Mardi Gras members reject dissident motions

MEMBERS of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras have rejected the motions of two dissident directors.

Dissident directors James Brechney and Silke Bader requested an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) at the start of June to “give an opportunity for the members to send a clear message to the whole Board on expected values of accountability, transparency and fairness”.

But at the meeting on Saturday, all 13 motions failed to gain enough votes.

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras co-chairs Fran Bowron and Greg Small said in a statement that many of the issues raised had taken place years ago and had already been resolved by changes made by the board.

“132 Members voted on each of the 13 resolutions put forward, 67 of whom were in the room and 55 by proxy. Each of the 13 resolutions failed,” the statement said.

“There were some insightful discussions had, including potential areas of focus for the organisation and what Members would like to see developed in the coming years.”

Brechney said there were some frank discussions in the room that were, in his opinion, quite healthy.

“We’re looking forward to working with the board on these issues moving forward,” he said.

“The first vote on information access came down to 55 for and 63 against, and I think that demonstrates that there was certainly some support in the room for the things we were talking about. We are disappointed but we are also optimistic.

In response to media reports that claimed Brechney and Silke had been separated at the meeting, Bowron said “the meeting procedures, running order and seating arrangements were decided by the EGYM Meeting Chair” and it was not a board decision.