USU Pride held its first ever fringe event on the sidelines of USU Conference recently, with over 50 delegates attending and showing their support for our new reference group!
We were privileged to have Neil Henderson, Secretary of The Services Union (Queensland ASU branch), and 78er. Neil gave our delegates an insight into his experience as a protester at the first Sydney Mardi Gras protest/parade in 1978, sharing some fascinating and heartbreaking stories of this parade, and how the union movement supported the activists who were beaten and arrested by NSW Police that night. As a group, we believe it is important to acknowledge the history of the struggle for LGBTIQA+ rights in NSW, and Neil’s presentation provided our delegates with inspiration to keep the fight going!
The event was attended by President Sharon Sewell, and General Secretary Graeme Kelly OAM, who shared his personal insights into the important need for the union movement to keep up the fight for improved rights for LGBTIQA+ people and provided his strong support for the work of USU Pride. Their support is invaluable to our group as we look to grow stronger in 2027.
USU Pride will be holding our next meeting on Wednesday 14 October at 6:30pm with a guest speaker soon to be announced. Members can find out more info by joining our USU Pride Network Facebook Group, where all meeting information is shared.
We hope to see more members in our meetings in late 2026 and 2027 as our network continues to grow!
