Two directors aligned with Pride in Protest have been stood down from the Mardi Gras board following a board motion.
The board met on Thursday evening to consider a motion under clause 10.13 of the constitution regarding the standing down of directors Damien Nguyen and Luna Choo. Clause 10.13 allows directors, at any time, to move a motion to stand down a director, which requires a two-thirds majority vote. Under the clause, a director relinquishes their duties and responsibilities for 28 days.
“We recognise that decisions of this nature are serious and that our members and community rightly expect transparency and care in how the organisation is governed,” said the Mardi Gras Board.
“This action has been taken as an interim governance measure to support the effective functioning of the Board while a structured process takes place to address the matters that have arisen.”
According to the board, there will now be a mediation process to move forward with the stood-down members.
“The intention of this process is not only to address the current concerns but also to support reconciliation and restore a positive and collaborative working environment within the Board,” they said.
“The Board has proposed a pathway to reconciliation that we hope can be progressed during the stand-down period. We are approaching this process in good faith and with the hope that it will allow all involved to move forward constructively.”
However, sources close to the board told Gay Sydney Daily that Choo and Nguyen have received no communication from the board regarding remediation.
“In the three months of my term, I have been locked out of my emails, misgendered and humiliated in front of board members, roundly condemned and now excluded from the boardroom for communicating to members on the issue of trans rights,” Choo told GSD.
“We are in a time of rising bigotry. Many members of our community are not protected against discrimination at work, at school and beyond, with ongoing delays to anti-discrimination amendments but increasing anti-trans rhetoric to demonise and dehumanise us.”
Nguyen said Mardi Gras was about uniting over common goals such as standing up to “transphobia, police brutality and genocide-complicity”.
“These are popular positions within the LGBTQIA+ community,” he said.
“I am concerned about the future of the organisation. Who would we be as a community-led organisation without the community?”
Nguyen added that members made it clear at the AGM that Mardi Gras must support trans rights.
“When trans rights are under attack, standing still and refusing to act is facilitating violence,” he said.
“It is appalling that the leadership remains firm in upholding transphobia in spite of community outrage and growing anti-trans rhetoric and policy.”
Rohen Snowball, a spokesperson for PiP, said the decision was nothing more than a political tactic.
“This is the emergency tactic to shut down dissent when the leadership – unquestioningly backing the two major political parties and big corporate sponsors – feel they are losing control.”
The standing down of Choo and Nguyen comes after a series of controversies involving the board and Pride in Protest. The dispute began with the board’s decision not to implement several non-binding motions passed by members at the 2025 AGM.
One of those motions, relating to trans rights, saw Choo and Nguyen accuse the board of transphobia and, in subsequent emails, express support for the motion.
Those emails resulted in a formal censure for the pair, with Co-Chairs Mits Delisle and Kathy Pavlich saying it was due to the use of official board email accounts to campaign against board decisions.
“Using them (email accounts) for campaigning or advocacy against the organisation crossed a clear governance boundary,” said Delisle at the time.
Further controversy was sparked on the day of the Mardi Gras Parade when Pride in Protest were removed from the parade due to social media posts.
“Pride in Protest were asked to remove unacceptable public commentary levelled against another small community group and refused. Regardless of differing political views or perspectives, the manner in which we engage with one another matters,” said Mardi Gras CEO Jesse Matheson at the time.
Choo and Nguyen have been stood down until April 9, 2026.
More on this story
Previously: Pride in Protest Removed from Sydney Mardi Gras Parade
Read next: City of Sydney remains neutral on Mardi Gras governance concerns
All our Mardi Gras board dispute coverage
