Governance

First Mardi Gras was incorporated as a not for profit community association on 20 April 2017. The operations of the organisation are governed by our Constitution and the Associations Incorporation Act, 2009.

First Mardi Gras has a Management Committee elected by members of the association. Members of the Management Committee are listed below:

In early 1978, I received a letter from San Francisco asking for solidarity actions for the Stonewall anniversary, Gay Freedom Day parade on 24 June. We formed a coalition of lesbian, gay and progressive groups to plan our activities including a late-night street festival, starting in Taylor Square. Dressed in a country and western frock, I remember feeling amazed that people showed up. It was exhilarating to be free, visible and together but these feelings turned to alarm. It was outrageous how violently the police attacked us in the Cross. We instantly knew we had experienced our own Stonewall.
Ken Davis - Co-Chair, First Mardi Gras Inc

Apart from commitment over the decades to queer activism and to commemorating Mardi Gras history, Ken has worked as a mail sorter, in disability services, in HIV, and since 1994, with the international solidarity agency of the ACTU, Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA.

I was involved in the Gay Solidarity Group meetings that organised the morning street march to mark the anniversary of the Stonewall riot in New York. A couple of chaps from CAMP Inc. came along to one meeting to propose a night-time march/festival as well. And that became the first Mardi Gras!
With my leg in a walking plaster from a motorbike accident, I ambled happily down Oxford St with friends. But when police stopped the parade near Hyde Park, we were galvanised and charged up to Kings Cross - defiant, exhilarated and chanting slogans. Sheltered with friends in a shop doorway, I witnessed the most brutal police attack I had ever seen.
Diane Minnis - Co-Chair, First Mardi Gras Inc

Diane was active in women’s, lesbian and gay groups including the Gay Trade Union Group and Pride History Group and was elected to the Board of New Mardi Gras three times in the early to mid-2000s. Following a career in the public service, Diane works on projects in training and communications.

Richard has been an LGBTQ activist since the early 1970s. As an original member of the Campaign Against Moral Persecution (CAMP) NSW, Richard was one of the first community members to prominently call for “coming out” as a means of changing the public’s view of homosexuality as a mental illness.

Richard has worked for many years in the health sector in various contract positions mostly within NSW Health, mainly focusing on Health and Medical education, in particular e-Learning. Passionate about Health and Ageing, Richard is currently serving on as an Advisory Committee member Scoping Study into Elder -mediation services across NSW for the UNSW aging futures Institute.

Karl Zlotkowski - Committee Member — **Karl Zlotkowski - Secretary**

In July 1978 I joined a demonstration that ended up in a melee outside Darlinghurst Police station. Looking back, I knew that this was the moment when my sexual preference became political, but it wasn’t until 20 years later that I realised that I’d been part of a turning point in history. The first Mardi Gras was Australia’s Stonewall moment, when we stood up and said No More. And 78ers all share something precious and inalienable - we were there.
Karl Zlotkowski - Secretary, First Mardi Gras Inc

In 1978, Karl was a cabaret artiste and promoter. Since then he has worked in the Commonwealth Public Service, for the shipping industry and as a senior manager with a global container terminal operator. He has two published novels and is working on three more together with two volumes of historical commentary including one on 1978. He has two degrees in Byzantine history with one focusing on the contrast between public and private morality in 6th century Constantinople.

David became involved in the lesbian and gay movement in 1975 and in 1980s was a member of the Gay Liberation Quire and the Gaywaves Gay Radio Collective amongst other things. He’s been active in the disability movement since the 1980s and in membership-based organisations concerned with employment, multicultural advocacy and housing. In the late 1990s he was a founding member of the queer disability activist group, Access Plus – Spanning Identities.

After 14 years as a public servant he completed an Honours Degree in Arts and Social Sciences at UTS, and his next career as a social policy researcher at UNSW. He then completed a PhD. He is a former president of Disability Australia.

Robyn has worked at senior levels in both the public and not for profit sector working across social and affordable housing, homelessness, Aboriginal housing, disability and health. Robyn is a proud 78er with a long history of involvement in LGBTIQ activism commencing in 1975 when she joined the Executive Committee of CAMP NSW. She was an active member of the Gay Task Force, founding member of First Mardi Gras , former Board Member of Sydney Gay and Lesbian mardi gras ,former Member InterPride Human Rights and WorldPride Committee ,author and activist,and InterPride.

Her book, celebrating those early pioneers of Australia’s queer rights movement, has been adapted into a play, CAMP.

Rebbell joined the first Mardi Gras parade as a 16 year old in 1978. Rebbell has had an extensive career in records management as Coordinator Records Management Bayside Council (NSW) and Director & President - NSW Records and Information Management Professionals Australasia. Rebbell is passionate about champagne, the Monarchy and the Arts and he is a Committee Member - Events & Marketing Committee at Friends of The Australian Ballet

First Mardi Gras Inc thanks previous committee members for their time and contribution: Robyn Kennedy, Sandra Gobbo, Garry Wotherspoon, Betty Hounslow, Robert French, Barry Charles & Maree Marsh.