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Happy 34th Mardi Gras!

March 02 2013

Hi all, I was just online gathering some Mardi Gras facts for some family and thought I would share. (Mostly copied from Wikipedia and edited) The Sydney Mardi Gras is an annual LGBT pride parade and festival in Sydney, attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around Australia and from overseas. It is one of the largest such festivals in the world, and includes a variety of events such as the Sydney Mardi Gras Parade and Party, Bondi Beach Drag Races, Harbour Party, the academic discussion panel Queer Thinking, Mardi Gras Film Festival, as well as Fair Day, which attracts 70,000 people to Victoria Park, Sydney. How it all started: On 24 June 1978 at 10 pm as a night-time celebration following a morning protest march and commemoration of the Stonewall Riots organised by the Gay Solidarity Group, more than 500 people gathered on Oxford Street, calling for an end to discrimination against homosexuals in employment and housing, an end to police harassment and the repeal of all anti-homosexual laws. The figure rose to around 2,000 as revellers out for the Saturday night at Oxford Street bars and clubs responded to the call "Out of the bars and into the streets!” Although the organisers had obtained permission, this was revoked, and the march was broken up by the police. 53 of the marchers were arrested. Although most charges were eventually dropped, The Sydney Morning Herald published the names of those arrested in full, leading to many people being outed to their friends and places of employment, and many of those arrested lost their jobs as homosexuality was a crime in New South Wales (NSW) until 1984. The police response to a legal, local minority protest transformed it into a nationally significant event which stimulated gay rights and law reform campaigns. The first Mardi Gras Parade occurred in 1979 in recognition of the impact of the Stonewall Riots commemoration March of the previous year and was attended by 3,000 people. In that same year, the Labor Government of New South Wales, led by Neville Wran, repealed the Summary Offences Act (NSW) under which the arrests in 1978 were made. In 1980, no parade was held, but following community consultation, decisions were made to move the parade to the summer. In 1981, the parade was shifted to February, with the name changed to the "Sydney Gay Mardi Gras". An increasingly large number of people not only participated in the now summertime event, but a crowd of 5,000 came to watch it. (Two year later this number had increased to 20.000.) The mid 1980s saw considerable pressure placed to the Mardi Gras Committee following media controversy regarding AIDS. Despite calls for the parade and party to be banned, the 1985 parade went ahead with theme Fighting for Our Lives. By 1993, the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade had become the largest night time outdoor parade in the world. In early 2011, members of the organisation unanimously voted to include intersex formally into the organisation at the Annual General Meeting and adopt the formal use of the LGBTQI acronym. To allow for greater inclusion of the LGBTQI community it represents (including those identifying as bisexual, transsexual, queer and intersex), on 17 November 2011 the festival and event organisers changed the event name to "Sydney Mardi Gras". On the same date the organisation reverted to its former name, "Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras" (from "New Mardi Gras"). In 2012 more than 9,100 participants joined in the Parade, on 134 floats. What does Mardi Gras mean to you, if anything, and why?

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RHP User

13 years ago

Excuse the formatting. It looked a lot better when I typed it. I find hard to believe homosexuality was illegal in Australia until 1984, that's outragous in my book. Even The Netherlands were late, legalising it in 1971. Socially homosexuals are seen as unnatural by many, as we probably all know. I hope that events like Mardi Gras create more awareness and acceptance.

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RHP User

13 years ago

It's a fun time of year in Sydney and particularly around our place (which is a bit gay all year round). Went out for a quiet drink last night and our usual local haunts were all full. So for us it means crowds, but all friendly people, colourful and great fun.Weather is no good for hot pants unfortunately, the guys may have to dance a little more than usual.Here's to equality in all it's forms!Mr C

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RHP User

13 years ago

Have either watched it or been on a float / marched in the parade for the last 6 yrs. Great fun, great friendships. Last nights was fantastic.as always... the mardi gras travels the world ... usually starts in Rio in late january and moves around the globe - Posted from rhpmobile

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RHP User

13 years ago

what I find interesting mostly is that I see gay/lesbian (homosexual) as a sexuality/sexual orientation, yet I see intersex and transsexual as a physical/biological issue , IE gay people are still physically/biologically what could be deemed as "normal" however transsexual and intersex people are born with a congenital abnormality. For instance, if a transsexual is just a gay man and not really a woman in her own mind, then why would she need to change her... er.... "bits" most men are pretty attached to and protective of their penis, even if they ARE gay, so isn't a transsexual woman who likes men technically just a straight woman? one is a medical issue, the other is simply natural variation in sexuality, so I often wonder why the two issues are put together? seems like a good way to confuse the masses and misrepresent certain people in the eyes of the majority of society Other than my own confusion, I'm pleased to see people are more and more able to live unafriad of who they are, no-one should have to live like that just because of how they were born, deep down we're all beautiful in our own ways, we're all human, and isn't it fundamental of being human that we should be able to love I personally believe the world could use as much love as it can get. funny enough though, I can remember as a child growing up on a farm (somewhere south of the black stump and it wasn't that long ago! I'm a child of the 80's!), every year when it came on TV, my dad and all the other men in the area would proclaim: "couple of landcruisers, a few spotlights and some good rifles and you'd clean the lot of those bastards up in one night" makes me sad to think someone I love could be that way Makes me sad for anyone who was born gay (or different in any way for that matter) who's parents may have had the same kind of attitude as my dad did, it must have been hard for them growing up, feeling like they needed to hide themselves. WOW! sorry! got carried away with the deep meaningful stuff, LOL! what does it mean to me? Never been, but to me it means feather boas, and hot pants and REALLY bad makeup and a whole bunch of guys (who are often hot but also sadly off limits) dancing in the streets with VERY little clothes on (doesn't hurt to look, and a girl can dream!) what's not to like

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RHP User

13 years ago

Was your nite at mardi gras MS-D,and did you end up finding J-man and get that bear hug that was on offer???????,jsk

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Happy 34th Mardi Gras!

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