ABSTRACT
In 2015, the Police and Corrections departments were given permission to march in the Pride Parade. In response, activist group No Pride in Prisons staged a protest against the history of mistreatment of transgendered people by these organisations. Additionally, another group staged a number of paint-splash attacks on a corporate sponsor, claiming Pride had been commodified. In the aftermath a polarising debate emerged in online queer community forums, one which perfectly encapsulated the bind that Pride organisers found themselves in: the high cost of Pride necessitates the creation of strategic and politically pragmatic relationships with sponsors; in doing so, members of the queer community had become alienated from processes of Pride celebration.
