Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
The Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras is an annual gay pride parade and festival for the LGBT community in Sydney, Australia, and draws in thousands of visitors from around Australia and overseas. It is one of the largest such festivals in the world[1], and includes a variety of events such as the world-famous Mardi Gras Party, Bondi Drag Races, Harbour Party, the academic and discussion panel Queer Thinking, as well as Fair Day, which sees 70 000 people converge on Victoria Park, Sydney.
The festival culminates in the renowned Mardi Gras Parade, which features more than 8500 entrants in colourful costumes and elaborate floats, representing a community group, topical theme or political message. Approximately 300 000 spectators watch the Parade as it snakes 1.7km through the Sydney CBD and Darlinghurst. [2]
The parade and dance party attracts many international and domestic tourists. Mardi Gras is one of Australia's biggest tourist drawcards, [3] generating an annual income of about $30 million for the state of New South Wales. It is New South Wales’ second-largest event in terms of economic impact.[4]
The celebrations emerged during the early 1980s after arrests were made during pro-gay rights protests that began in 1978. The Parade maintains this political edge, with many floats marching in support of LGBT rights. Marriage equality was a dominant theme in the 2011 Mardi Gras Parade, with at least 15 floats lobbying for same-sex marriage.[5]
History
The first Mardi Gras was held on 24 June 1978 at 10 pm as a night-time celebration following a morning protest march and commemoration of the Stonewall Riots.[6] More than 500 people moved down Oxford St, 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 [7]. Although the organisers had obtained permission, this was revoked, and the march was broken up by the police. 53 of the marchers were arrested.[8] Although most charges were eventually dropped, the Sydney Morning Herald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.[9]
The Mardi Gras Parade occured again in 1979, and was attended by 3000 people. While there was a large police presence, there were no arrests made. In 1980, no Parade was held, but following community consultation, decisions were made to move the parade to the summer.[10]
In 1981 the parade was shifted to February, with the name changed to the "Sydney Gay Mardi Gras".[8] An increasingly large number of people not only participated in the now summertime event, but a crowd of 5000 came to watch it.[11] 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 Parade went ahead with theme “Fighting for Our Lives”.
The first giant post-parade party was held in 1982, which 4000 people attended. This would continue to become an integral part of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. In 1988 the parade was renamed the "Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras" at an Extraodinary General Meeting.[12]
By 1993, the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade had become the largest night time outdoor parade in the world. Mardi Gras' Economic Impact Study found that Mardi Gras' total impact into the Australian economy was around $38 million.[13]
A celebrity at the 2007 Mardi Gras was Rupert Everett, who attended various events throughout the festival. He was the 2007 Chief of the Mardi Gras Festival and Chief of the 2007 Parade. On 26 February 2007, he discussed his autobiography "Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins" at the York Theatre, Seymour Centre in front of a packed house. His comments about openly gay Sydney real estate agents Michael Marquette and Simon Turner were captured by both SX Magazine and The Sydney Star Observer. He complimented the duo on their courage in coming out in what he thought to be a really difficult industry to be openly gay.[citation needed]
The 2009 performance figures indicated about 9500 participants and 134 floats were part of the parade, making it the largest ever.[14] In 2010, the event resulted in a $575,000 loss for the organising company, New Mardo Gras.[15]
The Parade
The parade, whilst featuring many in the gay community with a penchant for exotic costumes and dance music, has always retained a political edge, with often witty visual commentary on their political opponents featuring in the floats. As homosexuality became more and more accepted in the wider community, more gay representatives of community groups and organisations have taken part in the parade, including the police force. Each parade starts with about 200 "Dykes on Bykes" riding up Oxford Street.[16] It is often accompanied by fireworks displays, which are launched from the rooftops of buildings along the parade route.
The Chief of Parade is decided each year by the organisation, and previously this title has been given to -
- 2007 - Rupert Everett, gay actor.
- 2008 - Margaret Cho, American comedian.
- 2009 - Matthew Mitcham Australian Olympic gold-medalist and 2008 Australian Sports Performer of the Year. [16]
- 2010 - Amanda Lepore, transexual model/performer.
- 2011 - Lily Tomlin, lesbian actress.
In 2008, gay icon and comic, Kathy Griffin filmed an episode of her Emmy-winning reality series Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List in Sydney during Mardi Gras and participated in the Parade.
The parade travels along Oxford Street before turning into Flinders Street and finally into the Buslane that runs parallel to Anzac Parade - to the parade end. These roads and others including some around Hyde Park, are closed to traffic for the duration of the parade and for a few hours after as clean-up operations proceed.
