via Dr Amanda Cohn:
Our joy and connection last night is the greatest act of resistance and resilience for LGBTQIA+ communities.
It’s been a tough year, from the appalling response to the LGBTIQ hate crimes inquiry, to the reported murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies. We have so much more work to do to build a future worth fighting for – and a night to march and dance together, to be seen and to reclaim the streets is exactly what we needed ✨🪩
I was so proud to parade with the Greens alongside grassroots LGBTQIA+ members carrying photos to honor important moments for queer people in Australian political history. We were joined by the indomitable Senator Janet Rice and unwavering allies Senator Mehreen Faruqi, David Shoebridge, Kobi Shetty MP and Cr Philipa Veitch, Mayor of Randwick.
It was great to see strong representation from health workers, emergency services, sporting groups and regional communities doing the hard work to drive inclusion and diversity.
Notably, Chris Minns was the first Premier of NSW to participate in the Mardi Gras parade. I hope to see his support for LGBTQIA+ communities translate from photo opps to meaningful legislative reform. NSW has the worst laws in Australia on discrimination, conversion practices, gender identification on documents and more. Alex Greenwich has already done the work to draft a bill that addresses these issues, and while it’s not perfect, the Equality Bill could pass the Parliament this month if the Minns Labor government supported it and this would make a huge tangible improvement to the lives of LGBTQIA+ people across NSW.
I can’t wait to share the love in the regions next weekend at the Wagga Mardi Gras 2024!
🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️💗✊🪩✨
