Police on Tuesday found the bodies of a couple allegedly shot dead by a jilted police officer lover. Police on Tuesday discovered the bodies of former television reporter Jesse Baird, 26, and his flight attendant partner Luke Davies, 29, who were allegedly shot dead in Baird\u2019s Sydney home on Monday last week. The crime prompted Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras organisers to ask police not to march at their annual parade this weekend, a decision the police commissioner said she would urge them to reconsider.<\/p>\n
New South Wales Police Force Senior Constable Beau Lamarre-Condon, who dated Baird until late last year, was charged on Friday with the murders of both men. Police said Lamarre provided them with information early Tuesday that led them to the bodies, which were found in a rural area around 200 kilometres southwest of Sydney. The Mardi Gras\u2019 board said LGBTQIA+ communities across Australia had been devastated by the loss of the couple, who had planned to celebrate at the parade on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Board feels that having the NSW Police march this year could add to the distress within our communities, already deeply affected by recent events. The Board has taken the decision to request that the Police do not march in the 2024 Parade,\u201d the board said in a statement late Monday. \u201cThis decision was not made lightly, especially considering that many NSW Police members who participate in the Parade are also members of the LGBTQIA+ community and are navigating the impact of this tragedy alongside us. However, we believe that their participation at this year\u2019s event could intensify the current feelings of sorrow and distress,\u201d the board added.<\/p>\n
The board noted that the 28-year-old alleged killer had participated in the parade in the past. Police Commissioner Karen Webb, who has taken part in the annual march since 2006, said she would meet with the organisers on Tuesday to urge the board to reconsider its decision. \u201cWe\u2019re not dealing with a gay hate crime here. We\u2019re dealing with a domestic homicide and \u2026 I\u2019m disappointed (by) the position that Mardi Gras board has taken on this issue,\u201d Webb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis time, more than any in our society, it\u2019s time to come together. We\u2019re talking about inclusion, we\u2019re talking about diversity and to exclude part of that community, I think, sends a wrong message,\u201d Webb added. Independent state lawmaker and gay activist Alex Greenwich agreed with Webb that police should be allowed to march. \u201cIt\u2019s really important that the LGBTQ community know that the police are there to protect us, that we can report crime to them. That said, a lot of work needs to be done on the police\u2019s side here,\u201d Greenwich said.<\/p>\n
State opposition lawmaker Jacqui Munro said the state government should withdraw funding from the event, which had become a major tourist drawcard, over the exclusion of police. \u201cThe idea that the government is supporting something where an organization has told a whole organisation based on the actions of a few to stand in the naughty corner is unacceptable,\u201d Munro said. State Premier Chris Minns said he hoped police would be allowed to march, but ruled out withdrawing government funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to do that. There\u2019s hundreds of thousands of people on their way to Sydney as we speak. That would end the march for this year, it wouldn\u2019t take place, and how would that help the situation as it currently stands?\u201d Minns said to reporters. Other floats would have boycotted the parade if police were allowed to march due to grief and extreme anger in the community, said Pride in Protest spokeswoman Charlie Murphy, a Queer community activist.<\/p>\n
The Mardi Gras began in 1978 as a Sydney street protest against homosexual discrimination that was violently broken up by police. Uniformed police officers have been marching since 1998 as a gesture of respect and support.<\/p>\n
Sydney-born Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said relations between police and the LGBTQ community had come a long way since 1978. \u201cI think it\u2019s been very good that the police have marched,\u201d Albanese said. \u201cThe relationships have been turned around and have been positive, but I understand that the Queer community in Sydney, in particular, are grieving what is an enormous tragedy,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Police on Tuesday found the bodies of a couple allegedly shot dead by a jilted police officer lover. Police on\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":31898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[9149,10467,2613,10469,1912,10464,10468],"class_list":["post-31897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-couple","tag-jilted-police-lover","tag-lgbtqia-community","tag-march","tag-murder","tag-sydney","tag-sydney-gay-and-lesbian-mardi-gras"],"reading_time":"4 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}