Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras condemned for refusing to highlight trans rights

Organisers of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras have been condemned for refusing to support a motion to make trans rights the focus of 2026’s event.

The Australian Pride celebration’s Board members announced it would not uphold a set of operational resolutions brought by members of the public during its annual general meeting in November last year.

One of the member resolutions, dubbed “embrace trans rights, not Trump”, called for the 2026 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras to focus specifically on the rights of trans and non-binary people by “encouraging parade floats to show support for the trans community”, while also condemning US president Donald Trump.

The LGBTQ+ event, which takes place every February, first began in the 1970s and acts as one of Australia’s biggest Pride events.

Mardi Gras’s board members denied this and two more resolutions, arguing in a Tuesday (20 January) statement that, if implemented, it would restrict the “creative direction” of parade participants and was “inconsistent with our standard application process”.

The member resolutions were denied, according to its board, to ensure consistency among Mardi Gras’s “values, strategic, priorities, and long-term sustainability”.

“Mardi Gras stands proudly with trans and gender-diverse communities. We are, and always will be, a visible, active ally,” a spokesperson said. “This decision reflects [the Board’s] responsibility to … respect the independence and diversity of Parade participants. Ensure Parade participation is not used to leverage political outcomes, [and to] act in line with responsible governance and our Ethical Charter.”

According to the organisation, board members and staff were “subject to personal and harmful commentary online” in the wake of the November meeting. It further claimed that a “coordinated email campaign” allegedly sought to influence the board’s decision-making.

“Targeting, intimidating, or attempting to pressure staff or the Board is not acceptable and does not align with the values we uphold as a community organisation,” the statement continued.

Evan Gray, a spokesperson for Pride in Protest who brought the member resolution, accused the Mardi Gras Board of attacking the trans community by “framing us as ‘intimidating’, that our rights are an ‘imposition’, and pretending that trans rights are against the nature of Mardi Gras.”

Charlie Murphy, a trans woman and former board member, similarly condemned the move, arguing its denial of the resolution was a “deliberate choice to abandon the trans community politically”.

“In a time when trans rights are being rolled back in this country, Mardi Gras is choosing to deliberately defy their membership and the motions they passed when in the past they have partially followed through with them,” she said.

Murphy claimed that, during her time on the board, other members faced “disciplinary action” for their involvement in “political action”. She claimed she had been taken off the board for joining a queer rights protest in 2021.

Former Mardi Gras Board director, Luc Velez, said the decision was “either ignorant of the organisation’s recent history of advocacy, or is deliberately misrepresenting member democracy as a ‘governance risk’ in service of Labour politicians”.

Velez accused the Board of making the decision to allow Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese to march in the upcoming parade as he did last year, despite showing “no interest in standing up for our community”.

”Sydney Gay and Lesbain Mardi Gras co-chairs Kathy Pavlich and Mits Delisle, claimed the decision was made purely to alleviate ‘practical challenges’ of the upcoming Pride parade, including protecting the organisation from ‘additional legal, financial, or reputational risks’.”

They also argued that some resolutions had the potential for “dual purposes” such as potentially “encouraging inclusion while simultaneously creating a mechanism that could shame or penalise participants who did not comply”.

PinkNews has contacted a representative for the Mardi Gras for comment.

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