Today’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Annual General Meeting will see a push to radically change the organisation and who can participate in the annual celebration.
An aligned group of activists are hoping to gain enough votes to gain several positions on the organisation’s board so they can push forward an agenda that would see several groups that are currently involved in the event being excluded in the future.
Among those they’d like to see banned from participating is the Liberal party, the NSW police force, the military and corporate sponsor QANTAS.
Pride in Protest argue that the event needs to return to its activist roots and many of the groups currently marching in the parade do not belong.
The group also have called for the LGBTIQ community to boycott Eurovision 2019 as it will be held in Israel. The broadcaster of Eurovision in Australia in SBS, who have also broadcast the Mardi Gras parade for the last few years.
Also on their list of targets for removal is ANZ. The financial institution may have gained fame for their gAyTMS, but Pride in Protest argue that the revelations about the banking giant in the recent royal commission should see them ousted as a financial supporter of the event.
They group, who are fielding several candidates for the board, also want to see membership fees to the organisation abolished, so all queer people can join the organisation.
Pride in Protest’s four candidates for the board are Holly Brooke, Evan Grey, Salem Barrett-Brown and Kleon Toffetti.
Holly Brooke told the Sydney Morning Herald that she believed the organisation had over time become more conservative.
“Mardi Gras has never stopped being political: its politics have simply changed and become more conservative, and less about liberation and equality,” Brooke said.
“We are running for the board election because we want to bring a different kind of politics that actively supports struggles, campaigns and movements against injustice.”
Liberal politician Trent Zimmerman said the proposal was extremely disappointing.
“I’m very disappointed at the actions of what is obviously an extreme left-wing group within the Mardi Gras community,” he said. “An event that is about tolerance will be severely diminished if it shows such intolerance towards organisations that are promoting Mardi Gras and its objectives.”
There has also been concern that removal of major corporate sponsors could plunge the organisation into financial peril.
A Mardi Gras spokesman said it was up to members to choose who they wanted to represent them: “It is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that a range of different viewpoints are expressed by nominees hoping to be elected to the Mardi Gras board.”
Update: 26-1018 11:39 The motions put forward by Pride in Protest have not been successful. There is no word yet on who the new board members will be.
OIP Staff
