Midsumma open letter

Dear Midsumma board,

My name is Teague Leigh. I am a queer disabled trans man, an independent artist who cannot conventionally work, and have volunteered and worked for Midsumma for over 10yrs.

I have profited in many ways, including financially, from Midsumma. I am grateful for all the opportunities Midsumma has given me to further my artistic and community passions.

The boots-on-ground staff and volunteers are exceptional, and I have made many friends over the years. I believe the CEO, Karen Bryant, has done great work building the LGBTQIA+SB arts community. Karen's vision and passion for the (LGBTQIA+SB) Arts has created a vibrant and successful festival program.

However, this year we once again saw the ways in which the choices of the board are continuing to divide our community.

The inclusion of police marching with the very minority groups they currently (not just historically) disproportionately target will never not be upsetting for so many. There is a gross over representation of those minority groups incarcerated and facing trauma at the hands of the police. It is triggering and not cause for celebration. My personal and my family’s history with police means that seeing them march every year comes at a great psychological cost to me.

I witnessed horrific violence the police enacted upon protestors and Midsumma staff. I saw members of my own community and so-called "allies" shouting transphobic and other degrading slurs as well as booing our own people. I have included some images of the event.

Police chief commissioner Patton stated, “I admit we've made mistakes in the past and we probably will continue to in the future”.[i] This is not attrition. This is not an apology for the atrocities that continue to mark the existence of the police department.

Patton also said he “was really pleased at the restraint that was shown”.[ii] Too many of us are painfully aware of the lack of restraint police show when they are not so publicly on display.

The 78ers marched in wilful defiance of police brutality. They were locked up, publicly shamed, and lost their jobs. This is still happening to the LGBTQIA+SB community today. Particularly the trans, disabled, POC, First Nations, Sex Worker, and refugee communities. To protest the police is entwined in our DNA.

The personal is political. We have not achieved equity.

Marching openly as "queers" is an act of radical defiance. While the ‘investigation’ is ongoing, and Midsumma cannot openly comment, it is telling to hear the Victorian Government[iii] condemning protestors prior to seeing any evidence. The opinions of people outside our own community (the Premier or Prime Minister, for example) are not helpful as many do not know what we talk about when we say we are continuing to experience suffering at the hands of the police institutions across so-called Australia.

At this point, it looks like the choice to ban police from marching has been taken away from the Midsumma board and that they have no choice but to let police march based on pressure from government and police authorities, such as what we just saw in Sydney with the board of Mardi Gras reversing their decision based on pressure from the Police Commissioner and members of Government.[iv]

I am grieved over the Midsumma board’s decision to announce next year's festival dates before considering and organising community consultation and open dialogue on the issue of police marching at Pride. It is too easy for the media to point at protestors and claim they have supposedly marred what might have otherwise been a confrontation-free festival, however it is the systemic structures in place that lead to such an event, as was the case in Sydney in 1978.

In Victoria, the first march in 1996, organised by Pride March Victoria, was similarly motivated. Victoria Police had detained 463 patrons of the gay nightclub Tasty 18 months earlier, conducting public and invasive strip and cavity searches in one of Australia’s most notorious instances of homophobic police brutality[v].

If Midsumma seeks to be representative of the entire rainbow community, it needs to do exactly that; to once again be an intersectional grassroots organisation those it represents can be proud of. You can engage in active change by creating a roundtable dialogue with marginalised groups within the LGBTQIA+SB community. These decisions should be made by, and in consultation with, our own people, not succumbing to exterior pressures.

I propose the Pride March returns to its origins, and its focus: Community.

Keep the march for community led organisations and groups. As it is free to register to march, there is no need to have corporations marching. Allyship and having an enforceable LGBTQIA+SB charter should be the base requirement of all businesses; it does not require reward or a place in our March. Queer employees of such businesses would still be able to march, just not under the banner of their employer who wants applause for hiring them. Fair weather sponsors are not required. If they threaten to pull funding, they were never allies to their staff or to Midsumma to begin with.

As for individual allies who want to be a part of the day to support their mates, they can cheer from the sidelines. Supporting us from the sidelines and by demanding equity day in and day out is how allies can be the most effective in achieving unity. This is how we achieve openness and inclusiveness, not by letting all and sundry assert themselves over our collective pride and ongoing activism.

