Pride in Protest has been removed from this year’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade due to social media posts.
In emails seen by Gay Sydney Daily, Pride in Protest was issued with a formal warning for breaching Parade guidelines on the morning of Friday 27th.
According to Mardi Gras, the breach involved several social media posts attributed to PiP directed at fellow parade entrants, the Jewish LGBTQ+ group Dayenu.
“These posts include statements characterising Dayenu as “pro-genocide” and alleging that Dayenu “support genocide,” said the letter from Parade marshals.
“Without making any determination as to the truth or falsity of those statements – which is not a matter for SGLMG to adjudicate – SGLMG considers that the nature and manner of these statements, directed at a fellow approved Parade Entrant, raises serious concerns regarding compliance with the Code of Conduct provisions.”
All participants in the Mardi Gras Parade have to confirm they have read and accepted the terms and conditions provided by Mardi Gras.
In this instance, Mardi Gras said PiP had breached sections 9 and 4.1.5 of the T&Cs, which include prohibitions on harassing, bullying or discriminating against other people.
Mardi Gras said it wished to support PiP’s continued participation in the Parade but would need them to remedy the issues that had been flagged.
Specifically, they were asked to delete or retract the social media posts identified by Mardi Gras, provide written confirmation that they had read and would comply with the T&Cs, and confirm they had taken steps to ensure compliance by their participants with those T&Cs.
“Failure to comply with the above steps within the specified period, or any further breach of the T&Cs (including on Parade day), may result in denial of permission to participate in the 2026 Parade, immediate removal from the Parade and/or exclusion from future Parades.”
As PiP did not respond to Mardi Gras, they were removed from the Parade at 9pm last night.
”As no response was received within the required timeframe, the Pride in Protest entry has regrettably been removed from the Parade,” said Mardi Gras CEO Jesse Matheson in an email to PiP.
”This is not an outcome we take lightly.”
The decision was described by PiP member Evan Gray as a disgusting overreach.
“This is a disgusting and unprecedented overreach by the SGLMG leadership who are destroying the organisation with their vendettas. Ordering groups to remove social media posts criticising support for the genocide, regardless of the truth, is a way of equating Jewishness with genocide. It is Zionism,” they said.
Gray went on to question why the NSW Police, who “have physically assaulted us,” and the Liberal Party, which has “called for Mardi Gras to be defunded,” were still able to march, but PiP was not.
“Pride in Protest refuses to comply with this authoritarian censorship that silences speaking out about genocide. We refuse to be silent whether it is Minns’ cops, or the SGLMG co-chairs, trying to silence us.”
NSW Greens MP Amanda Cohn said it was an extraordinary act of censorship to exclude PiP from the Parade.
“It’s an extraordinary act of censorship to exclude Pride in Protest from the Sydney Mardi Gras Parade, especially when the organisers are happy to include the Liberal Party, who have called for the Parade’s funding to be reviewed and continue to vote against LGBTQIA+ rights in Parliament.”
Mardi Gras CEO Jesse Matheson said Mardi Gras tried to work with PiP but, at the end of the day, any participation in the Parade was conditional on compliance with the T&Cs.
“Pride in Protest were asked to remove unacceptable public commentary levelled against another small community group and refused,” he said.
”Regardless of differing political views or perspectives, the manner in which we engage with one another matters.”
Matheson accepted that Mardi Gras was born of protest but no group had a right to vilify another.
“Mardi Gras was born from protest. However, no group has the right to target or vilify another LGBTQIA+ community within the Parade. Our focus remains on delivering a Parade that upholds both our history and our responsibility to provide a safe, inclusive environment for all.”
PiP has taken to social media saying that “one way or another” they will march for Mardi Gras.
“We are meeting at Town Hall at 3:30 and marching to Hyde Park, and we encourage everyone to join us.”
