Banks pull out of tomorrow's Wellington International Pride Parade

BNZ, ASB, Westpac, ANZ and Kiwibank have pulled out of the Wellington International Pride Parade after calls from some rainbow support groups for the annual event to be boycotted.

"We have received requests from various community groups for us to withdraw from the Wellington Pride Parade," a Kiwibank spokesperson said.

"It's a difficult situation -  we want to honour the relationships with our communities while also honouring our commitment to the support of pride and the whole rainbow community."

A Westpac spokesperson also confirmed the company won't be participating.

"After thorough consultation with our staff, the rainbow community and other participating banks, we have made the difficult decision not to participate in the Wellington International Pride Parade," the spokesperson said.

Robbie Ellis, ANZ NZ's pride network lead, said staff members were looking forward to the march, and some will still do so as individuals.

"The parade should be about love, friendship, inclusion and good vibes, and we don’t want to put that at risk in any way so our Wellington Pride group made the difficult decision to not take part this year," he said. "They’re disappointed, but feel this was the right decision."

Last month, a number of rainbow support organisations and small businesses in the capital signed an open letter calling for parade participants to pull out, claiming parade organisers were not willing to hear feedback from the wider community that the event does not represent the whole LGBTQIA+ community and is too focused on corporate interests and tourism.

Parade organiser Richard Tait told 1 NEWS last month that the parade is open to everyone and said the group had agreed to mediation in private with Wellington Rainbow Affiliation Towards Hope - an alliance of multiple LGBTQIA+ groups that has been a vocal critic - because holding a public meeting was not safe.

Organisers had put a change in place this year for corporate groups to support community groups as part of their entry, after hearing feedback following last year's event, he said.

Wellington Rainbow Affiliation Towards Hope has not agreed to mediation, saying having the opportunity and ability to share feedback in a public setting is vital.

The parade starts on Saturday evening.

* In an earlier version of this story, an image used could have indicated the people pictured were in favour of a boycott. That is not the case and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.

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