Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has decided not to formally invite NSW Police to an upcoming LGBTIQ+ safety summit following a meeting with queer activist group Pride In Protest.
The decision comes after Moore held a meeting with Pride in Protest on November 30. At the meeting, the group raised concerns about the potential presence of police at the summit, which is due to be held “in late 2023 or early 2024”.
A spokesperson for Moore told GSN that the format and invitees for the summit “were still open for discussion when Pride in Protest raised concerns with police attendance, and requested a meeting with the lord mayor”.
Following the meeting and discussions with LGBTQ+ health organisation ACON, the lord mayor “undertook to not invite the NSW Police to the summit”, the spokesperson said.
In a statement to GSN, NSW Police said it was aware of the lord mayor’s comments and remained committed to assisting the city and the safety summit as required.
“The NSW Police Force is dedicated to supporting LGBTIQ communities and takes pride in its role as a community leader for inclusion and diversity,” NSW Police said. “We will continue working with the council and the range of stakeholders to ensure a safe environment right across the city.
“That will include ongoing safety audits of the Oxford Street precinct and working with stakeholders in that particular area to ensure the community feels safe.”
The summit is aimed at addressing what the lord mayor’s office says is the increasing organised hatred directed towards the LGBTIQ+ community.
“It [the summit] is intended as an opportunity to discuss community experiences state-wide, and to develop policy and share resources with local governments right across NSW,” Moore’s spokesperson said.
Pride in Protest celebrated the decision not to invite police, which it was informed about last Wednesday. It said that their presence would not have led to better outcomes.
“We wholly welcome cops out of this summit, as they have no role to play in a summit pertaining to the safety of the queer community,” the group said.
Despite this, Pride in Protest called on Moore to make the summit an open forum and for the council to invite more people from the community.
“Without the community, there is no point in holding this summit,” said Pride In Protest member Charlie Murphy.
But the lord mayor’s office said it held concerns that changing the summit’s direction to a public forum “could lead to an overly-weighted focus on the CBD, detract from policy development or even allow anti-LGBTQIA voices to attend and hijack discussion”.
“We will of course take suggestions for invitees from Pride in Protest and other trusted community groups.”
The lord mayor’s office said it was still in the process of working out the best way to share the content of the discussion.
It added that the full program and list of invitees is still being developed.
Pride In Protest’s Murphy said it was “closed-off decisions that gave us the Mardi Gras Police Accords, and we don’t want the same types of agreements made that could eventuate to more funding for the police”.
At the Mardi Gras annual general meeting held earlier this month, 296 members voted in favour of tearing up the accord, while 147 voted against the motion. The Mardi Gras board will now need to consider the accord’s future.
The accord is a memorandum of understanding between Mardi Gras and the NSW Police that was created in 2014 after allegations of police brutality at the 2013 parade.
One of the most contentious parts of it refers to police being allowed to conduct “a visual inspection of those intending to take part in the Mardi Gras Parade so as to ensure that public decency is not offended”.
Another part refers to drug detection dogs and their use at Mardi Gras events.
By law, every large-scale event in NSW is required to have a police presence to deal with external threats of terrorism or any situation that may become unsafe for event attendees.
“As one of the largest gatherings in NSW, Mardi Gras is not exempt from this,” the Mardi Gras website says.
Pride in Protest’s motion called for cancelling the accord, condemning the use of the NSW Police’s drug dog program and heavy police presence during Mardi Gras, and abolishing the use of the decency checks.
The lord mayor’s office told GSN the summit will be a joint effort with ACON, hosted by the lord mayor.
Whatever comes out of the in-person summit will then be turned into an online seminar series run by ACON.
The City of Sydney gave ACON a grant of $40,000 in September to deliver the online seminar series, which it hopes will allow local governments and community organisations from across NSW to participate.
Gay Sydney News reporter
Gay Sydney News editor