New Zealand GAYTM “pinkwashed” by queer activist group
A NEW Zealand ANZ GAYTM was defaced with pink paint last week by a group called Queers Against Injustice, who published an online explanation behind the incident after initial reports stated it as a homophobic act.
Our Ponsonby GAYTM was vandalised this morning. Sadly some people still ignorant & intolerant @ANZ_NZ #GAYTMNZ #PRIDE pic.twitter.com/hBDf8xZMcI
— ANZ NZ Media (@ANZ_NZ_Media) February 19, 2015
Originally reported by Stuff.co.nz as a vandalistic attack by people deemed to be “ignorant” and “intolerant” to the current pride celebrations in NZ, Queers Against Injustice soon after claimed responsibility of the act by stating that the “pinkwashing” was a protest against “the commercialisation of the Pride festival”.
Pinkwashing, a term the group defined as being an act in which institutions co-opt LGBT struggles to distract from or disguise unethical behaviour, was used against the ANZ GAYTMs as a way to “object to the representation of queer identity in terms of consumptive and wealthy citizens”.
The group also cited that by “associating queer politics with personal banking within a gentrified area reduces the queer subject to a bourgeois, cis-gender, white, male subject, and in doing so reproduces many of the intersecting injustices by which queer subjects are marginalised”.
Technician tending to our vandalised GAYTM – looks like it’s going to be a big clean up job #GAYTMNZ #PRIDE @anz_nz pic.twitter.com/zYxQkyYoDL — ANZ NZ Media (@ANZ_NZ_Media) February 19, 2015
The group also wrote on their website that it was “disheartening that the representation of our symbolic pinkwashing of the GAYTM has been manipulated into an act of hatred and complicity. This misrepresentation reinforces the image of tolerance that ANZ has spent a lot of money marketing to us.”
Australia will see it’s first GAYTM for the Mardi Gras season on Tuesday morning on Sydney’s Oxford St.
These vile bitter queens don’t do the community any good. Just how do they expect festivals & parades to be funded? These days it takes embracing commercial opportunities. Yes its marketing for the big end of town, and why not. We are; whether these activists like it or not; a fairly free spending demographic. One that businesses can make money from.
Ticket prices for dance events no longer make the coin needed to fund things. Perhaps these bitter individuals could run a charity stall or something similar and donate their proceeds to whatever organisation runs Aucklands GLBTQI festival. But not going to happen as these separatists will still be arguing about commercialization in 6 months time.
Vandalising things belonging to our allies does your credibility no good. It just makes you a loser.
lol. 20years ago no one would give money to these events, cant win,
I’d rather they just stop investing in coal mines than decorating cash machines.
This is ridiculous. There’s no making some people happy.
I suppose they think they’re clever. Dumbos
Idiots.
Their time would be better spent worrying about REAL ISSUES, rather than commercialisation…..
People are still getting bashed FFS…..
How about volunteering for the anti violence project or something???
Vandalism only harms the cause and lessens the confidence of organisations, like ANZ, who have supported the GLBTI cause for DECADES…..
What are these maniacs high on!?!?
Not sure this was an intelligent thing to do. Vandalism is sometimes a byproduct of activism but it shouldn’t be the main point of an action.
I hope someone from ANZ is following this post – maybe Star Observer should consolidate our comments and give them to the bank.