Yvonne van Dongen
Veteran NZ journo incredulous gender ideology escaped the lab. Won’t rest until reality makes a comeback. Proud candidate for the Women’s Rights Party for 2026. All views on sex and gender echo party policy or viewpoints. The rest? All my own work.
The power of Pride Pledge is writ large in three submissions by three major New Zealand companies against the Definition of Sex Bill.
Fletcher Building, Silver Fern Farms and Orion New Zealand are all signatories to the badge of approval bestowed by the gender cult. Whether their largely male workforce agrees with their submissions is beside the point. Their employers have signed them up to a vicious ideology masquerading as kindness and inclusion.
But, as all sex realists know, it is not kind to tell gender non-conforming children that they are the opposite sex and need medication and it is not kind to tell women they must include men in dresses in their spaces.
The point of the Definitions of Woman and Man Amendment Bill is to bring the debate back to reality, to the reality of binary sex, and the need for women’s sex-based rights.
The gender cult know they are playing with intellectual fire, they know they are effectively telling people to deny the evidence of their eyes and ears so they have to drench their deceit in feel-good morality.
Badges, pledges and ticks of inclusive baloney offer more than belonging to the in-crowd. They offer instant absolution to any accusations of – heaven forfend – homophobia, transphobia, any identity phobia. You pays your money and you buys your innocence.
Pride Pledge isn’t even that expensive. Gold membership for over 1000 employees is about $1500. Membership comes with training and certification services, including a three-year certification cycle, that may involve additional charges.
But Pride Pledge does more than harvest money. It signs companies up to their cause, companies that employ huge numbers of people. Basically Pride Pledge grooms obedient gender cultists. Would anyone in any of these massive companies dare to speak out against the trans agenda? Or speak up for women’s sex-based rights? And if they did, how would their employer react?
Among Pride Pledge’s most disturbing initiatives is the ‘Gender Affirmation Policy Register’ that they run and manage. It is described as a public transparency tool that allows organisations to showcase their ‘gender-affirming’ workplace policies, using a self-declaration model to verify they meet specific standards. These standards often include at least 10 days of ‘gender affirmation’ leave, inclusive dress codes, all-gender facilities, and pronoun flexibility.
But this doublespeak is dangerously deceptive. Sex realists know that ‘gender affirmation’ is the sanitised lie for sex denial. It is effectively endorsing conversion therapy practices, that is, telling gender-confused individuals they can change sex if they wish. This is impossible.
Fletcher Building is one of the country’s largest and most well-known businesses, employing about 9000 people. These 9000 people have, possibly unwittingly, endorsed a submission which says that the bill to define sex introduces ambiguity and operational risk from an employer perspective.
Their submission was written by Fletcher Building’s chief health and safety officer Wendi Bains and operations manager Sean Park. They say the company’s policies were aligned with current legal frameworks and had been developed to support a diverse workforce.
Below is the bilge they write about the risk of defining sex in law:
A rigid binary definition of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ risks creating a disconnect between how workplaces are required to operate and practice. This divergence creates compliance uncertainty for employers who must reconcile statutory definitions, human rights interpretation and internal policies aligned with best practices.
For example, policies such as gender affirmation leave and transitioning guidelines rely on recognising gender identity in practice. A narrowed legal definition will create uncertainty in how such policies are applied, removing their effectiveness immediately and creating inconsistency across our organisations, and a disconnect to the lived reality of employees.
They argue that recognising sex translates into tangible business consequences, including increased recruitment costs, loss of institutional capability, and reputational effects that influence its ability to attract and retain talent.
These are material operational and financial risks, not abstract considerations.
Silver Fern Farms is New Zealand’s leading processor, marketer and exporter of premium grass-fed lamb, beef and venison. They employ over 6,000 people globally at peak season. The company’s rainbow advisory group wrote Silver Fern Farms’ submission, recommending that the bill be turfed out.
Their submission said:
Legislation that signals the state does not recognise trans and non-binary people does not only harm those people directly; it signals to a generation of workers, students and future citizens that New Zealand is not a place that values them.
Also submitting against the bill is Orion, a council-owned lines company based in Christchurch. It is the third largest player in their market and, as the Orion Group, employs about 650 people. Their submission essentially says the bill is poorly thought through and unnecessary lawmaking, but also that it has implications for employers’ Health and Safety at Work Act obligations.
Another employer group called the Diversity Agenda, also submitted against the bill. The Diversity Agenda is an initiative started by peak bodies across engineering, architecture and infrastructure and representing more than 50 businesses, including major companies such as Beca. Their stated aim is to make these professions more diverse, inclusive, and representative of society. Fletcher Building, Silver Fern Farms and Orion, the three companies which already put in their own submissions, are also members of the Diversity Agenda. Just like this trio, many employers listed in the Diversity Agenda have signed the Pride Pledge.
This is how the gender cult eco-system operates. It’s a reality-denying, conformity enforcing machine. It only superficially promotes diversity. People are permitted to look different, in fact, that is much admired. But think differently? Perish the thought.
Pride Pledge, and all their rainbow and diversity pals, have invaded the most precious, personal space of all. Our minds. What could be more dangerous?
This article was originally published on the author’s Substack.
