The 2021 Auckland Pride season is officially over, but there will be some events occurring next month because of covid related postponements. The final big event on the calendar was the Pride March. Here is my coverage of the event:
A crowd of thousands gathered in Albert Park in Auckland and certainly seemed in the mood to party.
A little after 5pm they set off from the park into Princes Street then continued down Bowen Street into Victoria Street. At the bottom of the hill they turned left into Queen Street and headed south into Aotea Square
Sporting rainbow flags and various placards, the participants changed slogans calling for transgender rights and support of Black Lives Matter
The march was peaceful and colourful.
Yet, as can sometimes happen, there were two earnest protesters at the entrance to Aotea Square claiming that while they love all of us queer folk, we were in fact sinners and needed to repent.
The marchers largely ignored them and indeed their chants tended to drown out the protesters.
As the crowd gathered in the square, the Pride Party began and lasted several hours. It had to finish early however due to the government announcing late in the evening of the imposition of a level 3 lockdown on Auckland due to an outbreak of covid-19 in the city.
Participation numbers seemed a little lower than last year, but that didn’t affect the spirit of the event nor stop people from having a good time.