I have welcomed the police marching in the Mardi Gras parade in previous years, and until now, as a 78er, have remained supportive of the LGBTIQ+ officers’ inclusion. But this year there should be no cops at Mardi Gras.
Watching the tragic events unfold in the alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies has changed my mind. NSW Police senior constable Beau Lamarre-Condon, a former Mardi Gras police parade entrant, is alleged to have used a police-issue firearm in the double homicide.
Beau Lamarre-Condon was a former Mardi Gras police parade entrant.Credit: AAP
As a reaction, justified in my view, the police have been uninvited from this year’s Mardi Gras, and it looks like if they are allowed to march they won’t be in uniform. But it would be more respectful and understanding for the police to admit there is a need to change and bow out altogether for 2024. We need time to recover as a community. We also need a review of police access to lethal weapons.
I hope explaining this from the position of a 78er who has lived experience of trauma all their adult life due to police brutality in 1978 might help people understand why cops should gracefully accept the community decision, have a few beers and watch the parade on television. Now needs to be a time of police reflection. We need time and space to grieve our loss publicly.
Clearly the accused, if proven to have committed the crimes with which he has been charged, would be classified as a “bad egg”, but this may also be the tip of the iceberg. Let this be a wake-up call to start real systemic change.
After I was ejected from the Sydney Cricket Ground during Mardi Gras 2022, I accepted an apology from the Police Commissioner and met with police. I spoke of greater accountability, transparency, improved processes. We shook hands.
The police at the time apologised not only to myself as a 78er but to the LGBTIQA+ communities and spoke about “building a solid relationship for the future”. But even with such apologies and best intentions, sometimes things do not change.
When I was arrested at the 1978 Mardi Gras, the police grabbed me from all sides. To prevent them removing my clothes and squeezing my breasts, I crossed my arms, in defiance, clutching my jumper as they tugged, man-handled, arrested. As a teenager of 5-foot-nothing, one of the youngest protesters, the coppers with their handlebar moustaches towered over me. I was thrown into a paddy van with sobbing 78ers. The photographers snapped.
Despite being arrested in ’78 I have welcomed cops at Mardi Gras. Not now
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27.02.2024
I have welcomed the police marching in the Mardi Gras parade in previous years, and until now, as a 78er, have remained supportive of the LGBTIQ officers’ inclusion. But this year there should be no cops at Mardi Gras.
Watching the tragic events unfold in the alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies has changed my mind. NSW Police senior constable Beau Lamarre-Condon, a former Mardi Gras police parade entrant, is alleged to have used a police-issue firearm in the double homicide.
Beau Lamarre-Condon was a former Mardi Gras police parade entrant.Credit: AAP
As a reaction, justified in my view, the police........
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