What is at the heart of wanting to include NSW Police at Mardi Gras? Is it a fear that, if they are not included, it will give them licence to brutalise the LGBTIQ community more? Or refuse to work with us?

If so, that is a terrible indictment of an institution that supposedly provides safety and protection.

That might be a bad faith interpretation of Protect Mardi Gras (PMG), the group campaigning to “keep Mardi Gras inclusive”.

There are four vacant board positions to be filled in the Mardi Gras election on November 29. There are also nine resolutions, including for Mardi Gras to commit to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, endorsed by the pro-Palestine movement, and to disinvite NSW Police from marching in a formal parade float.

Pride in Protest is campaigning for these two resolutions, arguing that Mardi Gras should embrace its radical protest history.

Perhaps the reason for PMG wanting to include the police in the parade is because these queers have friends and family in the police and want them to march. While that may be understandable, it is a misunderstanding of why........

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