Opinion: Recent Gay Sydney News articles cover concerns raised by staff of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras about the appointment of Jesse Matheson as interim CEO. They mainly relate to comments he made in his Star Observer columns in 2011 and 2012 seen as at odds with Mardi Gras’ values or posing a reputational risk to it.
I read some of Jesse’s columns when they came out. At times, I was unimpressed or annoyed. I unkindly thought some were a bit immature – unfair on my part, given Jesse started the columns as a teenager. Rereading some of them is probably tougher for him than anybody. I hope he remembers there was good in them too and things to be proud of.
We’ve all said things we regret. Those of us lucky enough to have enjoyed a web-free youth might reflect on what we said or did that thankfully only we remember (or our friends would never tell). No way am I sharing those reflections. But I will share a different personal story.
When I first met her, my very long-term partner’s parents were religious and in Fred Nile’s Festival of Light, now known as FamilyVoice Australia – a conservative Christian organisation that rose to public prominence in the 1990s for its opposition to LGBTQI rights. She was understandably cautious of coming out to them, but her mum twigged somehow when we featured on the cover of The Sydney Morning Herald after designing the lead float for Mardi Gras in 2001. Not a good way to stay in the closet. A few days later, a lovely card arrived for me from Jen’s mum, Margaret, making it clear she would now treat me as another daughter. She was delighted when, much later, I worked up the courage to ask whether I could call her “mum”.
Fast forward to Margaret’s 90th birthday party just after the same-sex marriage plebiscite. It was to be in a retirement village smack bang in the middle of a notorious “no” vote area, so there was some trepidation. All afternoon, as we took older people cups of tea, they would ask if we were married. We weren’t. Some informed us, “You can, you know”, and added proudly, “I voted for it”. It seems Margaret had created a little oasis of allies.
Many of us have a family member who used to be homophobic. Or someone who claimed they weren’t but didn’t fully accept a same-sex partner. Some never come around, others become our staunchest supporters.
Young people mature. We like to hope people of all ages can change their views and grow. Happily, they often do.
Jesse Matheson was only 24 when he was first elected to the Mardi Gras Board in 2016. He had probably already grown a lot from the younger man who made those comments. In the years since he joined the Board, Jesse has continued to be a community figure and use social media. No doubt he has conversations with people every day and has had some with me. The public record alone is substantial. With one exception, all of Matheson’s offending comments were made in 2011 and 2012. The “exception” is a post Jesse wrote on his own Facebook page in 2023, criticising Lidia Thorpe after she lay in front of a float at the Mardi Gras Parade. Matheson ended the post by describing Thorpe as an “idiot”. The float that Senator Thorpe lay in front of was not the Australian Federal Police, as initially reported and suggested by Mardi Gras staff. It was the queer youth organisation and advocacy group Twenty10, which came immediately after the federal police. Among other things, Twenty10 provides accommodation for homeless queer kids, runs a counselling line and gives queer young people a chance to take part in their first Mardi Gras, Jesse among them. You could say worse things than “idiot” about someone who would do that to Twenty10 and queer kids on their night!
Denying people career opportunities because of things they said in their youth doesn’t just harm individuals – it harms society too. We become harsher, less forgiving. Talent is wasted. The best candidate might not get the job – or may not even apply. People grow more hesitant to engage publicly, retreating to safe posts about food and holidays. Young people are warned to avoid sharing opinions, in case they come back to haunt them. Many will heed that warning. We’ll still hear from the few media-savvy, battle-hardened young adults emerging from the youth wings of major political parties. And I do want to hear from them – but not only from them.
Will employers be guaranteed spotless leaders if they try to filter out everyone who has misspoken? No – just people no-one has the dirt on yet.
The Mardi Gras membership addressed these issues years ago when it elected Jesse Matheson to the Board. He went on to become co-chair of Mardi Gras. No reported complaints relate to that time. No reputational damage to the organisation resulted. It seems we can give people a chance after all.
Kathy Sant
Kathy Sant is the Kath half of KathnJen, makers of little Mardi Gras floats. Sant is a member of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and is in its Hall of Fame.
