Mardi Gras Parade
From Pinkboard Wiki
| Mardi Gras Parade | |
|---|---|
| Type | Parade |
| By | Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras |
| City | Sydney |
| Started | 24 June 1978 |
| Every | February/March |
The Parade is the public face of the Sydney Mardi Gras. It is the largest and most spectacular night time Pride parade in the world.
Contents |
History
On 24 June 1978 the first Mardi Gras Parade ended in a horrific display of police violence and community homophobia.
Sydney gay community (as it was then called) was celebrating Gay Solidarity with the rest of the world. There was a peaceful protest march that day. In the evening it was decided to have a celebration march from Taylor Square down Oxford Street to Hyde Park. It was called Mardi Gras and people were encouraged to dress up.
Around two thousand people followed a truck with a small PA system yelling "Out of the bars and into the streets".
Parades
- 1978: The first Mardi Gras Parade was held on 24 June. 58 people were arrested.
- ...
- 2009: Held on 7 March. There were about 9500 participants and 134 floats.[1] Over 300,000 people watched the parade.
- 2010: Held on 27 February in perfect weather. There were 135 floats and hundreds of thousands of people watching the parade.
- 2011: Held on 5 March. There were nearly 8500 entrants in the Parade. The marriage issue was a hot topic. A few brief showers during the Parade didn't dampen the spirits.
- 2012: Held on 3 March with over 9000 entrants was 5km of infinite love.
Chief of Parade
- 2004 Monica Hingston
- 2005 Vicki Harding and her partner Jackie who had featured on a children's program in with their then six-year-old daughter, Brenna
- 2006 Deborah Cheetham
- 2007 Rupert Everett
- 2008 Margaret Cho acompanied by Craig Gee and Shane Brennen
- 2009 Matthew Mitcham
- 2010 Amanda Lepore
- 2011 a selection of Heroes
- 2012 Shelley Argent
References
- ↑ Economic woes fail to rain on Mardi Gras parade by ABC News 2009-03-09
