Members vote to not invite PM Malcolm Turnbull to Mardi Gras

Members vote to not invite PM Malcolm Turnbull to Mardi Gras
Image: Malcolm Turnbull. Photo: Ann-Marie Calilhanna

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull will not be invited to attend Mardi Gras as an official guest after a motion moved at Saturday’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras AGM was passed.

https://twitter.com/catherinebouris/status/797250677504233472
https://twitter.com/catherinebouris/status/797250941124624384

The motion was brought forward by Patrick Wright and Cat Rose of the activist group Community Action Against Homophobia, and it sparked a passionate back-and-forth debate between members.

The original wording of the motion was “the AGM of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras does not believe that the Prime Minister who denies our equality should be welcome at our parade”, and asked the board to issue a public statement.

One member proposed an amendment to the motion so that it would explicitly state that Turnbull would not be invited in an official capacity, rather than suggest he was unwelcome to attend the parade at all. This amendment was accepted by the CAAH representatives.

Paul Savage proposed an amendment that would see no politicians invited in an official capacity, and GetUp’s Sally Rugg suggested that amendment be changed to an individual motion, which it then was.

CAAH’s Patrick Wright disagreed with that suggestion, saying that the Greens’ Richard di Natale and Labor’s Bill Shorten have not allowed homophobic attacks to continue unchallenged the way Turnbull has.

Board candidate Jesse Matheson spoke against the motion, saying that members “shouldn’t be the gatekeepers of invitations” and reminding the room of the organisation’s commitment to inclusivity.

Current board member and candidate James Brechney spoke in favour of the motion. Brechney was recently censured by his fellow board members for saying “I don’t think we want Malcolm Turnbull at the parade”. His stance on this caught the attention of CAAH activists, who have been supporting his campaign for board reelection.

Brechney had the support of 48 proxies – that is, members who support the motion but could not attend the meeting – which helped ensure its success.

In addition to not inviting Turnbull as an official guest, the organisation will issue a public statement explaining why.

The final round of voting for the Mardi Gras board elections also took place at the meeting, with results expected to be announced on Monday.

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10 responses to “Members vote to not invite PM Malcolm Turnbull to Mardi Gras”

  1. Malcolm Turnbull is much worse than Donald Trump, he should be banned from everything – including the shambles of the LNP government!

  2. well, for the longest time this slimy smarmy snake oil merchant has been climbing the greasy pole on the hopes and aspirations of those he claims to support. Finally, folks are waking to the fact that Malcolm cares about MAlcolm , nobody else.

  3. Mardigras is kind of irrelevant to the lives of most BIGLT people any way, it sounds to me like ‘evangelical socialists’ have infiltrated the organisation as is sadly too frequent and are playing their usual partisan oh so last century politics, if Mardigras really was a BIGLT community based organisation it would not be playing partisan shoot your self in the foot politics this way, which just goes to high light BIGLT self appointed representative groups are truly ‘unrepresentative swill’ a rag tag oligargy of blow-hards

  4. Well in that case, the whole of the Australian Christian Lobby should be invited along with Turnbull?

  5. Pathetic … say no more about Mardi Gras organisation. In my lifetime it has been boom and bust so many times. It gets hijacked. Yet again, a silly move which shows the political immaturity of the entire organisation. So much for tolerance and inclusion.

  6. how absolutely childish of you as to not invite the Prime minister of our country ,u should be ashamed of yourselves ,,, what sort of example is that ,
    WHAT HAPPENED TO TOLERANCE ,,,

  7. How ridiculous can any group possibly get? No-one, other than Tony Abbott and his fellow bigots wanted the Plebiscite. Abbott set it up as a sop to the General Public knowing that whatever the outcome- even in the unlikely event that it got a 100% YES Vote – if he had still been PM he would simply have been able to ignore it for Plebiscites are Not Binding on Any Government. Malcolm was locked in between a rock and the Devils on Ultra-Right wing of the Coalition: The Bigots, the Homophobes, plus of course the neo-nazis in the Senate both within the Liberals, Nationals and One Nation. That the legislation was defeated – with the help of the ALP, has been manna from Heaven for Malcolm for he was only fulfilling a Promise made to the Australian People by the then Government-of-the-Day. Just think what the outcry would have been if he had not persisted.
    He now has to wait until the next Federal Election, which he has to win handsomely, and then he will be able to change the Australian Marriage Act by a Vote in the Parliament. A Vote almost sure to pass both houses because he would have the support of the ALP Opposition which would negate all the others. The Mardi Gras lot are simply burying their heads in the sand of stupidity.

  8. I’m embarrassed. Those who voted for this make the community look childish and petulant. All it has done is feed those who hate us. You don’t get anywhere by acting like this – in fact you’ve probably done the cause more harm. Thanks for nothing!

  9. The PM is is not a dictator but a juggler of many competing balls (ghastly pun avoidable, but what the hell). And being gay is not about being politically orthodox, it’s about, well, being human. My gut feeling is that he should still be invited. Shunning him is self-righteous, despite the very real pain of not getting what is our due, when we want it. It will happen in Australia.

  10. How wrong is this? The parade is about being inclusive. As a group of people who have experienced exclusion we should know better.