'Bashed' by cops in the first Mardi Gras, this '78er weighs in on police role

Police will march at Sydney Mardi Gras this year after a compromise was reached on Tuesday - but it's a move that Wagga activist and 78er Ray Goodlass has long advocated for.

On Monday, a long-standing invitation for NSW Police to march was retracted by the Mardi Gras board in response to the murders of Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, allegedly at the hands of serving police officer Senior Constable Beau Lamarre-Condon.

While Police Commissioner Karen Webb confirmed on Wednesday an agreement had been reached and officers will march out of uniform, Mr Goodlass believes the situation surrounding police participation in the Sydney parade is complex and requires a "nuanced answer".

He agrees police should march out-of-uniform at the parade, but his reasoning is rooted in events spanning decades.

"I look back at the flanks marching - some of them are dancing - but they're still cops with guns, and I think 'do they have to throw it all in our face?'," Mr Goodlass said.

"There are many cops who are well-meaning and part of the LGBTIQ+ community themselves, and they should be welcome, but they shouldn't look like a platoon of soldiers."

"Bashed around in a side street" by police in the very first Sydney Mardi Gras, Mr Goodlass has not missed a parade since it began 46 years ago.

"I would be very happy, and welcome the police to march individually and join other floats," the former Wagga drama teacher and university lecturer said.

"I think the flanks of uniformed police is seen by many as threatening.

"The optics aren't good when they march as a group looking like an army."

Mr Goodlass was part of a group of protesters - now known as '78ers - who marched down Oxford Street in Sydney advocating for LGBTQIA+ rights.

Police arrested and took more than 50 people into custody, but Mr Goodlass was among other protesters who were violently assaulted by police.

"They [the police] bashed me a lot around the head and shoulders with their truncheons. I was very fortunate I didn't get arrested," Mr Goodless said.

"They could've cordoned off the street and linked arms, but they chose to attack."

The 1978 event has since been acknowledged as a key event that led to the eventual decriminalisation of homosexuality in NSW in 1984.

A public apology to the '78ers was given by NSW Police Commissioner Michael Fuller in 2018 - four decades after the event.

Mr Goodlass attended the apology and calls it "significant" and "moving".

The NSW Police Force have marched in the Sydney Mardi Gras parade since being invited in 1998.

He believes that despite the "significant" public apology in 2018, further steps need to be taken by the NSW Police to account for past actions.

Mr Goodlass says the next step for the NSW Police is to take action on the 19 recommendations from the Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes, handed down in December 2023.

"I think what we should be calling for now is the implementation of those recommendations because those gay hate murders were really incredibly bad policing," he said.

"No dithering about hoping everyone forgets, we haven't forgotten."

Mr Goodlass will also join the Wagga Mardi Gras parade along Baylis Street on March 9.

He says that he would be happier if the police were to march out of uniform, as individuals.

"After all, it wasn't the Wagga cops who were bashing people in 1978, and it wasn't Wagga cops who were dismissing gay hate murders for 40 years."

The Wagga Mardi Gras committee released a statement confirming police will be marching in the event.

NSW Police have also confirmed their attendance at the Wagga Mardi Gras parade.