Annette Sharp: Inside the Mardi Gras community’s bitter split over NSW Police

The facade of a unified Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras community has been shattered as rival factions within the organisation wage war over NSW Police’s involvement in this weekend’s parade, writes Annette Sharp.

The jaunty rainbow-hued facade of a unified Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras community was shattered last week when rival factions within the organisation went to war over the NSW Police’s involvement in this weekend’s Mardi Gras parade.

Within 48 hours of the Mardi Gras board’s Monday announcement it had banned NSW Police involvement in this year’s street parade in the aftermath of the deaths of gay couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, who were allegedly killed by an obsessive fantasist who happened to be a police officer, the board had removed itself from its own Mardi Gras website.

This decision to take directors’ names offline — believed to be the first time this has occurred in the history of the organisation — is said to have been prompted by a tidal wave of online abuse directed at the 12 or so board members.

It furthermore provides insight into the discord that rattled the body during an intense week.

Historically anti-LGBTQIA+ online abuse might be expected to come from members of the broader — and presumably straighter and less tolerant — community, but those assuming this to be the case last week were given pause for thought on Thursday when it emerged the board’s loudest and most vocal critic concerning the about-face on the police ban is LGBTQIA+ protest group Pride in Protest.

A celebration of inclusiveness is what the Mardi Gras parade should be all about. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

With their slogan “No Cops, No Bigots”, Pride in Protest, which calls itself a “grassroots political organisation focusing on queer liberation”, has long campaigned against police authority.

On Thursday it made the Mardi Gras board its latest target by calling for the board to be sacked over its reversal of the ban, which will now see officers march out of uniform.

Describing the Mardi Gras board as “transphobic and rightwing”, it further took a swipe at Mardi Gras after the organisation reminded parade participants to have legal ID at hand during the event.

Hotbed issues for Pride in Protest include the legalisation of all drugs, the decriminalisation of sex work and the abolition of police.

Mardi Gras insiders on Friday described Pride in Protest, which has 5.6k Facebook followers, as a “disruptive”, “anti-conservative”, “puritanical” minority group whose members could well be described as “vigilante disrupters”.

A video posted to the group’s Facebook account shows its youthful members drowning out a police officer by talking over them at an Inner West Council meeting on February 6.

A notice on the Pride in Protest Facebook page this week.

“Pride in Protest might well be Australia’s most anti-inclusive faction,” said one sane older head and former board member.

“Of course the Mardi Gras board has always been divided. They have a high turnover of board and committee members and have long been divided over many issues – corporate sponsorships, government involvement, the pink dollar — and anything relating to police.

“Every victory to build the event and grow it has been hard won … even within … but the events of this week show they are battling new issues internally.”

Insiders last week said the issues that divided the Mardi Gras board during the talks with police may have been hindered by the fact that some board members are also Pride in Protest members.

They added there is a growing apprehension Pride in Protest has designs on overthrowing the current board and seizing control for its radical members.

“Mardi Gras is a member-based organisation. Winning a spot on the board comes down to a popularity competition, nothing more. It’s not skills based.

“If Pride in Protest gets the numbers, the incumbents will be out the door and they will reshape the organisation.”

Pride in Protest was not happy when the Mardi Gras Board reversed its ban on police marching in Saturday’s parade. Picture: Facebook

During the pandemic in 2021, Pride in Protest memorably split with Mardi Gras organisers over the parade route.

Rather than join a police-sanctioned parade held within the confines of the Sydney Cricket Ground, the protest group conducted its own parade on the traditional Mardi Gras route.

It prompted a Supreme Court summons later dropped by NSW Police.

In addition to the historic battles fought by Mardi Gras pioneers the 78ers, who encountered police brutality during the early years of Mardi Gras, other issues that continue to divide Mardi Gras organisers and the police include police running drug dogs through the marshalling before the parade.

In December, Members of Mardi Gras voted to reverse an accord with police which for years has seen Mardi Gras reps consulted during public decency inspections conducted by police.

While this was seen as a win for the Mardi Gras community, more conservative members who have worked diligently over four decades to create an inclusive family-friendly public event have wondered what the ultimate price might be if the alliance with NSW Police — and, by association, the government — continues to be dismantled by the new guard of radical LGBTQIA+ protesters.

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