Manurewa MP Louisa Wall says activists who forced a ban of uniformed police marching in the Auckland Pride parade may have made it harder for other young people to come out.

A meeting last week after an extraordinary flood of new members into Pride Auckland voted down a motion of no confidence in the Pride board and confirmed the uniform ban.

Ms Wall says the board was responding to calls from trans people within the LGBTI community who feel discriminated against by the police.

There also seems to be a younger generation who believe Pride should be more political.

"My kōrero to them is you can't be politically active at a Pride parade that doesn't exist any more and you're not going to have the audience so all you have done is destroy a cultural experience that provided a forum, a mechanism particularly for our young takatāpui LGBTIQ-plus seeing themselves and reconciling that whole coming out, knowing you’re different process," she says.

Without the support of sponsors and the Ponsonby Business Association it’s unlikely the parade can be held in the usual form.

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