The organizers of Sydney Mardis Gras have uninvited, then re-invited the New South Wales Police to the march happening on March 2.
The Mardi Gras board uninvited the NSW police to march in uniform after current police officer Senior Constable Beau Lamarre-Condon was charged with the murder of former “friend with benefits”, Jesse Baird (a former presenter on Australia’s Channel 10) and his partner Luke Davies. In a statement released after a board meeting on Monday, the board released a statement:
In recent days many have voiced their concerns to us, particularly regarding feelings of unease at the Parade…The Board has taken the decision to request that the Police do not march in the 2024 Parade.
Commissioner Webb and Sydney Mardi Gras
However after campaigning from Police Commissioner Karen Webb, the board approved for the NSW Police to march “in a reduced capacity to the originally planned NSW Police float” and “to address concerns from the community, the gay and lesbian liaison officer participants will march in the 2024 parade out of uniform.”
Commissioner Webb has received a large amount of criticism over the events leading up to and during the investigation of the murders. After describing the murders as a “crime of passion”, she later clarified her statement stating it was “domestic violence, stalking, and murder” (yet still defended her initial word choice.)
“There will always be haters”
The investigation has also revealed a breakdown in procedure under Webb’s leadership, as it is alleged that Senior Constable Lamarre-Condon used his police issued firearm to commit the crimes. Under normal circumstances, police are not allowed to take their firearms at home in Australia. In response to these criticisms, Commissioner Webb said “there will always be haters, haters like to hate, isn’t that what Taylor [Swift] says?”
Senior Constable Beau Lamarr-Condon has been charged with the murder of Luke Davies and Jesse Baird. Lamarr-Condon was a former “friend with benefits” of Jesse Baird. Here he celebrating in uniform at the 2020 Sydney Mardi Gras (James Gourley/EPA)
Pride In Protest have labeled the actions of the Mardi Gras board “betrayed” the community and “burning any goodwill they may have accrued earlier this week.” This has come after an event earlier in the year where Victorian police officers violently assaulted Pride In Protest protesters at the Midsumma Pride March. Although media attention blamed both parties or solely the protesters, independent witnesses have stated it was instigated by the police.
Beau Lamarre-Condon’s Awful Conduct
Beau Lamarre-Condon has himself already been under media attention after he tased an Aboriginal Australian man without provocation in 2020. Many acknowledge the police’s interactions with the First Nations people of Australia as brutal, oppressive, and often fatal, with many killed by police officers without receiving justice and being over-represented in deaths in custody figures.
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Justice for the victims of gay hate crimes, domestic violence, and racism has been elusive due to the actions of the Australian Police. Recent findings from the Special Commission into LGBTIQ+ hate crimes have hammered this home, with Justice John Sackar stating that there is “a resistance in the NSWPF, even very recently, to acknowledging the extent of the hostility experienced by LGBTIQ people in the 40-year-period under examination.”
Although the police have been emphasizing that a lone actor conducted the murders of Jesse and Luke, the lack of addressing structural issues makes it clear that any progress made in relations between the police and the queer community is purely for public relations purposes.
CORRECTION (3/2/2024): This article previously stated that Senior Constable Beau Lamarr-Condon was the ex-boyfriend of Jesse Baird. Since writing, a personal friend of Jesse Baird, Corey Dean-Thorpe, claims that instead Lamarr-Condon and Baird had a “friends with benefits” relationship, and Baird did not reciprocate any romantic feelings. This article has been amended to reflect that.
Sources: ABC News, The Age, Al-Jazeera, Australian Institute of Criminology, The Guardian, Instagram, Overland, Pedestrian.TV, SBS News, Sportskeeda, Sydney Mardi Gras, Sydney Morning Herald, VICE
