Aotearoa holds a long history of resistance: for land, for language, for tino rangatiratanga, for survival itself, and for freedom. From Hōne Heke cutting down the flagstaff at Kororāreka in 1845, to nonviolent resistance at Parihaka in 1881, to the founding of the Polynesian Panthers being in 1971, to the 1975 hīkoi to Parliament led by Dame Whina Cooper, to Takaparawhau led by Joe Hawke and ngā uri o Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei in 1977, the fight for Homosexual Law Reform of 1986, HIV and AIDS activism for over 40 years, to the decriminalisation of sex work in 2003, through to Ihumātao in 2016. Across generations, within these actions and countless other examples, our people have risen to assert mana motuhake and to hold the Crown to account.

At the heart of these stories were takatāpui. In his wakahuia, the late Lee Smith recalls takatāpui and tāngata ira whiti present at Waitangi, in Ngā Tamatoa, and central to the Gay Liberation Front. Yet written histories often erase these intersections, as though Māori struggle and takatāpui struggle were separate. They never were. Both are movements towards survival, dignity, and freedom. They share whakapapa.

As a result of settler colonialism, Māori resistance has always been interconnected with global movements that are contributing to the same progress towards freedom: the Stonewall riots and Gay Liberation, to Black Lives Matter, West Papua, Congo, Sudan and Palestine today. None of us are free until all of us are free.

Auckland Pride exists as a descendent of HERO, the Gay Liberation Front, and No Pride in Prisons. For thirteen years, Auckland Pride has evolved, expanded, and contracted to meet the needs of our communities and membership. This evolution, through change, challenge, and celebration, affirms that Auckland Pride is more than a festival. It is a movement. Our kaupapa has always been to make visible the lives, struggles, joys and needs of Takatāpui, MVPFAFF+, and Rainbow people across Aotearoa, to honour whakapapa while making way for what comes next.

Ngā Uri E! is both commemoration and continuation, an intergenerational gathering that pays tribute to the courage of our ancestors in activism, while uplifting the artists, organisers, and storytellers who were there on our front lines and continue that work today. Through music, storytelling, and performance, we recognise that our history of resistance is inseparable from our art. We remember those lost to violence, to HIV and AIDS, and to the erasures of colonial neglect, while celebrating those who fought and continue to fight for our collective liberation.

Ngā Uri E! We are the descendants of the movement. 

Kia mau tonu, kia mau tonu rā! The movement continues!