Pride in Protest announce all-trans woman ticket for Mardi Gras board elections

The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is a cultural beacon for the queer community in Sydney, and around the world. Hundreds of thousands of people attend the parade down Oxford Street, and millions more watch online.

Mardi Gras is a member-based organisation, and its members can run for positions on the Mardi Gras board to be part of decision making processes and moving motions at the annual general meeting.

LGBTIQ community action group Pride in Protest (PiP) has been running activist candidates for board positions to push for Mardi Gras to ban NSW Police from the parade, cut ties with companies complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and uninvite politicians from events if they don’t support anti-discrimination reforms and other support for the LGBTIQ community. 

Other wins include pushing Mardi Gras to tear up its police accords, which included sanctioning police to conduct "decency checks” and use drug-detection dogs at the parade; cutting ties with Gilead, a company that price-gouges on anti-HIV medication; supporting the campaign to pass the Equality Bill in NSW; temporarily banning the police float from the parade; supporting trans women in detention; disallowing sponsorships connected to genocide; and encouraging more LGBTIQ events in Western Sydney.

PiP wants to take Mardi Gras back to its radical roots. Mardi Gras began as a riot against police violence towards LGBTIQ people, and became an annual protest for LGBTIQ rights. In the late 1990s it helped organise rallies against Pauline Hanson. 

Now, Mardi Gras has invited Hanson and One Nation to participate in the parade, with the same misguided idea that this might change the hearts and minds of those who continue to delay and deny equal rights for LGBTIQ people. This needs to stop.

This year, PiP are supporting an all trans women ticket for the Board Director elections. We are encouraging Mardi Gras members to vote for Iris Street, Erin Moroney, Nikki Naidu, and Jean Maxine. 

PIP are also supporting motions for: an ethics charter that adheres to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions; reviewing partnerships with Live Nation; getting One Nation, NSW Police and bigoted politicians out of the parade and Fair Day; condemning NSW Premier Chris Minns' draconian anti-protest laws; condemning police attacks against LGBTIQ people in the Parade this year; stopping drug-detection dog units and strip searches; and rolling out pill testing at Mardi Gras events.

To support PiP candidates and the motions we are putting forward, sign-up to become a Mardi Gras member and get in touch.