The sickening alleged killing of two beautiful and much-loved young men on the eve of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has once again focused attention on the NSW Police attitude to the LGBTQ community.
The intersection of crime and societal change is a risky conflation but there is little doubt that for many in Sydney, the horrific case has stoked deeply held feelings of distrust and fear within the gay community towards police due to a long history of victimisation.
For its part, NSW Police has done little to assuage matters, blatantly failing to properly respond to the trenchant criticisms uncovered by the recent Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQI hate crimes.
The NSW Police have priors in admitting errors or saying sorry. The force took a long time to attempt some sort of conciliation after the notorious Saturday night in 1978, when members attacked a group calling for the decriminalisation of homosexual acts in a night street parade. The brutal police response brought national attention and helped to make the parade an annual Sydney event. Twenty years after the first Mardi Gras, the police joined the parade and marched.
We should say at this point that the Herald also recognises and regrets wholeheartedly the part we played in that 1978 night. The following Monday, the Herald published the names of the 53 people arrested by police. In 2016, we acknowledged and apologised to the 78ers for the hurt and suffering that reporting caused.
But the NSW Police marching in Mardi Gras parades has always sat awkwardly against their policing role. Tension between the two roles erupted in 2013, when multiple acts of violence undercut any growing goodwill and led to the establishment of the 2014 Mardi Gras Police Accord. But they have continued to both march and swarm. Organisers tore up the accord in December and the inherent harassment of decency and drug checks have prompted calls for several years now for police not to march.
The long-awaited report from a Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes in NSW made 19 recommendations, including fresh inquests into the deaths of several men. But while Justice John Sackar noted “shameful homophobia, transphobia and prejudice” was alive and well within the NSW Police, he stopped short of formally recommending an apology to the LGBTQ community, but urged the organisation to “consider the value of sincerely and unequivocally acknowledging the shortcomings of the past”.
Two months and four days later, as Sydney reeled from the alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies by police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon with his Glock service pistol, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb apologised for the historic wrongs. But she blunted the contrition, giving her apology statement only to the Sunday Telegraph before posting it on the NSW Police website at 10.02am on Sunday. Her clumsy attempt at media manipulation is both crass and insensitive; further, her statement caused needless pain to Sydney’s LGBTQ community by failing to give specific responses to how police would respond to the report’s criticisms and recommendations.
Sydney’s gay community is rightly hurt and angry. Police should not march in this year’s Mardi Gras
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25.02.2024
The sickening alleged killing of two beautiful and much-loved young men on the eve of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has once again focused attention on the NSW Police attitude to the LGBTQ community.
The intersection of crime and societal change is a risky conflation but there is little doubt that for many in Sydney, the horrific case has stoked deeply held feelings of distrust and fear within the gay community towards police due to a long history of victimisation.
For its part, NSW Police has done little to assuage matters, blatantly failing to properly respond to the trenchant criticisms uncovered by the recent Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQI hate crimes.
The NSW Police have priors in admitting errors or saying sorry. The force took a long time to........
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