Is this the end of an era for a 50-year-old tradition in Australia? Bitter feud erupts over a very controversial change

The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is facing its biggest internal rift in years, as fierce infighting threatens to reshape the future of the world-famous event. 

A new campaign group, Protect Mardi Gras, is urging members to reject what it calls ‘division and exclusion’ ahead of a pivotal annual general meeting.

At the heart of the dispute is whether LGBTQIA+ police officers should be permitted to march in uniform in the 2025 parade.

Protect Mardi Gras claims a ‘group of activists’ is using the AGM to push an ‘exclusionary agenda’. 

That group is Pride in Protest, a self-described ‘grassroots political organisation focusing on queer liberation’.

Veteran activist Peter Murphy, who was brutally bashed by police during the first Mardi Gras in 1978, called on members to defend the parade’s inclusive spirit.

Mr Murphy is a ’78er’, a term used to describe those who took part in the original 1978 march, which was met with police violence and arrests. 

Mr Murphy reflected on the event’s evolution, calling Mardi Gras a ‘beacon of hope’ for LGBTQIA+ communities in Sydney, across Australia, and around the world.

He highlighted the 1998 decision to allow LGBTQIA+ police officers to march as a milestone moment.

‘When the LGBTQIA+ police joined our parade in 1998, it was a fabulous victory,’ Mr Murphy said. 

‘But its beautiful, inclusive character is under sustained attack from within our community here in Sydney.’

He urged members to join the Mardi Gras organisation, attend the AGM and vote, or hand over their proxy to a Protect Mardi Gras member. 

Protect Mardi Gras organiser Peter Stahel told Daily Mail Australia the campaign consists of ‘ordinary volunteers who care deeply about the power of Mardi Gras’.

‘Mardi Gras is made possible by the hard work of hundreds of volunteers and the participation of a very diverse group of people, businesses, and activists that don’t necessarily agree with each other on every issue,’ he said.

‘Mardi Gras has many voices, but it’s one parade. That’s what makes it powerful.’ 

Mr Stahel acknowledged the NSW Police’s history of harm toward LGBTQIA+ communities, but urged a pragmatic, inclusive approach.

‘I agree we must constantly acknowledge that many institutions, including the NSW Police, continue to cause harm to LGBTQIA+ people and many others,’ he said.

‘If only one in 100 police are allies, we start with them and build from there. We don’t reject the one to spite the 99, that’s just silly, unstrategic, and frankly, dangerous.’

Protect Mardi Gras is encouraging people to join the organisation and vote to maintain the parade’s inclusive tradition.

Meanwhile, Pride in Protest has campaigned to ban police from marching in the event since 2018.

Their most recent attempt to formally exclude officers from the 2025 parade was narrowly defeated.

In 2024, NSW Police officers marched out of uniform in a compromise following the deaths of Luke Davies and Jesse Baird, who were allegedly murdered by Beau Lamarre-Condon, a serving police officer at the time.

Earlier this month, Pride in Protest renewed its call to ban police from participating in Mardi Gras following the death of Collin Burling, a 45-year-old man who died in police custody on July 15.

Mr Burling’s partner, Taite Collins, captured distressing footage of the incident, in which Burling cried out: ‘I’ve done nothing wrong. I can’t breathe. I am dying. Help.’

‘The police institution is an oppressive one laced with racism, queerphobia, and violence, and one that is not held accountable for its actions,’ Pride in Protest said. 

‘We renew our demands that the disgraced NSW Police Force be removed from the Mardi Gras parade float and for Operation Mardi Gras to end, putting a stop to the dangerous and overwhelming police presence in Sydney’s queer spaces and events.’

The Mardi Gras annual general meeting will be held later this year.  

Daily Mail Australia contacted Pride in Protest for comment.