Pride Whanganui’s Christina Emery stepping away as face of organisation

Christina Emery before Pride Week in 2021. Photo / Bevan Conley

Christina Emery is stepping back as the face and chief organiser of Pride Whanganui, with several volunteers picking up the duties.

She said burnout was a factor in her decision, along with avoiding compassion fatigue — something she had been studying as part of a degree in counselling.

“What’s terrifying about that is you stop caring about the people you should be caring about.

“Obviously, I’m not there yet and I don’t want to get to that point. It’s a good time to pass over the baton.

“I don’t have fundraising or event ideas left and I don’t have any steam left. The next person needs to come in and say ‘Right, here is the next great thing’.”

The organisation started “with a few boxes of resources” in her living room and now runs the annual Pride Week, professional development training, five support groups and an office three days a week.

Emery said she never imagined Pride Whanganui getting to its current position.

“We’ve always just got on and done it. Nothing has ever been red-taped or caught up in politics or bureaucratic b*****t.

“It’s worked incredibly well and to get to where we are has been a total commitment from all involved.”

Negative reactions to this year’s Pride Week, both online and in person, showed why the organisation was as important as ever, Emery said.

Pride Whanganui didn’t participate in the city’s Christmas Parade in 2023 because of safety concerns.

“It is the worst it’s ever been. We have always had online hate but for the first couple of years, I might have blocked five people in total.

“This year, I could block five people a day or an hour. I’ve never had to ban people from our events or our office but it happened this year.”

Christina Emery (left) with wife Mel Fleet at this year's Pride Week party.

Attracting funding remains an issue and Emery’s role will be shared between several volunteers.

“There is no one new person per se because there is no money to pay them. We have spread it all out,” she said.

“To the outside world, not much is going to change. It’ll just be a lot more people doing a lot more things.

“That’s great because even if I stayed on and got hit by a bus tomorrow, I don’t want all the secrets to die with me.”

Emery said she was most proud of giving others the tools to help the rainbow community.

“There are 10, 20, 50 organisations and businesses in Whanganui, where we’ve given them the training, the confidence and support to be that next advocate.

“I’m always an open book. If a group asks for information I’ll share every document I’ve ever written.

“In terms of medical care and mental health care, we are doing a lot of things in Whanganui that aren’t even seen in bigger centres and bigger cities.”

Emery will remain as the Pride Whanganui chairperson.

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.