Director of Auckland Pride Max Tweedie.
Photo: Dan Cook
The owners say the protesters claims relating to deadnaming are wrong and the venues are open to all.
Hundreds protested outside the Family and G.A.Y bars on Karangahape Road Saturday night, accusing its management of transphobic behaviour, which the owners deny.
Auckland Pride director Max Tweedie said owners Wayne Clark and Grady Elliott had mocked a transgender employee who was working as a bar manager of G.A.Y. Stories have been coming out over the past couple of weeks from trans and nonbinary staff that the owners have been using their deadnames - or the name they were given at birth.
Auckland Pride director Max Tweedie said owners Wayne Clark and Grady Elliott had mocked a transgender employee who was working as a bar manager of G.A.Y. Stories have been coming out over the past couple of weeks from trans and nonbinary staff that the owners have been using their deadnames - or the name they were given at birth. That s disrespecting their trans and nonbinary identities, which can be incredibly unsafe and harmful, Tweedie said.
Elliot denied those claims and said there was no transphobia.
The issue was an internal employee matter about tax details and the community had blown it out of proportion, he said.