Robust debate at parade discussion night
A range of issues were raised at a post Sydney Mardi Gras Parade community discussion night organised by the Scarlet Alliance in Redfern tonight.
Concerns were raised that groups including the Scarlet Alliance and Poly Pride had been challenged over their LGBTI credentials as part of the application process this year and had to appeal initial decisions to move forward when they had not had such problems with similar entries the year prior despite no changes being made to the entry criteria.
However perhaps the most noise at the discussion centred around a decision to refuse an entry by members of the Raelian faith who had sought to place a float in the parade attacking homophobia in the Christian, Islamic and Jewish faiths.
The Raelian Church is a small religion founded in 1974 by the French sporting journalist Claude Vorilhon who changed his name to Rael after what he said was an extraterrestrial encounter in1973.
The Raelian float was to carry a banner with the word “homophobia” with a Christian cross, Star of David and Islamic Crescent in each of the O’s, along with a slogan exhorting people to leave those faiths.
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG) board member Damon Hartley said the decision had been made out of respect for LGBTI supportive religious groups in the parade from those faiths – particularly Muslims Against Homophobia who were marching in the parade for only the second time this year.
Hartley said the decision had also been made in the light of comments by a person sent by the Raelian float team to speak to SGLMG chair Peter Urmson who had told him that float members intended to confront members of religious groups in the parade and challenge them about why they still belonged to those faiths.
When presented with that, Jarel, the representative of the Raelian float team at the discussion night, claimed that that person was not representative of the wider people involved in the float and said the SGLMG board should have investigated further before refusing them entry.
Jarel said that SGLMG should simply facilitate the parade, which should be run on the principle of complete freedom of expression, and said that floats that breached laws or caused offence should be matters for police or the courts to respond to, not parade organisers.
Complaints were also made about the process behind the decision to drop “gay and lesbian” from the name of the parade, while others questioned the need for the parade to make a profit or be organised by a company, suggesting it should go back to its roots and be organised like it had in its earliest years.
Following the discussion night, SGLMG will hold its own post parade debriefing and invited those at the discussion night to attend that, as well as to consider joining SGLMG’s new community engagement committee or send that committee their feedback.
The Star Observer will have further information on the discussion night in the print edition of next week’s paper.
If Mardi Gras bans PolyPride because they believe in multiple-partner relationships, they should also ban people who believe in being single.
Darren, the Raelians incorporate nudity into their philosophy and, as such, are inseparable from nudists. Nudity has a place in Mardi Gras, as it does anywhere. Mardi Gras should be a facilitator, not a moral adjudicator as to who’s in and who’s out. Further, Mardi Gras is no more “grassroots” than Julia Gillard will be Australia’s next Prime Minister.
Neither the Raelians nor the nudists are representative of the community in the types of messages they are getting censored from being in the parade.They are obscuring view of more legitimate complaints about the change to the parade’s overall message that is implicit in the name change and the disenfranchisement of gays and lesbians who want an ‘out’ and politically aware Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
Direct censorship is not the only way to change the way the parade can give voice to dissent. The way New Mardi Gras has handled the name issue has changed perceptions of the event so that it is taken to be much less about the GLBT communities and more a passing parade that you can take or leave as entertainment. An an event that, as Peter Urmson so carefully explained, he wants to move on from its political and community grass roots to be one that wouldn’t cause embarrassment to those committed conservatives who’ve never adjusted to the gay and lesbian communities taking up so much public space.
Shame on SGLMG for excluding bisexual, transgender and intersex people from its namesake.
Phil, you forgot “N” for nudists. Nudity is an identity issue, not a lifestyle choice, and is thus to be included.
Are we seriously going to continue to go on about the ‘Gay and Lesbian’ issue.. there are good reasons for not having the words in the title and it has nothing to do with turning the parade mainstream. *sigh*
As for the Raelians, the parade isn’t just a platform for freedom of speech, it’s a platform to express tolerance of others. If the Muslim float wanted to convert the Christian float then there would be the same problems.
And the festival needs to make money to fund the parade. You think all of it just falls out of the sky?
From the land of real humans of inclusive sexual Identity ,HBH,Homosexual ,Bisexual ,Hetrosexual which are the final word or we used to think ,on what are the different sexual orientations \sexuality’s.
now its pretty straight forward .Its called scientific.
Now lets look at LGBTIQC ,now with the addition of Asexual and Pansexual,it is now the LGBTIQAPC,wow and we all knew it as a bit of a ‘Gay and lesbian”joke,how our LG grew and as the conflicts grew ,B had to added and it became LBG and as to not forget anyone in the anti-hetrosexual alliance ,we got LGBT,oh that wasn’t nice so it became ,LGBTI and then became stupid.
It took a while for the avalanch but then we got ,Q, which is interchangeable thinking about sexuality ,yes the lie that sexuality is a life style choice ‘Q’,only now to be complete WE HOPE with the adding of C AP to bad “Reptilian’sexuality isn’t included YET!
then we could have LGBTIQ CRAP community definity no human as a real living thinking breathing one can go along with this anymore .
can someone explain what the LGBTIQAPC actually is and why it has ANY relevance to the actual struggles we have daily .
Well LGBTIQAPC ,its time to put up or shut up explain this gobbly goog please????????
Or is it aplot by rev Fred Nile to make homosexuals and their supporters look insane????
SGLMG made exactly the right decision in both instances.
It is hypocritical to expect them to administer and organise the parade on one hand, then bitch and moan when they actually do.
The Raliens was a non-issue peddled heavily by another gay publication for no other reason than losing the MG media contract.
The Poly Pride issue was very similar, the group mouthed off loudly at every opportunity but failed to respond when the truth behind some of its claims we’re challenged.
Correction: Not Bev Lange, but Steph Sands.
Last night’s meeting also focused on nudity. Mardi Gras board member’s rejected a request for nudity, citing problems with children. The issue, raised by the Raelians, became heated when myself and former chair, Bev Lange, went head to head. She was against the proposal, while I was for.
Ummm boring – the Scarlet Alliance and Raelians complaining yet again. I was involved with Fairday for many years and the Raelians would just turn up on the day wanting a stall. Sorry, not interested in their moans.
Did the Raelians send the rep to speak with MG chair?
If so, end of story.
If not, did the person who met with MG chair represent themselves as speaking for the Raelians?
If so, what action have the Raelians taken against that person?
If the Realians couldn’t make themselves clear in their parade application AND in a follow up meeting, it seems to me the problem is at their end. Mardi Gras kinda has enough else going on in January & February that ‘further investigation’ seems unreasonable and unnecessary.
In 78 they did not hide the words gay and lesbian, as it would offend some, they used these words with pride. Out of the hundreds of Mardi Gras around Australia each year, this was the only one that had our name on it. Some police bashed the crap out of us for using those words and marching. These words still mean a lot to a lot of people. I think we are losing something big when we can no longer use these words on our own festival. I am just not with the privatisation of Mardi Gras if this is what it is about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBPF5LuEArc
Imagine my surprise to learn the Post Mardi Gras Community Forum was not even organised by SGLMG.
When I heard of the forum I just assumed that it was SGLMG hosting a ‘look back’ at parade but it turns out that it was just some disgruntled people who organised a forum to ‘complain’.
It will be interesting to see what happens when SGLMG have there own ‘look back’.
So we now have a suggestion from the Raelian’s that everyone gets a float with freedom to do or say whatever they want and the leave it to the courts or police to deal with complaints.
I have no doubt that the Raelian float was a front and they were going to confront the ‘religious’ floats.
SGLMG made the right decision to not approve of that float.