Support
Political support has come from a number of local and federal politicians such as Senators Natasha Stott Despoja and Penny Wong, Members of the House of Representatives Anthony Albanese and Tanya Plibersek as well as the present Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore.[17]
The crowds generally begin to appear at midday on the day of the parade and by 8 pm crowds in some sections of the parade route are 5–10 people deep. Though it has rained on several Mardi Gras parades (notably with heavy downpours prior to, and drizzle during, the parade in 1995, and heavy rainfall during the parade in 2004), this has never stopped the parade.[citation needed]
The event was quite popular within Australia's GLBTI communities and the international "Gay Party Circuit" and for a while was quite a lucrative event. An evaluation of the 1998 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras estimated the event injected $99 million into the NSW state economy.[18] In the 2000s the Mardi Gras organisation struck financial trouble, and collapsed. This was attributed at the time by some to poor financial management, but others[who?] in the gay community have claimed that these events indicated that homosexuality has "gone mainstream" and is now so integrated into the wider suburban Australian community that the need to band together for such events is declining.
Another explanation was given as Australia's ongoing public liability crisis, which has seen massive insurance premiums impose a significant burden on community and public events, if not preventing them. As a consequence of the impending collapse of the organisation, there was a groundswell of concern and support within Sydney's GLBTI communities for the continuation of the work and events of Mardi Gras and a series of crisis meetings culminated in the creation of a reformed organisation "New Mardi Gras" being formed to continue the Parade, the Festival & the Party.
Limited funds have also been sourced from the Sleaze Ball party held in Sydney towards the end of the year. Mardi Gras still receives significant public support and the event now receives some limited government funding which should go towards ensuring that it remains a part of Sydney culture for some time.[citation needed] In 2009, the parade returned to prime-time television, and was telecast live on Foxtel's pay-per-view channel Main Event in its entirety. The parade was also broadcast on radio by Joy 94.9 FM Melbourne and 2SER 107.3 FM Sydney. In 2010, the parade was shown live on Foxtel's Arena Channel in its entirety[citation needed]. The parade was also broadcast on radio live by various community radio stations, via the CBAA's Community Radio Network satellite[citation needed].
Opposition
Mardi Gras has consistently attracted opposition from numerous sources of various religious and political affiliations. Each year the event is held, Fred Nile, a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council and a former minister of the Uniting Church in Australia, leads a prayer for rain on the event.[19]
Criticism of Sydney's Mardi Gras was perhaps at its strongest during the early years of the AIDS crisis, and flared again when in 1994 the national broadcaster, ABC, telecast the parade for the first time.[8] Triple J radio has broadcast the event live across the nation a number of times as well.
In January 2008, Robert Forsyth, Anglican bishop of South Sydney condemned Corpus Christi, which opened for Mardi Gras, because it depicted Judas seducing a gay Jesus as well as Jesus' administration of gay marriage between two apostles. Director Leigh Rowney accepted that it would generate discussion on Homosexuality and Christianity stating: "I wanted this play in the hands of a Christian person like myself to give it dignity but still open it up to answering questions about Christianity as a faith system." Playwright Terrence McNally, a gay man, received death threats when it was played in the United States.[20]
Post Parade Party
The post parade party is one the largest ongoing party events in the country. Mardi Gras Party attendances at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion / Royal Hall of Industries peaked in 1998 with 27,000 tickets sold.[21] In the years since 17,000 to 20,000 tickets are consistently sold, an extraordinary explosion since the first Parade Ball held in 1980 at the Paddington Town Hall, a BYO event which attracted 700 guests.[22] The 2010 party was not held on the night of the parade. This was later described by organisers as a mistake.[15]
In the last 20 years, several well known local and international artists have performed at the Party and include:[23]
Mardi Gras today Normally the launch of the Festival is held at the Sydney Opera House during the last week of January. Fair Day, which is held mid festival at Victoria Park, is a day-time event attended by 65,000 people. The following weekend, the same park hosts the Pool Party. It commences just before sunset and there is non-stop entertainment for 1000 lycra-clad guests.[citation needed] For many years a fully themed, magazine style guide with information on all events has been produced. Several multi-disc Mardi Gras compilation albums were released in 1996, 1997 and 2003. The festival's live entertainment including cabarets, comedy, music and theatre. The Mardi Gras Film Festival showcases gay and lesbian films. There are many literature and arts events, forum and conferences to attend between the many social activities. Individual and team sports have always been a part of the festival.[citation needed] Over recent years, there has been growing criticism over the festival's increased level of sponsorship. This has led to several debates over whether or not the parade is still relevant as a political statement and an expression of pride.[24] Statistics show that homophobic hate crimes seem to peak during the festival period.[25] Despite its name, Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras is not held on Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday) or indeed, on a Tuesday at all.[26] In recent years, the Mardi Gras Parade has been on the first Saturday of March, with a festival of events going for approximately 2-4 weeks proceeding it. See alsoReferences
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