Despite much contention the New South Wales Police Force joined the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade on March 2.
The Mardi Gras Board initially asked NSW Police not to march, after senior constable Beau Lamarre-Condon allegedly shot Jesse Baird and Luke Davies with his police-issued gun on February 19.
See also
NSW gay hate report recommends new inquests, police education Minns waters down conversion therapy ban after pressure from faith council Protests demand UNRWA funding restored as Israel starves PalestiniansA photograph of Lamarra-Condon marching in uniform at the 2020 parade quickly went viral.
However, the Mardi Gras board bowed to pressure from police minister Yasmin Catley, NSW Premier Chris Minns, Sydney MLA Alex Greenwhich and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, among others, and allowed the police to march in plain clothes.
Police ended up marching in matching navy blue shirts, flanked on either side by uniformed riot squad officers.
Why did so many politicians call for the NSW Police Force, an organisation with a long history of homophobia, to be allowed to march?
It is because allowing officers to march in an LGBTIQ event provided the police with a legitimacy that had been eroded by the alleged killing of two gay men by a senior officer.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said she was “delighted” with the reversal.
When criticised for being slow to address the community following the murders Webb responded: “There will always be haters. Haters like to hate. Isn’t that what Taylor [Swift]........