Last Saturday, I experienced my first taste of Mardi Gras. The Parade winds its way starting from Hyde Park, through the heart of gay and lesbian Sydney, to the biggest dance party in Australia. It's really fun and amasing. A lot of people joined whether they're straight or gay. Its more of a celebration of the acceptance of the gay and lesbian. It's really cool because everyone was on their party mood turned on and was dancing on the streets. Got a good spot and saw all the feathery and flowery costumes. Pink australian flag flashed everywhere and a big "NO" to homophobia in one of the banner I saw. It's great to be on a country which is very open and accepts different cultures. Be what you wanna be.. Who ever you are.. Whatever your race is.. It doesn't matter! Everyone has equal rights to co-exist and live harmoniously. Anyway, here's what wikipedia has to say about Mardi Gras...
The Sydney Mardi Gras (formally Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras) is an annual gay pride parade and festival for the gay and lesbian community in Sydney, Australia. It is one of the largest such events in the world. Despite its name, it is not held on Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday) or indeed, on a Tuesday at all.
It began on June 24, 1978 as a protest march and commemoration of the Stonewall Riots. Although the organisers had obtained permission, this was revoked, and the march was broken up by the police. Many of the marchers were arrested. Although most charges were eventually dropped, the Sydney Morning Herald published the names of those arrested in full, leading to many people being outed to their friends and places of employment, and many of those arrested lost their jobs as homosexuality was a crime in New South Wales until 1982.
The event was held again in 1979, with the name changed to the "Sydney Gay Mardi Gras". In 1980 the first post-parade dance party was introduced, and in 1981 the parade was shifted to February. An increasingly large number of people not only participated in the event, but larger numbers of the wider community turned out to watch the parade. In 1988 the parade was renamed the "Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras".
~source: www.wikipedia.com
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