PRESS RELEASE: No Pride in Prisons

A group of queer and trans activists, No Pride in Prisons, is demanding the resignation of the Gay Auckland Business Association (GABA) president, Heather Carnegie. This follows what the group believes to have been inexcusable and irresponsible behaviour at Auckland’s Pride parade on Saturday night.

During a peaceful protest by members of the group, Carnegie was filmed and photographed behaving in what No Pride in Prisons believes was a violent manner towards the protesters.

Spokesperson Jennifer Shields says, “We have reviewed footage and photos and you can see that Heather violently shoved one of the protesters. It is clear from their facial expression that that caused some pain.”

“Another member of our group was filming what was happening when Heather grabbed her phone from her hands. We have images of Heather then throwing the phone a distance of about five metres onto concrete, narrowly missing bystanders. This resulted in permanent damage to the phone with much of the earlier footage lost.”

“Others received verbal abuse from her, being told that they should be ashamed, to leave the parade, and to stop filming the events.”

“There is also video evidence of what the group believes to be the injured woman from No Pride in Prisons being intimidated and interrogated by Heather as she awaited medical attention. She did nothing to stop Pride festival security from fracturing a young Māori trans woman’s arm. Instead, she allowed and condoned their behaviour.”

No Pride in Prisons feels that such behaviour, and subsequent denial of her actions is unacceptable from a prominent and influential figure in Auckland’s LGBTQI community. Carnegie’s published response in GAYNZ was negligent in her failure to address the aggression of security and the resulting injuries suffered by the protester.

While Carnegie was not at the parade in her capacity as GABA president, she was managing the GABA-sponsored Glamstand and as such represented both GABA and the Festival.

“We also encourage other queer and non-queer organisations and communities to speak out about Heather’s actions. This community should demand and expect better leaders than those who act with such disregard to young queer and trans people.”

The group is seeking legal counsel, which includes recuperation of any losses incurred to the owner of the damaged phone.

Link to footage of Carnegie intimidating the injured protester:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJXr-JdynBM
Image of Carnegie accosting a protester: http://www.gaynz.com/articles/uploads/3/Carnegie_parade.jpg
Image of Carnegie throwing a protester’s phone:
http://up.ch1zuru.us/20150223-201747-8770.gif

ENDS

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