Sydney Mardi Gras 2006

4 March 2006

The Sydney Mardi Gras four week festival is the world’s biggest celebration of gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual and queer culture. Each year 6,000 participants are involoved in a film festival, musical performances, BBQs, art exhibitions, parties and most importantly, walk in the Mardi Gras Parade – described by its organisers as “the world’s most glamorous civil rights demonstration and Australia’s cheekiest night of the year.” The festivities are located at various venues throughout Sydney, but mainly in and around Oxford Street – the city’s gay centre.

Sydney's Mardi Gras began on June 24th 1978 as a protest march for gay civil rights. The protest was intended to be peaceful, and the organisers had been granted permission, but it was still broken up by the police. The event took place each June until 1981 when it was moved to February. The parade was renamed the 'Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras' in 1988, and today people from all walks of life join in the parade.

All the festivities within the Mardi Gras festival are carried out light-heartedly and tongue-in-cheek. None of it is meant to cause offence, and in most instances, even the most controversial parades receive a cheer and applause - such as the scantily clad men dressed as Catholic clergy as a jibe at the Church's sexual taboos.

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