Police will be allowed to march in Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade after breakthrough at AGM

NSW Police will be allowed to march at the next Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, following an emotional meeting which proposed banning them from the event.

A series of motions proposing to ban or restrict police from the parade failed to pass by margins as thin as just 34 votes, during an emotional annual general meeting on Saturday which divided members.

The NSW Police float will now face the same level of scrutiny as any other float in the parade.

The parade has limited space for floats with many more applicants than they are able to accommodate.

Mardi Gras Parade committee judge participation based on the “relevance and benefit of the entry to the LGBTQIA+ communities,” presenting the potential for police to face further scrutiny.

The three resolutions on Saturday proposing to restrict police presence were put forward by different groups.

One was by the Mardi Gras board, proposing: “NSW Police Force not be able to march in the parade until such time as they demonstrate a commitment to improving relationships with LGBTQIA+ communities”.

It failed to pass by a narrow margin.

The board’s view was based on community feedback initiated earlier this year that found 53 per cent of those consulted believed police should not march in the parade.

“The core tension lies between honouring the parade’s activist roots and the belief that it should be a broader celebration of inclusion,” the Mardi Gras consultation report found.

Another proposal by Rainbow Labor NSW allowed police to march out of uniform and without their service weapons, but still as part of a police-branded float or group.

A more drastic proposal by activist group Pride in Protest aimed to block police from the parade entirely.

“If an individual cop wants to march in the parade, they don’t have to do it as a representative of the Police Force,” Pride in Protest spokesperson Damien Nguyen said.

“Like every other LGBT person, they can march with a local community group, church group, musical group or any other part of civil society they engage with when they’re not in uniform.”

“The NSW Police Force marching in Mardi Gras is totally in opposition to creating an inclusive parade. There are so many communities that are made to feel intimidated, unsafe and excluded because of the presence of police,” Nguyen said.

Police were initially banned from marching in Mardi Gras in 2024.

The organisation then reversed their decision, allowing police to march in the parade out of uniform.

Police chose to march in matching navy polo shirts that read ‘Policing with Pride’.

Pride in Protest’s motion to disallow police from marching argued that these officers were surrounded by an additional guard of uniformed and armed officers, in breach of their arrangement with organisers. The activist group believes that police marching in uniform is harmful due to the historically “adversarial relationship” between police and LGBTQIA+ communities.

The first Mardi Gras in 1978 ended with 53 participants being arrested and beaten by police.

Pride in Protest has been advocating for the removal of police from Mardi Gras since 2018. They explain this ban as resulting from “countless commissions and inquiries finding issues with police behaviour.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns on Thursday slammed the potential ban as “divisive”.

He said organisers would rely on NSW Police to “keep peace and safety” during the march and called a potential ban “hypocritical”.

“I think it would be a slap in the face for them if the organisers disinvite them from marching,” Mr Minns said

Participant in the 1978 Mardi Gras and marriage equality campaigner Peter de Waal called the motion to ban police “deeply concerning”.

“Many queer police officers in 2024 are striving to create positive change from within a deeply flawed institution. They are working to bridge the divide between a very troubled system and individuals who deserve justice, support, and inclusion,” he said.

Speaking in the Annual General Meeting, Mardi Gras members shared their reasons for voting for or against the ban.

Mardi Gras board director and Pride in Protest member Luc Velez shared his experience with police, claiming that at an education protest he was called a slur and shoved to the ground by an officer, drawing blood. Velez says that upon seeing blood, the officer said ‘oh no, I’ll get AIDS now.”

Former Mardi Gras chair Steph Sands took to Facebook before the vote to share her reasoning against the motion to disallow police, despite her own negative experiences with officers.

“The behaviours and history are inexcusable and we need to see action in that institution to make change,” she wrote.

“However, I don’t think anyone or any group have the right to exclude people/groups from the parade, and I don’t think the members should do that specifically.”