Mardi Gras Not So Inclusive to Police

The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras have announced that police are not welcome to march in the parade this weekend. That doesn’t seem very inclusive, does it? For a group that’s entire existence is based on inclusivity, they seem to have missed the mark here: “The businesses with the highest rates of diversity and inclusion are the ones that win”. By not including anybody who identifies as a police officer, I guess they, and society, lose. In Australia, the inclusive acronym is LGBTQIA+. I guess they should add a P- to indicate that P is not allowed at the Mardi Gras, as in Police Officers, not urine, which of course is welcome, as it is every year. I’m joking people!

Anyway, the Australian acronym is pretty inclusive, but it’s got nothing on Justin Trudeau’s Canada: 2SLGBTQIA+. Canada is by definition, and by the length of their acronym, the most inclusive country in the world, unless of course you believe that ‘female spaces’ should be reserved for ‘biological females’ as suggested by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, then you’re a dastardly transphobe who is not welcome in uber-inclusive Canada. Pretty much anybody who identifies as conservative is not welcome in the most inclusive country in the world. It should be noted that Poilievre’s Conservative Party is steaming ahead in the polls for next year’s federal election, with Trudeau’s Liberal Party an increasingly distant second. Perhaps Canadians are getting a bit sick of mandatory inclusion.

Back to Australia. The reason the police are not welcome at the Mardi Gras this year is because a gay police officer, Senior Constable Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, murdered, allegedly, a gay couple, former television reporter Jesse Baird, and the man’s new boyfriend, Luke Davies, using his police-issued service pistol. Consequently, the board of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras issued a statement: “Our community needs space to grieve the loss of Jesse and Luke who, before this tragedy, would have been here celebrating with us at the festival. The board has taken the decision to request that the police do not march in the 2024 Parade.”

So because the killer was a police officer, all police officers are bad now? That sounds rather, how would you say, prejudiced, does it not? Because of the person’s identity, now all police are bad? What about him being male? Should we forbid all males from attending the Mardi Gras, because you know, he was a violent male who mercilessly killed gay people? He is also gay himself. Should we forbid gay people from attending the Mardi Gras? Perhaps the Mardi Gras should be called off, because he was also human, and we can’t have any of those murderous humans attending the parade. This is the natural conclusion of identity politics, is it not? Everyone’s excluded.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said he thought officers not being allowed to march would be a step backwards, not a step forward. He said, “NSW Police marching in the Mardi Gras is an important part of bringing the communities together. There are many LGBTQI+ members of the New South Wales Police Force themselves, and over the years, particular senior officers, would have battled prejudice within the workforce.”

And now they’re battling more prejudice from the very people that call themselves inclusive. Any surprises there?

MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn