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• A group added Transgender Pride flag colours to a .
• The council said the paint must be removed due to safety concerns, but Julie Anne Genter hopes to keep it during Pride month.
• Local residents supported the artwork, emphasising its importance and minimal impact on crossing functionality.

By Bill Hickman of 

A Wellington woman has come forward as part of a group that added the colours of the Transgender Pride flag to a pedestrian crossing in the suburb of Berhampore last weekend.

A council spokesperson said the paint would have to be removed, but Green MP for Rongotai Julie Anne Genter said she hoped to find a way to keep the guerilla artwork in place during Pride month.

Longtime Berhampore resident Deb Potter said she and three others elaborately planned the action last Sunday night – setting up traffic cones and donning hi-vis vests as they worked on the road.

Deb Potter said she and three others elaborately planned the action of painting colours from the Transgender pride flag into a Wellington pedestrian crossing. Photo / RNZ

‘To show we’re supportive of everyone in the community’

She said the group were inspired by a current case in the High Court where a consortium – with links to Christian fundamentalist political party Vision NZ – were seeking a judicial review of the legality of the council’s rainbow-coloured crossing in the central city.

“I just really thought ‘what, why?’ It seemed really horrible and so I was just looking at the crossing that was quite close to me and I thought ‘that would be a perfect place to put something’ and just show that we’re are supportive community of everyone in the community,” Potter said.

Deb Potter said the group were inspired by a current case where a consortium was seeking a judicial review of the legality of the council’s rainbow-coloured crossing in the central city. Photo / RNZ

Potter said the group read up on the safety objections raised by the legal action to make sure their crossing – dubbed Berhampride – would not be considered unsafe.

The group added pink and blue stripes to the white stripe in the centre of the crossing to reproduce the transgender pride flag between two traffic islands that marked the raised crossing in the middle of the street.

Locals welcome the unauthorised artwork

On the streets of Berhampore, locals and visitors to the area welcomed the unauthorised alteration.

“I have no problem with it, I think it’s cool. It’s still a crosswalk, it still works the same and I also have no problem with what it represents,” student Mitarina Tipene said.

Another said he enjoyed the presence of guerilla art in communities – provided the work was not destructive or disruptive.

“As long as it doesn’t interfere with actual function of the crosswalk it certainly brings visibility to an important cause and isn’t an issue,” James Felker said.

Flag a safety risk and will be removed – council

A Wellington woman – who did not want to be named – said removing the unauthorised painting would create yet another unnecessary expense for the council to pass on to ratepayers.

“I’m a ratepayer. All of these silly things are costing us far too much and they are bleeding us dry.

“Trans people are people just like everybody else and they don’t need to be picked out as being more special or less special than anybody else,” she said.

A Wellington City Council spokesperson said the flag would have to be removed as the paint could be a safety risk, especially in wet weather.

But TJ Tallie – a historian of gender and sexuality, working temporarily in the capital – said he hoped the crossing would be allowed to remain in place for the duration of Pride month.

“It would be an absolute shame if they removed it.

TJ Tallie hopes the crossing in Berhampore will be allowed to remain in place for the duration of Pride month. Photo / RNZ

“I can understand why there are council rules about things being in place to prevent anybody from painting anything at all times.”

But Tallie said at the same time – and especially during Pride month and “thinking about a global pushback against both trans representation and existence, that it might be worth thinking about ‘how do we let this moment stand’.”

Green MP supports calls to allow the flag to remain during Pride

Genter said she hoped to investigate how the colours could be kept in place on the crossing.

“If there’s no code issues or safety issues it would be great to keep it for Pride month. If we can’t do that – safely and legally – then I will be advocating with the council to see if we can replace it or find another way to represent something similar that is in line with the code requirements,” Genter said.

Wellington City Council said it had not reported the unauthorised painting to the police at this stage.

- RNZ