A showdown looms at the Sydney Mardi Gras annual general meeting on Saturday, where members will vote on whether police should be allowed to march in the parade and under what conditions.
Members will be asked to vote on three resolutions concerning whether police should be allowed to participate in the annual parade.
One of the motions from the board would bar NSW Police from marching until they demonstrate a commitment to improving relationships with LGBTQIA+ communities.
Another motion, proposed by the activist group Pride in Protest, calls for police to be excluded from the parade indefinitely.
A third would limit participation to LGBTQIA+ officers and not allow them to wear uniforms or carry weapons.
On Thursday, NSW Premier Chris Minns said any move to ban police would be a “slap in the face”. Meanwhile, the state’s Police Minister, Yasmin Catley, said excluding the force would “divide rather than unite”.
Greens MP Jenny Leong, representing the Newtown electorate, expressed disgust at the advocacy for police participation in Mardi Gras.
“Solidarity to those subjected to strip searches and sniffer dogs, strength to those who live with trauma as a result of systemic racism, and power to those standing together against the powerful political elite running a PR protection racket for the NSW Police,” she said on social media platform X.
Labor MP Tanya Plibersek, who represents the federal seat of Sydney, said she and state Sydney MP Alex Greenwich believed police should be included in the parade and called for unity.
“So many people over so many years have worked hard to improve relationships between the police and the LGBTQIA+ community. Mardi Gras is about unity in our community, not exclusion,” she said.
Liz Dods, who has been involved with Mardi Gras since 1993 and held various positions including board director, took to Facebook to explain why she had changed her mind about police involvement in the parade.
“SGLMG Board’s decisions around the NSW Police in Parade in Feb 24 was a knee-jerk, emotional reaction; lacking strategic thinking and good governance. Thus opening the way for a sector of the community (Pride in Protest) to garner more oxygen in their shameful exploitation of the tragic [alleged] murder of 2 gay men, for their own agenda,” she said.
Dods said more discussions were needed to be had but, upon reflection, she believed police should not be granted automatic inclusion in the parade.
“Too many lives both inside and outside of the Police force have been destroyed by the lack of action in the senior ranks,” she said.
“And I have come to the conclusion that the NSW Police have had long enough to change their culture and behaviour. It is time for me to draw a line and say no more.”
Her comment section, across two different posts on Facebook, included a variety of people both agreeing and disagreeing with her.
Richard Davies wrote: “Yep agree. Groups of police, not in uniforms or guns, should be supported, as they are almost always part of the community or very strong allies within the police.”
Pieper David said: “I appreciate your POV but I cannot support exclusion as way to promote inclusion or as a way to ensure the safety of everyone in our community.” David said they would stop being a Mardi Gras member if a motion to exclude police passes.
Current Mardi Gras board member Kyriakos Gold said that he believes “that there shouldn’t be automatic inclusion OR exclusion of any organisation” including the NSW Police.
Gold also took to his own Facebook page to expand his thoughts, saying the ongoing focus on police participation in the parade was “overshadowing critical conversations” about Mardi Gras’ future.
“I am deeply concerned that Mardi Gras is increasingly being used as a platform for political warfare and even entryism, where external agendas are infiltrating and attempting to influence the organisation’s direction,” he said.
Gold said he would be voting against the motions to exclude police because he “did not support excluding any group from the parade if they meet the same criteria as all others”.
Gold said he would also be voting against all other Pride in Protest motions at the AGM, which includes several unrelated to police.
Mardi Gras member and political adviser Peter Stahel, who wrote an opinion piece in The Sydney Morning Herald about police participation, said he did not believe Pride in Protest had a strategy to reform the police and was running a campaign to take over Mardi Gras.
Stahel questioned why Pride In Protest didn’t organise their own alternative pride event, allowing Mardi Gras to maintain its traditional format.
“Pride in Protest aren’t happy with their own existing circle of influence, they want a bigger one. They
don’t want Mardi Gras to be like it was in 1978. They want Mardi Gras to be like Pride in Protest is now,” he said.
One of the Mardi Gras 78ers, Peter De Waal AM, took to his Facebook, saying that when he first marched it was about belonging and inclusion, which is why he supported including the police in the parade.
“Now, consider queer police officers in 2024 — the many striving to create positive change from within a deeply flawed institution,” he said.
“They are working to bridge the divide between a very troubled system and individuals who deserve justice, support, and inclusion. Rejecting them outright from marching because they belong to an institution with a very problematic painful past only fuels further division and harm.”
Former Mardi Gras co-chair and life member Steph Sands said while she did “not want to trivialise the harm and trauma that some members of the police force… have made and impacted on our community”, she believed police should be allowed to march.
“The motions put a very dangerous precedent in place about exclusion, and for an organisation that has fought for equality for nearly 50 years this isn’t what I want to see as a decision point or recommendation to the board to execute.”
A Pride in Protest spokesperson told GSN that they were advocating for change.
“We are moving a suite of motions that does present like a shift in character, but a good one, and one that supports the community that Mardi Gras is supposed to support,” said Pride in Protest spokesperson Rohen Snowball.
Queer group Black Flag Sydney backed the push by Pride in Protest to exclude police, saying they were on “the cusp of an historic victory”.
“It’s no surprise that the conservatives on the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras board oppose Pride in Protest so strongly and are willing to use bureaucratic pressures to attack it,” Black Flag Sydney said.
Editor’s note: Journalist Eliot Hastie pays an annual $50 Mardi Gras membership for its discounts, including at retail outlets and bars. He does not use his membership’s voting rights.
Gay Sydney News reporter