Push for Mardi Gras parade day to be declared a public holiday

Queer activist group Pride in Protest is pushing for Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade day to be recognised as a public holiday as part of a slew of motions – including one banning police from marching in the parade – to be put forward at this weekend’s Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras annual general meeting.

The proposal, submitted by Willow Lont and seconded by Melissa Sukkarieh, asks that Mardi Gras members support a motion recommending the organisation’s board express public support for establishing parade day as a state-wide public holiday to ensure “that workers are fairly compensated for their work during this day”.

The proposal further recommends that Mardi Gras write to the NSW premier to formally express its support and commitment to the establishment of the holiday. Additionally, it suggests that Mardi Gras engage with the City of Sydney mayor and other Inner West councillors to rally support for the initiative.

Both proposer Lont and seconder Sukkarieh appear to be affiliated with Pride in Protest, having attended its fundraiser about two weeks ago. Pride in Protest’s Damien Nguyen, who is running to be a Mardi Gras board member, confirmed to Gay Sydney News that the public holiday proposal was one of the activist group’s 10 motions being put forward at the annual general meeting.

In an explanatory memorandum accompanying the proposal, Lont argued that supporting a state-wide public holiday for parade day would mean Mardi Gras is “officially endorsing queer workers everywhere, allowing them to take leave to celebrate this significant cultural day”.

Additionally, Lont said it would “support queer workers in hospitality and retail across the state on Parade Day, offering them Public Holiday penalty rates for their work and support in making Mardi Gras the celebration that it is”.

Lont added that despite the revenue boost venues receive from Mardi Gras parade day and other celebrations during the festival, workers “are shortchanged in their roles during the season”.

“Mardi Gras as it stands, does not offer significant enough worker participation, considering the lack of leave offered to many queer workers, and the lack of compensation for queer workers who are working on Parade Day in workplaces across the state, continuing to champion the queer spirit outside of the Parade itself,” Lont said.

The public holiday proposal is one of twelve motions being brought to the Mardi Gras annual general meeting. Of the twelve, three are particularly contentious as they involve restricting the NSW Police’s participation in the parade.

The issue of the police’s participation came to a head earlier this year when former NSW Police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon was charged with two counts of domestic violence-related murder following the deaths of Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.

Following consultation with members – the majority of whom said in an online survey that police should not march – the Mardi Gras board committed to presenting a motion at the annual general meeting that prevents the NSW Police Force from participating in the parade “until such time as they demonstrate a commitment to improving relationships with LGBTQIA+ communities”.

The board says it is neither supporting nor opposing the motion, leaving the decision to its members.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Labor co-convenor Daniel Mitsuru Delisle, who is also running to be a board member, is proposing that Mardi Gras require NSW Police participation in the parade to be restricted to officers who identify as LGBTQIA+ and that they refrain from wearing official uniforms or carrying weapons.

Delisle’s motion further requires that the NSW minister for police report to the NSW parliament annually on progress to fulfil the recommendations of the Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes and that Mardi Gras requires broadcasts and communications about involvement of NSW Police “to include the historical context of police interactions with participants of Sydney Mardi Gras”.

Delisle’s proposal – seconded by Rainbow Labor’s Savanna Peake – adds that participation of NSW Police in the parade should be reviewed in 2029.

Pride in Protest’s own motion concerning the police goes further, proposing an outright and indefinite ban on NSW Police participation in the parade.

Pride in Protest’s other motions call on Mardi Gras to:

• Do more to support western Sydney and regional NSW queers.
• Inform federal parliamentarians that they will not be welcome to Mardi Gras events until they “end religious exemptions to discrimination and include our entire community in the census”.
• Inform state parliamentarians who opposed passing Alex Greenwich’s Equality Bill in full that they “continue to be unwelcome” at Mardi Gras events.
• Encourage the organisation’s partners, sponsors and adjacent organisations to support Palestine.
• Review partnerships, investments and procurement relationships in respect to its ethics charter.
• End the corporate sponsorship of its festivities by American Express, which Pride in Protest has argued discriminates against sex workers. (American Express, along with other financial services companies, has been known to cut off sex workers from using their services.)
• Commit to holding an in-person safety summit open to Mardi Gras members and non-members following “ongoing issues with violence by both the far right, and the police, toward queer people”.
• Expand its ethics charter to “clarify which practices it recognises to be in violation of its commitment to standards of human rights and to release this charter to the public as a matter of transparency”.

A detailed list of the motions can be found on the Mardi Gras website.

Editor’s note: This article was written by Ben Grubb, who 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.