Pro-“Palestine” Activists are calling on the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG) to reverse its decision to remove a pro-Palestine float, and will gather at the Sydney Town Hall steps at 3:30pm to protest the decision.
The unprecedented move to kick out Pride in Protest’s “Celebration Without Compromise” float comes after years of refusal by SGLMG to exclude organisations alleged to have behaved in violent or homophobic ways from marching, in the name of “inclusivity” — such as the NSW Police Force and the Liberal Party.
The Mardi Gras CEO’s threat to remove Pride in Protest was issued at 11am on the day before the parade, giving just six hours until close of business to respond. It was based on allegations Pride in Protest had breached parade terms and conditions for a social media post critiquing the “pro-genocide” stance of another parade participant. In correspondence, the Mardi Gras CEO does not dispute the truth of Pride in Protest’s social media comments. Further correspondence from the Mardi Gras CEO confirmed he was kicking out Pride in Protest. (see attached)
image.jpeg Photo: 2025 Pride in Protest Mardi Gras Parade Float, Provided by Pride in Protest
Background:
In 2024, Dayenu publicly opposed the SGLMG Board’s open letter calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. At the time, LGBTQIA+ Jews of Tzedek Collective: https://www.tzedekcollective.com/statements/queer-jews-of-tzedek-collective-denounce-dayenus-anti-palestinian-statement/ denounced Dayenu’s “anti-Palestinian” statement and called them out for “holding onto Zionist ideologies and the perpetration of genocide”. Following this, Dayenu paid for then-director of SGLMG Louis Hudson to visit Israel.
The United Nations: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/israel-has-committed-genocide-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds has found that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Evan Gray (they/them), Pride in Protest
“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.”
“The NSW Police have physically assaulted us, called us slurs, harassed and intimidated and discriminated against us. The Liberal Party has called us extremists and called for Mardi Gras to be defunded, and in other states is locking up trans women in men’s jails and taking healthcare away from trans kids. Neither of these organisations has been threatened with removal from the parade for their violence.”
“The SGLMG board are chasing Adelaide Writer’s Festival in a race to the bottom with their censorship. This is the same board that says it is unfair to encourage floats to support trans rights as that would be an ‘imposition,’ but is now demanding to control the social media of organisations who march in the parade.”
“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.”
Latoya Aroha Rule (all pronouns), Wiradjuri, Te Ātiawa, takatāpui/queer researcher
“From the earliest days of resistance to today, raising our voices has been how we have defended our land, our cultures, and our right to exist with dignity. Pride is protest, and protest is a vital expression of truth-telling and self-determination. When we stand together — Blak, queer, allied — we honour the strength of our Elders and create space for the next generation to live freely and proudly. The right to peaceful protest must be protected, because our voices have always mattered, and they always will.”
Dr Amanda Cohn (she/her), Member of the NSW Legislative Council
“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.”
Michelle Berkon (she/her), Jews Against the Occupation ’48
“As proud anticolonial antizionist Jews, we are used to establishment Jewish communal bodies delegitimising our Jewishness for our criticism of Israel and rejection of Zionism. This disgraceful overreach by SGLMG leadership, claiming that Pride In Protest’s morally consistent opposition to oppression, erasure, and genocide places them outside the parameters of acceptable LGBTQIA+ identity is a tune from the same hypocritical disgraceful songbook. Dayenu and the SGLMG leadership are betraying the very principles of the struggle for equality that Mardi Gras is supposed to embody.”