‘A lot of hurt and anger’: how the queer community feels let down by NSW police

Members of the New South Wales police at the Sydney Mardi Gras in 2023. Photograph: Mark Baker/AP

Two decades after intense police brutality against Australia’s queer community at Sydney’s first Mardi Gras in 1978, police began marching in the parade in a gesture of solidarity.

But that 26-year tradition was broken on Monday after the Mardi Gras asked the police not to march after allegations that a police officer murdered two men – Jesse Baird, who the officer had had a prior casual relationship with, and Baird’s partner, Luke Davies.