Activists rallied and marched for LGBTIQ rights in Sydney on June 25. The protest also commemorated 44 years since the first Mardi Gras protest in 1978.
The rally at Sydney Town Hall was called by Community Action for Rainbow Rights (CARR) to draw attention to ongoing issues facing the LGBTIQ community, including rights at school, work and in sports, the rise in transphobic rhetoric and fears about Labor's proposed religious discrimination bill.
78er Diane Minnis spoke about the history of the gay rights movement in Australia and explained the circumstances that led to the original Mardi Gras riot, the arrests that followed and the campaign to drop the charges.
Other speakers included representatives from School Strike 4 Climate, CARR members and Inner West Greens Councillor Liz Atkins.
Atkins raised concerns about the proposed religious discrimination bill saying: 鈥淥ur current government is promising us a religious discrimination bill still, which apparently will protect students and teachers, but we have no idea what it looks like or whether it will protect other rights like women鈥檚 rights, the rights of people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.鈥
Emma, a CARR spokesperson, said: 鈥淗istory has shown us the way that we win our rights is by mobilising in the streets, no matter who is in government鈥.
