Why Does a Pride Parade Need Public Relations Advice?

Following this year’s corporate Pride Parade and the protests against it, we noted a change in tone from the Auckland Pride Board. It seemed the Board had shifted its public-facing attitude to protest. Whereas after the Pride Parade protests of 2015, the organiser said he was “disappointed” that No Pride in Prisons “chose to use the Auckland Pride Parade as an opportunity to broadcast their message”, this year the Director almost praised us for our actions. Perhaps realising that the tide of public opinion was turning against them, and the Department of Corrections, the Directors decided not to completely disparage the protesters.

Instead, the 2016 Director told GayNZ that he:

[U]nderstands No Pride in Prisons [sic] aim to “give a voice to a very small minority, who would likely otherwise fall between the cracks” however, he says he is not sure the protest helped their cause.
“We prepare for many scenarios and work closely with the city, the Police and our stewards on measures to keep people safe and allow everyone to enjoy the event,” says Davion. “A group chose disruption rather than co-operation as their means of communication, I’m not sure it helps their cause.”

This is a marked shift in the Pride Board’s approach to protesters. Whereas in 2015, the Board and its allies were willing to hark on about how “rude and reckless” the protesters were, the 2016 Board’s response is more complex. First, Davion backhandedly praises us for our actions. He recognises that if it weren’t for our actions, the issues of incarcerated trans and queer people may never have come up for discussion. However, in the same breath, he chooses to criticise the protesters’ tactics, and minimise the legitimate concerns of marginalised queer and trans people by referring to them as a “very small minority.”

He then goes on to say that he isn’t sure that No Pride in Prisons’ protest “helped their cause.” This is where we get to the heart of the Pride Board’s spin tactics. The Board assumes, because No Pride in Prisons interrupted the corporate pinkwashing event that tries to pass itself off as a pride parade, that we lost support or that our tactics didn’t work. This is part of the beauty of spin: you can make a lie sound like the truth.

The truth of the matter, however, is that No Pride in Prisons has never garnered more support from the queer and trans community across Aotearoa and abroad. We have received countless positive messages, comments, likes and shares and started a discussion about the precarious situation of trans and queer incarcerated people, as well as the necessity of prison abolition. The Pride Board and the pinkwashers more generally may want to believe that our action was a failure, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Davion also insisted that the protesters had chosen “disruption rather than co-operation.” We are calling bullshit. There have been multiple hui between No Pride in Prisons and the Pride Board over the past year. Surely Davion was aware of these meetings, as Parade Director. No Pride in Prisons was patient. We went to the meetings. We had discussions and we tried to convince them that Police and Corrections should never be in the parade. However, their minds were already made up. If anything, it was the Pride Board who refused to co-operate. The disruption of the corporate Pride event was necessary because the Board refused to listen.

So as you can see, while Davion is sprinkling glitter in front of our eyes, telling us he respects our protest, he is simultaneously stabbing us with lies and slander. This is a much more thought out approach to public relations than what we saw in 2015. It is clear that this newfound sophistication in the Pride Board’s ability to spin a story comes as the result of public relations advice.

We know that the Pride Board has hired at least one public relations company, because No Pride in Prisons received an email from that company. Prior to the 2016 Pride Parade, groups and organisations who made a submission to participate in the parade were contacted by Elephant Publicity. “We’re the publicists for the 2016 Auckland Pride Parade and I’m touching base ahead of the parade about possible PR opportunities,” the email read.

With offers from Elephant Publicity for media to “film the creation of your float,” covering “background on involvement (story angle),” “background on your company/organisation or reasons for wanting to be involved,” and “what you want your organisation/group or float to communicate to Aucklanders (story angle),” it became clear that the parade organisers were keen to formulaically present this year’s parade as a cheerful and diverse festival of community participants.

The fact that all potential participants received this email from Elephant Publicity speaks directly to the nature of Auckland Pride. Why is it that the Pride Board is now so intent on having a complex public relations campaign around its parade? The answer is quite simple: this is exactly what the Auckland Pride Parade, and corporate pride events everywhere, have become. Pride parades are no longer for struggling queers to display righteous pride and righteous anger in the face of marginalisation. Pride parades are for public relations. They are for the public promotion of banks, universities, hardware stores, oppressive governments, and their security forces.

This means that most of the groups contacted by Elephant Publicity were corporations and institutions, being offered a no-strings-attached opportunity to advertise their diversity and open-mindedness. So why does Pride need a PR company? It doesn’t. As we argued elsewhere, there was only one Auckland Pride 2016 and it started on Karangahape Road. The parade put on by the Pride Board was not Pride. That event was a walking billboard for capitalist exploitation and queer assimilation. It is for this reason that the 2016 Auckland Pride Parade needed a public relations company and spin doctors on the job. The Pride organisers cared more about public image and advertising potential than the marginalised members of our community. That’s nothing to be proud of.

Written by T Lamusse and S Morgan

Thursday, February 25, 2016