Kia ora koutou,
Today is Transgender Day of Visibility, we want to acknowledge, support and bring light to issues faced by our trans community.
As a Pride Committee we have a responsibility to advocate and give voice to a community that may not always have a voice. We acknowledge that we have made mistakes and our community is hurting and as a volunteer Pride Committee we would like to publicly apologise to all those who are hurting right now due to different lived experiences and personal opinions being expressed both individually and as a community. We know that one person cannot represent a whole community but their lived experience even though different to another’s is no less valid than another’s.
We have always aimed to try and make Christchurch/Ōtautahi a safe and inclusive home and we acknowledge we will not always get it right, but we will do our best to take accountability and listen to those voices within our community. Our community is made of passionate people who only want the best for all of us and when we lead lives where who we are is constantly being questioned and misunderstood it is only natural in the heat of the moment to speak before we think, to act out of hurt and passion and to not always articulate or find the right words that are swarming in our heads and hearts, this is all part of being human, and we at Chch Pride want to be the best version of that, so again we sincerely apologise for the harm, hurt and division that has been caused.
We ask that you help us on our journey to educate not only others but ourselves, to call us out when we go off track. We also ask that people be kind to themselves and others and remember that we are all walking this journey side by side. We need you to help us, to guide us, to teach us and to learn with us. We are all human, flawed and fragile but wanting to do right by our communities.
Christchurch has just celebrated what has been our biggest Pride Week ever and we want to keep moving forward with everyone. As important as celebrating who we are is, it is also just as important, if not more, to educate and learn about who we are, what our diverse needs are and how we can best achieve these.
We would like to start a conversation around the possibility of a community hui/workshops and find out who, where and how would be the safest and most respectful way to do this. This will not be a Chch Pride lead project but a combined community effort. So please if you want to help us with suggestions on how we can start this, if there are any groups, communities or organisations you feel are not being reached or included then please contact us. We can only do or include those who are known to us and realise that there will be many who aren’t on our radar for whatever reason.
Please be kind to yourselves and others and reach out if you are struggling.
Ngā mihi nui
Chch Pride ... See more