Similarly, the Midsumma website states: “As with all Victoria's large-scale events, organised protests and parades, police officers are present as part of the event permit. The event permit requires Vic Pol to be present to monitor external threats or any situation that may become unsafe for event attendees.”[vi] There is nothing in this permit that requires police to march. If the police working at the March are limited to LLO’s it would reduce much of the pain caused by traumatised community members having to witness the organisation which targets them marching in what is supposed to be a rainbow community celebration. Police can show their support by not ransacking queer businesses[vii] without cause, they can stop harassing queers on the street.

Police marching at Pride is not unifying, it is tearing our community apart.

Refusing police the option to march is not a radical act it is an act of care & nurturing of community. Community cannot heal if police are still committing the same bias and crimes against minority groups, but still being rewarded with a place within the march.

I also propose there be a unifying dismissal of Midsumma board members as a vote of no confidence by community and that Midsumma board appointments be restricted to a maximum term of 4 years. This will allow for a continuous invitation to and inclusion of fresh voices from diverse, intersectional representatives from all parts of the community. Perhaps, if this were the case already, we may have avoided the need – yes, need – to protest our own pride/protest march year on year.

Because one thing is abundantly clear: conflicts during the march will not cease while police are allowed to participate. It is in the hands of Midsumma to take the measures necessary to actively listen to the community and make changes, or take responsibility for the ongoing trauma being inflicted to its members, its participants, and the very people it claims to represent.

Many pride marches[viii],[ix],[x],[xi],[xii],[xiii],[xiv] across the world refuse to invite police to march whilst they continue to fail to meet the minimum standards of protecting and serving the community. We must stand up and protect our most vulnerable if we are to live and govern with purpose.

I want to be proud of my involvement with the Midsumma Festival as a queer disabled trans man. Representation matters. I wear a Progressive Pride Pin to celebrate the values of what those colours mean: Life, Healing, Sunlight, Nature, Serenity, and Spirit, with the Trans, First Nations, and People of Colour communities leading the fight for global equity.

I see the happiness and pride of the youth who march in their multiple pride flags, and I am hopeful for a better future.

At last year’s Melbourne Pride, I met a young autistic human who was photographing individuals for a school project. They were so excited to learn that an autistic human was able to be a photographer as part of a major cultural and artistic festival. I feel such joy knowing that our brief interaction may help them forge their own strong path in the Arts despite of, and on top of, their disability.

However, I had an exhibition in the Midsumma Festival 2024 program – a significant milestone in my own artistic career, and with a message of community strength at its heart. Friends told me they would not attend as it was a Midsumma event. Friendships ended specifically because of my involvement with this organisation.

If the Midsumma board continues to refuse to change with the times, it will cease to be relevant.

I do not want this. I want to see Midsumma Festival thrive. I want a Midsumma Festival that dares to be political whilst still having fun, embracing the beauty that is a community united. I want to see a Midsumma Festival that dares to ask the hard questions, not just of ourselves, but of others. I would raise this at future AGM’s and Special General Meetings, however due to the minimum $40 fee for membership, I am financially excluded.

Embracing change is simultaneously a return to our roots and a positive shift forward.

Let’s be wholistically proud.

Teague Leigh

[i] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-04/pride-march-2024/103425544

[ii] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/05/victoria-police-to-review-midsumma-footage-after-protesters-confronted-police-marchers.

[iii] https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/disgraceful-behaviour-equality-minister-slams-protesters-who-clashed-with-police-at-pride-march-20240205-p5f2cw.html

[iv] https://www.naroomanewsonline.com.au/story/8510051/police-played-role-in-pride-march-clash-organisers-say/

[v] https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/national-news/victoria-news/20-years-of-pride/131777

[vi] https://www.midsumma.org.au/info/midsumma-pride-march-info/

[vii] https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/innocent-bashed-man-sues-police-over-botched-hares-and-hyenas-raid-20200610-p551c8.html

[viii] https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/after-toronto-pride-exclusion-canadian-cops-invited-attend-nyc-march-n768921

[ix] https://www.metromag.co.nz/society/society-people/the-new-21-year-old-director-of-auckland-pride-festival-max-tweedie