- Title: AUSTRALIA: 25TH GAY AND LESBIAN MARDI GRAS PARADE
- Date: 3rd March 2002
- Summary: (W5) SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (MARCH 2, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SLV "DYKES ON BIKES"; SLV PARADE; SLV SPECTATORS ON OXFORD STREET 2. SLV FLOATS AND PERFORMERS; SLV AUSTRALIAN GAY GAMES SAILING TEAM; SLV FLOATS AND PERFORMERS; SLV CROWDS; SLV PERFORMERS 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED SPECTATOR SAYING "Ah we come every Mardi Gras, it's a really
- Embargoed: 18th March 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
- Country: Australia
- Reuters ID: LVA24NQBAAZYVVT2ZZVPF0IEH6ER
- Story Text: Sydney's 25th Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade has
erupted in a sea of sequins, stilettos, bare breasts, waxed
chests, feather boas and thunderous cheers.
Encouraging the hundreds of thousand of spectators to
"walk a mile in our shoes" the 2002 theme, the gay and
lesbian community gave religion, race and politics
centre stage.
After the roar of the "dykes on bikes" motorcycle
cavalcade, the traditional start of the parade, a large
replica of Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral, dubbed "St. Muscle
Mary's", complete with attendant cardinals and bishops, took
its place as head float.
Organisers said it was designed to ridicule religious
institutions which continue to persecute gay men and lesbians.
Catholic Archbishop of Sydney George Pell, known for his
hard line against homosexuals in the church, was also
targeted.
Indigenous Australians "walked a queer mile" for
reconciliation and justice, and rainbow babies were pushed in
prams by their same-sex parents.
For the hundreds of thousands of spectators at Saturday
night's event, the sheer spectacle of Mardi Gras sufficed.
One spectator who had waited for hours securing her prime
position said, "Aah we come every Mardi Gras, it's a really
fun night and it's really... everyone comes out and just
expresses themselves. It's really, a really good night."
A lesbian parade participant said, "Mardi Gras means a
chance to show that we are here and that it's about time we
got equal right for everyone else in Australian society".
A gay male parade participant said, "Mardi Gras is an
expression of freedom and sexuality and basically the city
belongs to us for one day. We walk the streets free and
happy."
Amid the glitter and glamour of dancing queens, marching
men and women, the politicians had their turn too.
Preferred object for poking fun was Australian Prime
Minister John Howard. Masks of him were shown with his lips
stitched together, a reminder of recent events when several
Afghan asylum seekers sewed their lips together in their
protest after the government promised to resubmit their claims
for refugee status.
Masked lookalikes of Prime Minister Howard and Immigration
Minister Philip Ruddock, were aboard the good ship HMAS
Tampaphobia, featuring dancing life jackets, flying babies and
crew members handing out Australian visas to a disco "Prime
Ministerial rap".
Christened by celebrity drag queen Joyce Maynge,
resplendent in a haute couture tribute to Australiana, the
Tampaphobia lampooned Australia's refusal to allow the
Norwegian freighter Tampa to offload 433 boatpeople it had
rescued last year.
It also poked fun at government claims, later proved
false, that asylum seekers had thrown their children
overboard.
International visitor numbers were down, attributed partly
to September 11, the U.S. economic downturn and the fact that
Sydney is also soon to host the 2002 Gay Games.
Some of the month-long festival events also drew smaller
crowds amid criticism the Mardi Gras has become too much of a
party and too far removed from its origins, as a protest
march, which turned violent when police intervened in 1978.
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