This year’s Sydney Mardi Gras theme is universal and infinite love – but with a politically-charged parade helping to promote marriage equality, is a group endorsing polyamorous relationships still allowed in?

This week the Sydney Polyamory group was concerned that Mardi Gras had gone too conservative as Australia’s gay marriage battle heightens, and would now no longer endorse the idea that relationships involving more than two people can be natural and ethical.

The group’s worries were highlighted on Victorian HIV prevention worker Daniel Reeders’ blog by a member of Sydney Polyamory who said he’d consulted Mardi Gras about their float.

“Sydney Mardi Gras does not include us as part of the LGBTIQ community,” said the Polyamory member’s alarming message to others in the parade group. “While we can express our support for the LGBTIQ community, we cannot have any signs that talk about polyamory or say things like ‘polyamory is ethical/natural’ etc.”

This attitude came as a surprise to the group’s float organiser, as she believes “our group is primarily composed of LGBTIQ members.”

“I am pretty angry and insulted about this… we were already not considering participating because a large number of community members were upset at not being considered part of the LGBTIQ community.”

The situation seems a little ironic, considering how much the widely-accepted symbol (below) for polyamory resembles Mardi Gras’ current ‘infinite love’ hearts logo…

When asked by Same Same for an update on the situation yesterday, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras CEO Michael Rolik said a dialogue was open.

“We’ve been talking with the Polyamory Australia about their entry,” he confirmed.

“We’ve made no decision yet, we’re still consulting with the organisers and in respect to them we can’t really comment more at this time.”

But the latest comments by another Sydney Polyamory member on Reeders’ blog suggest that after some discussion, Mardi Gras has approved the group to march as long as they make clear they are “Queer Polyamorists” – therefore meeting the criteria of being LGBTIQ enough to march in the parade.

This appears to be a welcomed result, with the group seeming to understand the current sensitivity around their message, but making it clear they do not want it to be left out.

“Polyamorists have universally supported the equal marriage issue,” the commenter reflects. “There is some concern that in order to get that issue the recognition it needs for legislative change, there has been some distancing by equal marriage activists from the large chunk of the queer community that doesn’t practice monogamy.

“We generally understand the need to focus on one issue to get it through, but there’s a concern that we may then find ourselves ostracised by the people we have supported.”