New push to ban police, the PM and Gladys Berejiklian from marching in the Sydney Mardi Gras parade to show 'solidarity' with Black Lives Matter
Members of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras will vote this weekend on a proposal to exclude police and corrective services from the 2021 parade.
It is a proposal put forward by Pride in Protest, an activist group who want to show their solidarity with the global Black Lives Matter movement and also see the event return to its protest roots.
The vote, due on Saturday, December 5 at the organisation's annual general meeting, is the latest development in an ongoing stoush over the political direction of the famous gay pride parade.
Activist group Pride in Protest want to see police and corrective services (pictured above) banned from taking part in the 2021 Mardi Gras
'The Black Lives Matter movement has inspired a global responsibility of every human to recognise the damage and the enormous human life cost that comes at the hands of the police,' Pride in Protest organiser Bridget Harilaou said.
Ms Harilaou is a prominent activist who helped mobilise protesters to the Black Lives Matter rallies in Sydney earlier this year.
She was one of dozens of protesters herded into Central Station by police, which resulted in violent clashes. She has also been arrested at refugee protests.
The Mardi Gras board said in a statement that excluding 'groups or individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer from the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras events based on their career, association, political affiliation or the banner they wish to march under does not align with our intrinsic, core value of inclusion.'
Harilaou was dramatically arrested during a refugee protest at Parliament House in Canberra in 2016
Harilaou (pictured middle) has attended numerous protests for Aboriginal, refugee, abortion decriminalisation, and West Papuan causes
Similar motions calling for police and corrective service workers to be formally shunned from the future parades were outvoted at two previous AGMs.
In late October, the Pride in Protest group published an open letter to the board asking them to 'reconsider the participation' of police and corrective services in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
More than 1,000 people signed the letter, including prominent performers Tom Ballard, Montaigne and Brendan Maclean.
In a recent response, Mardi Gras representatives expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement but declined to expel the police floats from the parade.
The Pride in Protest group will submit a number of other motions, including a call to formally exclude Prime Minister Scott Morrison and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian from the 2021 parade.
The 2021 Mardi Gras Parade will be at the Sydney Cricket Ground on March 6
Activist group Pride in Protest want to show their solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement by banning police from taking part in the 2021 Mardi Gras
The NSW Police Force's Corporate Sponsor for Sexuality, Gender Diversity and Intersex, Assistant Commissioner Gelina Talbot, said the force was committed to continuing to march in the parade, as it has done since 1996.
She also stated that marching demonstrated its support for its LGBTIQ employees and the broader queer community.
'We acknowledge our history, and therefore the importance of working closely with the community and in participating in the Mardi Gras Festival, to reduce barriers to reporting crime, and to publicly and proudly state our support for the LGBTIQ community,' Ms Talbot said in a statement.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2021 Mardi Gras Parade will take place at the Sydney Cricket Ground on March 6.
An estimated 5000 people are tipped to participate in the parade with 23,000 watching on from the stands.