Queer activist group Pride in Protest will have a member return to the higher echelons of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras after one of its candidates was successfully elected to the organisation’s board.
Pride in Protest’s Luc Velez, a law student and socialist, will join the board alongside Kathy Pavlich, a lesbian woman whose LinkedIn lists her working as a principal educator in security risk management improvement at NSW Health.
The news was delivered to Mardi Gras members on Tuesday after the results of its directors election were tallied. The numbers haven’t been released.
Meanwhile, Kyriakos Gold and Louis Hudson will both return to their director roles after being successfully re-elected, while current chair Giovanni Campolo-Arcidiaco and director Corey Trembath have finished their term on the board.
Pavlich has volunteered for Mardi Gras for over 30 years and said in her director nomination that she wanted to contribute to the organisation’s future strategic direction and 50th-anniversary celebrations. She supports modernising the Mardi Gras constitution and believes that her community experience and connections “will support future discussions on constitutional change and/or [a] name change”.
Meanwhile, Velez ran for Pride in Protest on a platform that the Mardi Gras organisation “has a role in fighting not only homophobia and transphobia, but also colonialism, racism and capitalist exploitation”.
According to Velez’s nomination, he has previously been involved with the Extinction Rebellion movement and Australian Student Environment Network.
Velez says he was national education officer at the National Union of Students, “organsing with thousands of students on campaigns around free education, climate justice, student poverty and religious discrimination”.
Velez will be the sole Pride in Protest member on the board after its previous member Timothy “Skip” Blofield was removed earlier this year.
Blofield was stood down after failing to turn up to several meetings, attending only 4 out of a possible 11 board meetings during the last financial year.
Pride in Protest has previously said his busy job as an emergency room nurse was the reason why he couldn’t attend every meeting.
Meanwhile, Velez previously confirmed to GSN that he would be attending every board meeting if elected.
The election of new directors comes after last weekend’s Mardi Gras annual general meeting (AGM), which was not without controversy. Some members were accused by others of shutting down debate by voting on motions without hearing arguments for and against them.
Mardi Gras addressed those concerns on Tuesday after some members got into heated arguments against the lack of debate on those motions.
“… Discussion on a number of motions made by members included abusive language, screaming, aggression and name-calling that inhibited a safe environment for discussion,” it said.
The organisation also commented on what it called some “misinformation” around how motion 7 was handled at the meeting, which called for Mardi Gras to adopt a call to boycott Israel and companies that help fund it. It ultimately got voted down.
“Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is ALWAYS against hate and intolerance of any kind,” said Mardi Gras.
“War, violence and oppression are something that we stand against, however the motion put forward did not ask members to vote on supporting a ceasefire in Palestine.
“There were many parts to the motion but it largely dealt with how Sydney Mardi Gras should engage with potential future partnerships.
“Ultimately, this was voted down by the membership because there is already a mechanism in place for assessing all partners, funding and large-scale contracts; our ethical charter.”
One of the motions that did pass was the decision to tear up the Mardi Gras Police Accord, which had allowed police to conduct public decency inspections on the night of the parade.
The passing of the motion, which is non-binding, now means the new board will have to consider it and vote on whether to rescind the agreement.
This article was written by Eliot Hastie. Hastie pays $50 to Sydney Mardi Gras for yearly membership discounts but does not exercise any of his voting rights.
Gay Sydney News reporter