Activist group Pride in Protest has been banned from marching in the Sydney Mardi Gras parade over social media posts criticising Jewish group Dayenu, who were also due to take part in the event.
The Mardi Gras chief executive, Jesse Matheson, wrote to Pride in Protest on Friday, saying the organisation had received complaints about social media posts that described Dayenu, a group for Sydney’s Jewish LGBTQ+ community and their allies, as “pro-genocide” and alleged that Dayenu “support genocide”.
Matheson wrote that the posts, which remained online as of Saturday afternoon, raised “serious concerns” about compliance with parade rules, “and with the values that underpin our parade”.
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Pride in Protest said it was expelled from the parade after it failed to respond within the six-hours it was given to reply.
The group said the decision was an overreach and called for it to be reversed.
“Pride in Protest refuses to comply with this authoritarian censorship that silences speaking out about genocide,” Pride in Protest’s Evan Gray said in a statement.
The NSW Greens upper house MP Amanda Cohn said it was “an extraordinary act of censorship to exclude Pride in Protest from the Sydney Mardi Gras parade”.
“Especially when the organisers are happy to include the Liberal Party, who have called for the parade’s funding to be reviewed and continue to vote against LGBTQIA+ rights in parliament,” she said.
Matheson confirmed in a statement that Pride in Protest had been removed from Saturday’s Mardi Gras after a written warning.
“Participation in the parade is conditional on compliance with our terms and conditions, including the code of conduct provisions that prohibit harassment, bullying, vilification or discriminatory conduct toward other Parade participants,” he said.
“Pride in Protest were asked to remove unacceptable public commentary levelled against another small community group marching in the parade.
“Their float marshal were also asked to confirm they had read and understood the parade terms & conditions before marching in the parade. Neither [of the] actions were undertaken.”
Matheson added that Pride in Protest had marched “for many years under the banner of ‘No Pride In Genocide’ and Mardi Gras provided that space”.
“This is about conduct including harassment of other participants and refusal to comply [with] or acknowledge agreed terms and conditions,” he said.
A spokesperson for Dayenu said the group was “deeply offended and hurt by statements and social media posts by Pride in Protest”.
“Dayenu is not a Zionist organisation, and we feel that word is being used to insult our Jewish community, in place of the word Jew,” they said.
“We believe Mardi Gras has become a safer and more inclusive space for the LGBT+ community, now that Mardi Gras is enforcing basic decency in how it expects members to treat each other.”
They added the group was “willing to meet with Pride in Protest to find common ground and build a respectful and informed relationship of each other”.
