Four new Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras board directors will be elected from a pool of ten candidates during the organisation’s annual general meeting on Saturday.
In ballot order, Gay Sydney News has listed the ten candidates below, along with brief biographies sourced from their candidate statements and elsewhere.
The candidates bring a diverse range of experiences, including work with not-for-profit organisations, involvement in student activism, performing in drag, and lifestyle coaching.
Four candidates are affiliated with the activist group Pride in Protest, with one from the same group also serving as an ACT Greens staffer. Another candidate is a co-convener of Rainbow Labor NSW.
Many Mardi Gras members have already voted for candidates online, but those who haven’t can still vote in person at the meeting. Election results are usually announced in the days following the annual general meeting, rather than on the day itself.
Directors are elected by members for a two-year term and play a key role in shaping the Mardi Gras organisation and determining how its funds are allocated.
Current directors Brandon Bear, Mel Schwerdt and Alice Anderson conclude their terms on Saturday, with Bear seeking re-election. A fourth board spot has remained vacant until now after Pride in Protest’s Timothy “Skip” Blofield was removed due to missing several board meetings.
Multiple Mardi Gras insiders have told GSN they believe Pride in Protest has the numbers to secure at least one new board seat at this year’s election, which is expected to be filled by their top candidate, Damien Nguyen.
With Pride in Protest’s Luc Velez already serving on the board, the addition of a second member would grant the group the ability to call an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of Mardi Gras’ entire membership at any point during the year. An EGM allows an organisation’s members to address urgent or significant matters that cannot wait until the next annual general meeting.
Brad Booth
Booth is a proud gay man who has been a participant in Mardi Gras events for more than 20 years. He has previously served as a board director for Queerscreen and has held executive roles in other organisations like Graincorp and Charles Sturt University. Brad says he looks “forward to applying my board director skills and experience, to continue to serve our LGBTQIA+ community”.
Rebecca Mullins
Mullins has more than 25 years of executive management experience in the not-for-profit sector, including stints as chief executive officer in homelessness and housing organisations, including as founding CEO of My Foundations Youth Housing. She has also served on two different boards for over a decade. In her candidate’s statement, Mullins says that as an experienced non-governmental organisation CEO, she “understands the need for a clear delegation of responsibility between the Board and Staff, which provides the right balance between strong oversight and support for the CEO”.
Damien Nguyen
A queer activist for sex workers and migrants’ rights, Nguyen is a member of Pride in Protest and previously was the queer officer of the National Union of Students. According to his application, Damien is the Pride in Protest candidate the group is asking voters to preference first. He says a vote for him “is a vote for opposing pink-washing, for cops out of Mardi Gras, for reclaiming pride, and for divestment from genocide”.
Quay-Quay Quade
A proud trans woman, Quade is another member of Pride in Protest who says she is running for a Mardi Gras that’s loud, lively and left-wing. She says she wants a Mardi Gras that stands up for vulnerable groups including trans people in immigration detention, Blak queers and queers in Palestine, Lebanon and beyond. “I want a Mardi Gras that stands against opportunistic politicians using our fabulous parade to dress up queerphobic policies, including the betrayal of queer workers when their rights were gutted from the Equality Bill,” Quade says.
Skye Predavec
Predavec is a proud trans woman and Pride in Protest member who is a communications and fundraising officer for the ACT Greens. She says that it’s an “extremely worrying time for queer rights in Australia” and that “we cannot afford to be complacent”. She would like to see Mardi Gras stand up against institutions that have a long history of bigotry, including police and political parties. “We have to use every bit of power we have to stop a growing tide of transphobia in this country,” she says.
Bryle Leano (Cassandra The Queen)
The final candidate from Pride in Protest is Leano, a Filipino immigrant drag artist. Bryle was this year awarded Sydney’s Favourite Drag Artist at the Diva Awards for their drag persona Cassandra The Queen. An ugly confrontation occurred between them and another drag queen during their acceptance speech. Bryle is a unionist who says he wants to inspire more queer people to express their creativity. “I am also committed to protecting drag artists and the queer community from recent attacks involving misogyny, disinformation, and hate.”
Brandon Bear
Bear is a current director and co-chair of Mardi Gras and wants to continue to offer his skills to the organisation. Brandon has served on the audit and risk committee as well as the people and nominations committee. He is currently the head of inclusion, diversity and equality at St Vincent’s Health and before this managed the research and strategy division at LGBTQIA+ health organisation ACON. “My leadership, community connection and strategic development skills will be of use as we move into developing a new Strategic Plan,” he says.
Dan Brophy
Brophy is a business founder and creative leader who runs a men’s group with breathwork sessions at The Beresford Hotel. With more than 15 years of experience in strategic digital marketing and content, he has helped with the creative direction of Drag Race Down Under launch events and spearheaded a gender-diverse underwear campaign for DailyJocks. “I am most proud of the monthly queer men’s mental health initiative, The Check-In Session, developed in response to my own mental health crisis,” he says.
Cheryl Kavanagh
Kavanagh has worked for more than a decade as a director at Queer Screen and in that time has been an active member of Sydney Queer Irish. Outside of queer organisations, Kavanagh is an executive manager at Westpac Group with a master’s in business management. “I advocate for increased community consultation and engagement to shape the organisation’s strategy, more inclusive and accessible events, while proactively addressing emerging risks to the organisation,” she says.
Daniel Mitsuru Delisle (Mits Delisle)
Delisle owns and manages a small architecture firm focused on sustainability. He met his husband volunteering for the Mardi Gras parade more than two decades ago and migrated to Australia in the 2010s. Mits has volunteered with community groups including Rainbow Families and is a co-convenor for Rainbow Labor NSW, which involved itself in getting Alex Greenwich’s amended Equality Bill passed. “Our Board should better reflect our diverse communities and embrace diverse perspectives,” Delisle says.
After analysing the candidates’ skills, expertise, experience and other desirable qualities, the Mardi Gras people and nominations committee recommended Brad Booth, Brandon Bear, Rebecca Mullins, and Cheryl Kavanagh as directors.
The nomination committee comprises current board members Mel Schwerdt and Pride in Protest’s Luc Velez, as well as Alastair Lawrie, Diana McManus, Stacy Warren and Michael Rolik.
Mardi Gras says it facilitates the release of a recommendation “to enhance potential Board composition and assist members with making informed decisions when voting”.
Ultimately, members will decide who they vote for.
There were 3761 Mardi Gras members as of June 30, down from 4845 the previous financial year.
Editor’s note: Journalists Eliot Hastie and Ben Grubb pay $50 annually for Mardi Gras memberships to access discounts at retail stores and bars but don’t use the membership’s voting rights.
Gay Sydney News reporter
Gay Sydney News editor
1 Comment
An Open Letter to The Mardi Gras membership.
You are all very well aware by now of the current state of affairs of Pride in NSW. Membership is down to 3761 Mardi Gras members as of June 30, down from 4845 the previous financial year.This is telling sign of what might continue. On top of that, cutback and shortfalls abound!
With all that in play now, this is not the time to vote in those with an agenda that will no doubt cause extensive divisions within the organization and the community at large.
None of the current candidates that are part of the Pride in Protest organization should obtain a seat at the table. They will not benefit the organization and it’s need to survive. The struggle is had enough right now, you need not make it more so.
Please think of the future when you vote.