The committee of Brisbane Pride Incorporated and the Queensland Police Service have committed to collaborate on a formal apology to be delivered in early 2023.
We have unfortunately not been able to finalise the process in time for the Brisbane Pride Festival March and Rally and while police have been invited to march in 2022, they have been respectfully asked to not do so in uniform.
Both the QPS and Brisbane Pride Inc remain committed to this process which would enable uniformed officers to show their pride by marching in uniform once again in 2023.
We acknowledge the difficulties this process of change can place on members of the QPS who are also members of the LGBTIQ+ community.
In August 2021, the committee invited serving Queensland police officers to march in that year's Brisbane Pride Festival March and Rally but asked that officers not march in uniform.
At the time, the decision was not made lightly, and it followed a process of having conversations and spending time listening to the real and current concerns of many members of our communities.
The decision to communicate that decision to the QPS, was done as a way to begin a conversation that would ultimately bring all community together to discuss meaningful and sustainable change, and to find ways to actively work together towards that change.
Those conversations have continued over the past 12 months. Both organisations agree that a formal apology by the police is one of the steps that is needed for us to move forward for a positive future together, and we are moving close to that milestone.
Brisbane Pride Inc has faith that the QPS entered into this process in good faith, and acknowledges the progress the QPS has made over the past 30 years and more recently, the work done to build a positive relationship with our LGBTIQ+ communities.
Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said she had driven preparations for the formal apology and remained committed to its delivery as a significant priority in consultation with community members.
Commissioner Carroll acknowledges the serving police officers who are members of the LGBTIQ+ community, the men, women and non-binary members of the Queensland Police Service who have played a vital role in leading change inside the Police Service.
