ACTU President Michele O’Neil with IEU Professional Engagement Coordinator Pat Devery ready to march with Union Pride at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras on 1 March.
IEU members once again joined the Union Pride float at this year’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras to celebrate our diversity.
Led by Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) President Michele O’Neil, union members marched in front of hundreds of thousands of people lining Oxford Street in Darlinghurst.
The IEU was represented by Professional Engagement Coordinator Patrick Devery.
“The IEU is proud to participate in Mardi Gras as part of Union Pride,” Devery said. “We are always stronger through diversity.”
This year’s Mardi Gras took place as the NSW Law Reform Commission reviews the state’s anti-discrimination laws.
It is unlawful for most employers to discriminate on the basis of an employee’s sexual orientation, gender or transgender status, pregnancy, disability, marital status or use of fertility treatments. However, all non-government schools still have special exemptions that allow them to treat staff in ways that would be prohibited elsewhere.
“Schools of faith can continue to thrive without the need to discriminate,” said IEU Secretary Carol Matthews in a media statement in 2024. “School employers have nothing to fear from modern community standards.”