Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras or Sydney Mardi Gras is an event in Sydney, New South Wales attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around Australia and overseas. One of the largest LGBT festivals in the world, Mardi Gras is the largest Pride event in Oceania.[a] It 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.
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
Second Thursday in February
First Saturday in March
Annually
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
46
24 June 1978
25 February 2023
The Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras is one of Australia's biggest tourist drawcards,[14] with the parade and dance party attracting many international and domestic tourists. It is New South Wales' second-largest annual event in terms of economic impact,[15] generating an annual income of about A$30 million for the state.
The event grew from gay rights parades held annually since 1978, when numerous participants had been arrested by New South Wales Police Force.[16] The Mardi Gras Parade maintains a political flavour, with many marching groups and floats promoting LGBTQIA+ rights issues or themes.[17] Reflecting changes since the first Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, participants in the Mardi Gras Parade now include groups of uniformed Australian Defence Force personnel, police officers from New South Wales Police Force, as well as interstate and federal police officers, firefighters and other emergency services personnel from the Australian LGBTQIA+ communities. Marriage equality was a dominant theme in the 2011 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade with at least 15 floats lobbying for same-sex marriage.[18]
In 2019 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras submitted a bid to host WorldPride 2023 competing against Montreal, Canada and Houston, Texas. InterPride chose Sydney, Australia to host WorldPride 2023 at their Athens October 2019 Annual General Meeting of three hundred delegate organizations, the first time WorldPride will be held in the Southern Hemisphere or Asia Pacific region.[19][20][21]
History[edit]
The term Mardi Gras[edit]
The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras or Sydney Mardi Gras is a celebration of LGBTQIA+ history and culture.[22]
The term Mardi Gras derives from the celebration on Mardi (French for "Tuesday") when Gras (French for "fat") is eaten prior to the Christian abstinence period of Lent preceding Easter.[23]
1970s[edit]
On 24 June 1978 at 10 pm as a night-time celebration following a morning protest march and commemoration of the Stonewall riots[24] organised by the Gay Solidarity Group more than 500 people gathered on Oxford Street, in a planned street "festival" 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.[25] 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!".[26] Although the organisers had obtained permission, this was revoked, and the parade was broken up by the police. After the parade was dispersing in Kings Cross, 53 of the participants were arrested.[27] 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.[28] Only two people who were arrested were fined.[29] The rest were released without bail and the charges dismissed. The police response to a legal, local minority protest transformed it into a nationally significant event which stimulated gay rights and law reform campaigns.[26] A documentary, Witches and Faggots, Dykes and Poofters, produced by Digby Duncan in 1980 tells the story of the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.[30][31]
The second Mardi Gras Parade occurred in 1979 despite opposition by gay media, businesses and groups. The 1979 parade, in recognition of the Stonewall Riots and commemorating the riot of the previous year, 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 1988 (NSW) under which the arrests in 1978 were made.[29] The second Mardi Gras had the theme of Power in the Darkness.[29] While there was a large police presence, there were no arrests made.
Resources[edit]
The Australian Queer Archives, City of Sydney Archives, Pride History Group, and the State Library of New South Wales hold an extensive collections of material related to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, including oral history interviews, organisational records, personal papers, posters, clippings, and photographs.[80]
WorldPride Sydney 2023[edit]
InterPride, at their October 2019 Annual General Meeting of three hundred delegate organizations, held in Athens, Greece chose Sydney, Australia to host WorldPride 2023, the first time WorldPride will be held in the Southern Hemisphere or Asia Pacific region. Sydney received 60% of the vote ahead of the other bid contenders Montreal, Canada (36%) and Houston, Texas (3%).[19][20][21]
WorldPride 2023 coincided with the 50th Anniversary of the first Australian Gay Pride Week, 45th Anniversary of the first Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras and 5th Anniversary of Marriage Equality in Australia. According to the bid document the stated objective of WorldPride Sydney 2023 is to celebrate the diversity of culture and identity in the Asia Pacific region, while shining a light on widespread human rights abuses.[104]
WorldPride Sydney 2023 was held between 16 February and 4 March during Australia's summer and consisted of a 17-day combined 45th Anniversary Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras/WorldPride 2023 Festival.[104] The centrepiece was a three-day LGBTQIA+ Human Rights and Health Conference focusing on LGBTQIA+ people's experiences of violence, torture, abuse, discrimination and persecution in the Asia Pacific region and more broadly. Other stated signature events included:
• Aboriginal Smoking Ceremony and Welcome to Country
• WorldPride Opening Ceremony
• 45th Anniversary Mardi Gras Parade
• 45th Anniversary Mardi Gras Party
• Interpride Reception
• Bondi Beach Party
• Mardi Gras International Arts Festival
• 30th Anniversary Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival
• WorldPride First Nations Gala Concert
• Sissy Ball Grand Final
• WorldPride March
• WorldPride Closing Ceremony