{"id":294810,"date":"2026-02-21T07:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T07:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/294810\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T07:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T07:33:08","slug":"auckland-rainbow-parade-draws-thousands-as-police-boost-presence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/294810\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland Rainbow Parade draws thousands as police boost presence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ThereThere was no sign of protest as celebrations got underway, with up to 25,000 people expected to attend the event on Ponsonby Rd. Photo \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n

Among the entities taking part in the parade were Air New Zealand, Fonterra, Foodstuffs, Woolworths, Burnett Foundation, Act, Labour, National, Fire and Emergency New Zealand and NZ Police.<\/p>\n

Scouts Aotearoa were also among the participants, with about two dozen staff joining their float. <\/p>\n

The Auckland Rainbow Community Church has about 50 members marching in the parade.<\/p>\n

Members of the group were bearing signs with messages that read, \u201cFaithfully queer\u201d, \u201cGod loves you\u201d and \u201cAroha ki a koe\u201d.<\/p>\n

Seven Fire and Emergency New Zealand staff are leading a fire truck adorned with rainbow flags. A banner on the side, with a silver fern inset into the rainbow flag, says, \u201cPride: Live Proud\u201d.<\/p>\n

New Zealand Police participants were being led by the iconic rainbow police car, while officers followed behind with the Progress Pride flag.<\/p>\n

Ponsonby Rd residents were spotted waving out their windows at the parade passing below. <\/p>\n

\"ThereThere was no sign of protest as celebrations got underway, with up to 25,000 people expected to attend the event on Ponsonby Rd. Photo \/ Anna Heath\"ThereThere was no sign of protest as celebrations got underway, with up to 25,000 people expected to attend the event on Ponsonby Rd. Photo \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n

Politicians celebrate <\/p>\n

Among the Labour MPs marching with their party are deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni, Te Atat\u016b MP Phil Twyford and former senior Cabinet minister Chris Carter. <\/p>\n

Chris Bishop was walking with the National Party group, with members carrying National-branded signs that say \u201cCelebrating Pride\u201d.<\/p>\n

Around a dozen people – including David Seymour – were marching with the Act Party float, wearing identical pink T-shirts with the party logo attached. Meanwhile, Seymour wore a light pink shirt and shorts.<\/p>\n

\"ThousandsThousands of Pride supporters flocked to the Auckland Rainbow Parade in Ponsonby, Auckland. Photo \/ Anna Heath\" Thousands of Pride supporters flocked to the Auckland Rainbow Parade in Ponsonby, Auckland. Photo \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n

Purpose: Unity, inclusion, love<\/p>\n

Event manager Shaughan Woodcock said the parade is about inclusivity and a celebration of New Zealand\u2019s rainbow community \u2013 acknowledging those with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.<\/p>\n

Anyone planning to turn up to protest was being told a simple message: \u201cDon\u2019t come\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a public expression of diversity, unity and support. And if you don\u2019t support any of that kaupapa [philosophy], then don\u2019t come. It\u2019s as simple as that,\u201d Woodcock said when asked about potential protesters, as seen at last year\u2019s parade.<\/p>\n

\"ThereThere was no sign of protest as celebrations got underway, with up to 25,000 people expected to attend the event on Ponsonby Rd. Photo \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not encroaching on their rights. And we just encourage them not to encroach on our rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m respectful that there is a freedom of speech and that we live in a democracy that supports free speech and protest, but protest needs to be peaceful and not fearful or intimidating.\u201d<\/p>\n

At last year\u2019s event, members of Brian Tamaki\u2019s Destiny Church broke through police barricades and blocked part of Ponsonby Rd, holding up the parade, as they performed a haka.<\/p>\n

\"DestinyDestiny Church members disrupt the Rainbow Parade last year. Photo \/ Morgan Huffman<\/p>\n

A group wearing T-shirts with words such as \u201cMan-Up\u201d and \u201cReal Men\u201d turned up to protest at the event. Many of those involved were young men or teenagers.<\/p>\n

Police were called on to move the protesters off the road.<\/p>\n

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown later criticised their actions \u2013 particularly as the incident came after an earlier one at a West Auckland library, during which violence broke out when Destiny Church members turned up in protest of a children\u2019s event featuring a drag king.<\/p>\n

Brown said at the time that their actions were out of line and unacceptable. He also gave a nod to Auckland\u2019s population of 1.7 million people, who he said are from all walks of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is absolutely no place for thuggery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police to be highly visible <\/p>\n

Senior Sergeant Anthony Turner said authorities had maintained ongoing communication with the event\u2019s organisers in the lead-up to the parade.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur people will be visible and the focus is on ensuring public safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould any instances of disruption occur on the night, then our staff will deal with that appropriately,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Woodcock said, like all major events, the Rainbow Parade has a robust health and safety plan in place to ensure the safety and protection of all those within the rainbow community, as well as all members of the public there to celebrate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fair to say that any focus on protests or talk of protests just simply reminds us why we have this parade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about showing support, but also about showing unity. If I can make one person feel safe or happy or that they belong, then I\u2019ve actually done my job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of negativity and hatred in the world these days. But there\u2019s also a lot of support and love \u2013 and that\u2019s what really shines out from the people coming to the parade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was no sign of protest as celebrations got underway, with up to 25,000 people expected to attend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[806,51,11231,18983,19555,126472,305,111,43,139,69,34258,675,4494,55233,96462,20420,1961,2742],"class_list":{"0":"post-294810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-as","9":"tag-auckland","10":"tag-boost","11":"tag-draws","12":"tag-evening","13":"tag-flocked","14":"tag-have","15":"tag-new-zealand","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-newzealand","18":"tag-nz","19":"tag-parade","20":"tag-police","21":"tag-presence","22":"tag-pride","23":"tag-rainbow","24":"tag-supporters","25":"tag-this","26":"tag-thousands"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}