It was a very gay world at the 31st annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade on Saturday night as 10,000 paraders made their way up Oxford and Flinders Streets with an estimated 300,000 strong crowd watching the event.
The difference between acceptance and tolerance was explicit this year, with over 12 floats making it clear that acceptance would only come with same sex marriage or an equivalent. Most issues, from gay marriage to the legitimisation of the sex worker industry, were presented explicitly as battles for human rights that are denied sexual minorities.
Top of page: Chief of Parade Matthew Mitcham. Above, from the top: the Asian marching Boys warming up before the parade; Mature Aged Gays (MAG) getting ready to board their float, a red double-decker bus; an irreverent look at Pope Benedict XVI and Tranny Panic Art Project group.
David Imrie, New Mardi Gras chair said at a press conference earlier in the day: "We are marching under the Nations United banner of solidarity for the rights and freedoms of gay and lesbian people all over the world. There are still 77 countries where homosexuality is criminalised, and seven where you can lawfully be killed for being gay."
Imrie made a stark contrast to the excitement and celebration of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras when he referred to the Moscow Pride march of 2007, where paraders were met with hostility and violence.
Chief of Parade Matthew Mitcham in his speech at the conference spoke of how he grew from being an ugly duckling to a trampoline champion and then went on to win gold in diving at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. "Mardi Gras is the biggest celebration of homosexuality in the world and aims to promote not just the tolerance but the acceptance of the gay community in the wider community," he said.
Mitcham, who's reportedly the only openly gay competitor of the over 11,000 athletes at the Beijing Games, led the parade wearing his gold medal, surrounded by dancers in swimming trunks waving scorecards.
Dykes on Bikes were celebrating their 21st parade with other notable milestones including the 25th anniversary of the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, named after the first person to officially die of AIDS in Australia.
The division of the 135 float parade into eight sections under the Nations United theme sent a more succinct message than in previous years. The first year of the Mardi Gras Parade Grant Scheme resulted in a more consistently spectacular parade, with A$25,000 being given over to advise entrants on how they could jazz up their floats.
The grant scheme was set up with some of the A$85,000 given to New Mardi Gras by Events NSW, the first time the Mardi Gras parade has received state funding.
Floats in the Asia section of the parade included Thai'd Together, the Asian Marching Boys, In Support of Our GLBT Friends in Hong Kong by Andrew Haviland, Tranny Panic, Japan Loves You, and Filipino Victorian Secrets.
Among the floats was a tribute to Harvey Milk, the gay US politician whose career and 1978 assassination were made into a movie that won two Oscar awards this year.
Despite 28 arrests being made, Assistant Police Commissioner Catherine Burn praised the crowds for their good behaviour in a statement. Most of the arrests were in the Hyde Park area, and some of the offences included assault, indecent assault, offensive behaviour, offensive language, assault police, resist arrest, robbery and malicious wounding.
Listen in as Fridae's Sydney correspondent Justin Ellis takes to the street to find out if the parade is still relevant to the LGBT community today - 31 years after it started as a demonstration against police brutality.
See more parade photos on the next page.
Listen in as Fridae's Sydney correspondent Justin Ellis takes to the street to find out if the parade is still relevant to the LGBT community today - 31 years after it started as a demonstration against police brutality.