NSW Police Not Invited To Upcoming City of Sydney LGBT Safety Summit
The NSW Police will not be invited to the upcoming City of Sydney LGBTIQ+ Safety Summit.
According to Queer activist group Pride in Protest, after meeting with Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore last month to discuss concerns over police involvement and community access to the Summit, Moore said, in a letter to the group, that the NSW Police Force will not be invited to the Summit.
“I was extremely concerned by the personal experiences of police behaviour towards the LGBTIQA+ community that you described. Following our meeting and further discussions with ACON, I have made the decision not to invite NSW Police Force to the Summit,” Moore wrote.
‘Great To See City Of Sydney Take This Step’
Pride in Protest member Charlie Murphy called for “broader community” inclusion in the Summit.
“It’s great to see City of Sydney take this step. But the question of excluding the broader community remains. Without the community, there is no point in holding this Summit,” said Murphy.
“It was closed-off decisions that gave us the Mardi Gras Police Accords, and we don’t want the same types of agreements made that could eventuate to more funding for the police. We want it to be open, participatory, and transparent.”
In response, a spokesperson for the Lord Mayor said, “There are some concerns that changing this direction to a public, open forum could lead to an overly-weighted focus on the CBD, detract from policy development or even allow anti-LGBTQIA voices to attend and hijack discussion. We will of course to take suggestions for invitees from Pride in Protest and other trusted community groups.”
In 2018, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG) and the NSW Police signed an Accord that allows police to conduct public decency inspections of all participants prior to the start of the annual pride parade.
According to the language in the Accord, the police are able to conduct a “visual inspection of those intending to take part in the Mardi Gras Parade so as to ensure that public decency is not offended.”
At the December 9 SGLMG Annual General Meeting (AGM), SGLMG members voted to cancel the Mardi Gras Police Accord and abolish the controversial decency inspections.
View this post on Instagram
ACON Announced Online Safety Seminar Series
In September, it was announced that ACON would host an online NSW LGBTQI Safety Seminar Series in lieu of the originally planned Statewide LGBTQI Safety Summit.
The online Seminar Series will bring together representatives from City of Sydney and across New South Wales, and LGBTQI community organisations, as well as experts in LGBTQ+ safety, violence, community engagement, and risk management.
The seminars will work to provide strategies, and foster collaboration to counteract threats of intimidation and violence against Queer communities.
In a statement to Star Observer at the time, ACON CEO Nicolas Parkhill explained, “The online seminar series, rather than a summit, will have greater impact and utility as it will provide more practical application and reach the appropriate council staff, organisations and community members who need to be equipped with the understanding, skills, and techniques to host LGBTQ+ events safely.
In response to the change, Moore agreed to host a targeted roundtable summit which would consider whether legislative and policy changes are needed to deal with hate-motivated attacks and identify practical measures to address them.”
The roundtable summit is set to take place in early 2024.
‘Community-Driven Solutions Are What We Need’
In July, Pride in Protest called for NSW Police to be excluded from the Summit, in favour of “community-driven solutions.”
According to Pride in Protest, “Community-driven solutions, such as the Dykes on Bikes and other community groups’ support for events like the trans and gender-diverse swim night, and safety plans for story time activities, are the types of matters we need to discuss and build upon.”
The letter concluded, “These community-driven solutions are what we need the space to discuss so that we can reclaim our space.”
View this post on Instagram
Oxford Street Plagued With Increased Anti-LGBTQI Sentiment
Oxford Street has seen an increase in anti-LGBTQI sentiment, with Queer communities facing both verbal and physical abuse.
In response to this, on June 20, City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore announced plans for an LGBTQI Local Government Safety Summit.
The aim of the Summit was to raise awareness of anti-LGBTQI threats and facilitate collaboration among local government and the community.
