AUSTRALIA: THE WORLD'S BIGGEST GAY AND LESBIAN MARDI GRAS HAS DRAWN CROWDS IN SYDNEY

Record ID: 278342

  • Title: AUSTRALIA: THE WORLD'S BIGGEST GAY AND LESBIAN MARDI GRAS HAS DRAWN CROWDS IN SYDNEY
  • Date: 3rd March 2001
  • Summary: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (MARCH 3, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. LV/TV OF "DYKES ON BIKES" (2 SHOTS) 0.17 2. SLV OF DYKES ON BIKES 0.21 3. SLV/SV FLAMINGOS CARRYING BABIES (2 SHOTS) 0.34 4. SV SPECTATORS 0.39 5. SLV/SV SPANGLY DANCERS (3 SHOTS) 1.01 6. TV OF PARADE 1.16 7. SLV/SV PARADE AND DANCERS (6 SHOTS) 2.01 8. SV
  • Embargoed: 18th March 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
  • Country: Australia
  • Reuters ID: LVA54WENQJ69KRRYWQ6D245NYCWL
  • Story Text: The world's biggest Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has
    drawn crowds of hundreds of thousands in central Sydney.

    Some 8,000 men and women rode elaborate floats or danced
    and marched through Sydney's Oxford street in what is still
    considered a civil rights demonstration by the country's gay
    community.



    Persistent rain did little to dampen the mood of the
    world's biggest Mardi Gras in Sydney on Saturday (March 3).

    Hundreds of thousands of people lined Sydney's Oxford
    Street, waiting for hours for the country's biggest and most
    colourful spectacle.

    And they were not disappointed. Almost 8,000 participants
    from around the world participated in the Gay and Lesbian
    Mardis Gras, which was as glittering and gaudy as ever.

    But this year's Mardi Gras also carried a strong political
    message.

    Once the antipathy of conservative middle class values,
    this year's extravaganza sported silver prams, pink storks and
    babies, as well as the usual jiving pelvises and scantily-clad
    buttocks.

    With the dominant theme being "parenting", the main message of the parade was that gays have families too, even though in
    Australia gay couples are not allowed to marry or adopt
    children.

    The country's gay community, most prominent in Sydney,
    remains angry over comments by Australian conservative Prime
    Minister John Howard that gay and lesbian families were not as
    good as traditional marriages between men and women.

    Australia's gay community is not without clout. This year
    the Mardi Gras was expected to pump some 67 million U.S.

    dollars into the economy. John Howard's conservative
    government
    is also facing an election this year.


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