The history of Mardi Gras and the future for young LGBTI Australians
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what I would love to see in a future Mardi Gras where there is effort by LGBTIQI organisations to make sure all the parts of it are elevated and I think, I love me some queer discourse, don't get me wrong, I do it all the time but I think even the word queer, when you kind of remove all the labels and it depends on for each individual but there are different issues for different groups of people and if you kind of lump them all in in one mass and say we're all the same, you're saying we're all facing the same problems and that's just not true. Warning, content
alert. The Hookup. Love and f***ing on Triple J.
Experiencing the gay and lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney is really something else. So much glitter, so little clothing and so much fun. But the Mardi Gras isn't just a big party. I'm Nat Tenchich and on the podcast we're looking at the history of Mardi Gras as it celebrates its 40th anniversary and ask young queer Australians where we go next. First though, Stephen Stockwell reports on how the parade started and what it's all about.
Mardi Gras is super gay. Like, it's about the gayest thing I can think of. And while it's going to be an epic celebration of all things LGBTQI this weekend in Sydney, with hundreds of thousands of people watching on, it wasn't always like
this.
The first parade was in 1978 after this gay rights demonstration earlier in the day. Several hundred people walked up Oxford Street in Sydney chanting out of the bars and onto the streets following a flatbed truck with some speakers on it. And while the march had grown to more than 1,000 people by the time it got to its end, the police tried to shut it down. Police from Darlinghurst Police Station very regularly attack gay people in our gay community up in Oxford Street and William Street. It's a very, very common occurrence. It got messy. Fights broke out, 53 people were arrested, and while most were released without charge, their names were published in the paper. While the police were arresting folks in 78, they've now been in the parade for more than 20 years.
It took them until 2016 to apologise, though.
We also acknowledge the pain and hurt that the police actions caused at that event in 1978.
We're in a very different world now though, especially after this last year. Yes responses,
7,817,247. It helps educate the community and the exposure actually. enables people to understand more about, you know, gay and lesbian people.
The equality campaign has a float right towards the front of Saturday's parade, and spokesperson Clint McGillivray says Mardi Gras helped their push for a yes vote.
I definitely think it has played a critical role, you know, that has enabled us to do the work we have done over the last couple of years to actually push forward and get marriage equality passed in the parliament. I'm here to march at Mardi Gras with Medivac Green.
Come a long way since 1978, there is a lot more money involved in Mardi Gras now, with companies and government tipping in almost $2 million last year and big-name sponsors, including Medibank, Qantas and ANZ.
Mardi Gras is about our community and what you do for our community. When you get these big companies just coming in, jumping in on something like the 40th anniversary, you know, it's kind of like, well, where were
you? Daniel from Gay Sydney Australia, a group supporting the community through social media, feels like they didn't get a float because they were pushed out by sponsors. The likes of Holden, Tinder and Netflix have been given a place in the parade.
And of course us little small groups kind of like didn't get a chance at all to be part of the 40th anniversary. Like Netflix, you know, that was the last straw for me when I found out they had a float. I was like, but they haven't done anything for our community.
Mardi Gras says they've only got room for 12,000 people to march and LGBTQI groups with a strong creative concept and parade history were favoured. They did save spots for sponsors though.
With 10% allocated to our partners whose support makes the parade possible.
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