Every year, the queer community gathers to take Mardi Gras back to its roots. The Mardi Gras Street Rally remains one of the only radical actions during the season, campaigning for queer rights even when the Mardi Gras Corporation won't.

The trans community especially has been under attack in the last six months. 

Anti-discrimination law still contains religious discrimination exemptions that allow for queer students to be expelled from religious schools, that end the employment of queer staff at religious institutions, and that deny life-saving healthcare to women and queer people. This discrimination has no place in modern education, employment, or healthcare and has had a serious impact on the community.

In NSW, current or former sex workers can still be denied housing and employment and locked out of their bank accounts on the basis of their work, allowing the government to effectively discriminate against poor people and queer people, who are overrepresented in sex work due to employment discrimination.

In Queensland and the Northern Territory, the state government has banned puberty blockers for minors across the board, against all medical advice and governmental inquiries. This is a reprehensible attack on the rights of transgender people, stripping many youth of their right to choose how they present their gender.

And at the same Mardi Gras Street Rally last year, NSW Police told organisers that they would do everything in their power to stop this year's rally from going ahead, seemingly without rhyme or reason.

With recent anti-protest laws like contempt of court for rallies going ahead after a form one is denied by a Judge, and the implementation of the PARD, the police now have more opportunities than ever to harass and brutalize the queer community.

And these are the same police that the Mardi Gras Board vehemently defends—the same Mardi Gras Board that has refused to follow through on member motions for trans rights and attempted to silence dissent from their only currently sitting transgender Board member. They have no interest in protecting trans rights, only that of the state and the Labor Party. If they will not meaningfully act for trans rights, we must take the fight to them.

The Mardi Gras Street Rally is going ahead. The only way we can stand up to police threats and show that the queer community is still fighting for equal rights is by showing up in numbers and demanding change. So on the 15th of February at 1PM, turn up to Pride Square in Newtown with your friends, your collectives, your unions, and demand no right to discriminate.

Platform:

1. The SRC endorses the Mardi Gras Street Rally.
2. The SRC encourages all councillors and office bearers to attend the Mardi Gras Street Rally
3. The SRC supports calls for an end to the puberty blocker bans in Queensland and the Northern Territory.
4. The SRC condemns continued inaction on the discrimination against sex workers, queer people, and women in employment, housing, and religious institutions.
5. The SRC condemns the threats of police litigation to shut down the Mardi Gras Street Rally.

Actions:

1. The SRC will publish this motion on the website.
2. The SRC will publish its endorsement of the Mardi Gras Street Rally on social media, the website, and wherever else relevant.
3. The SRC will reshare campaign materials on its social media leading up to the Mardi Gras Street Rally.
4. The SRC will take a solidarity photo upon passing this motion and post it with the social media endorsement of the Mardi Gras Street Rally.