism on a ‘GAYTM’ installed by the ANZ baking group for the Pride Festival.
In a statement, the group expressed disappointment that their action had been branded homophobic, instead arguing that it was protesting “pinkwashing”, which it explained “describes the way that institutions co-opt LGBT struggles to distract from and disguise unethical behaviour.”
They explained that they had targeted the GAYTM to highlight “the commercialisation of the Pride Festival”, before calling on “all queer subjects to remember that, despite the gains of Pride, discrimination will continue to exist for many others.”
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