And a Happy Mardi Gras it was...
March 2nd 2008 11:47
The excitement began when my bus started entering the city area... I could see people with golden costumes posing for photographs, people with bright wigs walking about and several floats on their way to their designated spot. Did you know that Pump, the bottled water company, had a float in the parade? I saw the truck for it on the way... Sadly, I didn't take any photographs of the events, but I thought it would be fun to write about them, test my skills without the help of visual aids.
I got off on Elizabeth Street and walked back to McDonalds to buy something inexensive for dinner. There were still queues even though it was 5:15pm, so either that place is very popular, there was an influx of people in the area for Mardi Gras, or both!
I noticed an Asian man decked out in opaque rose sequins and a large green wire headpiece which stuck out for 30 cms on each side of his head posing for multiple photos near Starbucks, and stopped to admire his costume for a little. He chatted to a man with a large black headpiece that looked like a flower pot with stalks emerging from the base. They were drawing quite a crowd, mostly of Asian onlookers. I giggled a bit to myself.
I crossed the barricades into Hyde Park and was mesmerised by a girl's multi-coloured fake eyelashes... apparently the things come in many more different shades now! Everywhere I looked the becostumed girls and guys were being engaged with by the spectators, with lots of photo-taking, hugs and kisses.
I didn't have any difficulty finding the students as they were all dressed in red near the War Memorial, as they said they would be. I got the compulsory green band from Jessica Kean, and found Harrison Swift talking to a guy named Jake who I'm pretty sure kissed one of my male friends while we were out partying at Arq. I won't say which one because he's slightly uncomfortable with his sexuality and I don't want to 'out' him without his permission, silly as his discomfort is. I also met a guy named Tom, and a couple named Greg and Tim. Greg told me he had been all around Europe and that he loved my Barcelona bag. I asked him about his favourite place and he said he had enjoyed London and Germany the most.
I briefly spoke to Andrew Rose from UNSW, who was dressed in a black and orange wig, with matching eyelashes and a red corset, and got asked to pose in photos a lot. Michael Deahm arrived a bit later, dressed as a drag queen sporting fake grey eyelashes with white polka dots on them, a combination that made his bronze skin glow. He was also wearing a light blonde wig, and had glittery pink circles on each cheek. The details of his two-piece costume were fabulous, but unfortunately escape me. He was also sporting some of the highest red platforms I have ever seen (which he had to abandon at some point during the parade as it was too difficult to walk in them).
We got moving to the part of Elizabeth St which was designed to be taken up by our float before too long, and I exchanged Hello's and How are you's with yet another QuAC (Queer Action Collective) member, Keisha Galbraith, on the way. I then spent most of my time while waiting with Harrison, and learnt that he was dressed in a wedding dress and red chains to represent the plight of the potentially 'liberated' person who was now able to be... bound by the glib tradition of marriage. He would have liked to have brought along some cutlery to make his point further, perhaps make it more obvious.
I personally want same-sex marriage to happen in Australia as soon as possible, but I can sort of see his point - marriage is an institution which can be underdeveloped and abused, and at the end of the day it's just another piece of paper, even if it does entitle you to some legal rights. I heard him sing "Life's a show / and we all play our parts..." as we walked through the swirling crowds.
For those who don't get the reference, it's a song from the Buffy musical, and continues "And when the music starts / We open up our hearts." It's sung by a depressed Buffy who is disillusioned with being part of the "glittering" world in which people strive to be all they can be. It was an interesting choice, somewhat morbid. Oh sure, there are plenty of people who get unrealistically high on the prospect of Mardi Gras or whatever, but I prefer to focus on the positives.
Trying to find Toby Armstrong and the ute we had hired for the occasion, we headed the wrong way and found ourselves quite lost amongst the crowd of early revelling glbtis, which was a marvellous place to be. We got a brief sampler of the floats that were going to be before or after us, and the glamour that the crowds were yet to get a taste of.
Eventually we realised that Toby was hidden behind the giant Mature Age Gays bus right on the corner of Elizabeth and Oxford Streets, and made our way over. There must have been about 50 of us or more, almost all decked out in red, including a female Asian COFA student who had a wreath of red roses on her crown and looked absolutely gorgeous. Meanwhile, a girl had 'No, Mum, it's not just a "phase"' on the back of her red shirt. I could kind of sympathise, but I don't feel my parents' denial is pressing enough to inscribe upon my clothing.
I'm not a big fan of red, but I was wearing a thin and elegant red polo with black velvety trousers. I even put red lipstick on, which I haven't done for ages, I'm pleased to say. I also lined the outer corners of my eyes with my eyebrow pencil before I left, and stopped there. By the end of the day, though, I had other people's glitter all over my body (even the parts of it that hadn't been exposed, believe it or not)!
Anyway, a group of females were involved in a collective effort to paint a guy in red with black swirls, while the rest of the group ate or danced to 'Don't Hold Back' by the Potbelliez.
We were positioned right in front of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), and I thought it would be interesting to chat to someone from the float. I selected a hazel-eyed woman who informed me that her son was on the Anal Float, which was campaigning for the legalisation of anal sex in parts of the world where it is currently not allowed. They had a giant globe of the world as a visual aid. This woman had a lot of assumptions to throw at me, however, one of which was repeating her son's insistence that the student float was there 'just in case', 'If all else fails'. Now, I could have marched with the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, but I opted to march with the students because I thought it would be more fun and I would strengthen my friendships with a number of people from USyd, not to mention meet new people from different universities. My favourite assumption was that I was OBVIOUSLY not Australian. Ha, think again, lady! I'm part of that fabulous Australian diversity, so question before you assume. I decided that I had had enough of this after a few minutes and returned to my float.
One by one, the floats started to set off... the dykes on bikes went first, as per tradition, and as usual there was a remarkable diversity in the women. There were tattooed and pierced participants, and very girly and feminine ones too... some of the girls had their breasts revealed, and most of them has rainbow flags stuck to the bikes. For the first time it seemed that men were allowed to participate too. Perhaps these were men who identified as lesbians? It wouldn't surprise me- anything goes in the Sydney G&L Mardi Gras! I saw the Dykes on Bikes truck near Fox Studios, and they had cutesy traffic signs like 'Not quite straight' for curvy roads. I seem to remember Asians with neon-coloured hair.
Then it was time for the religious and ethnic floats, of which there were plenty. Catholics, Metropolitan Church of Sydney members, Christians holding up white signs with blue writing asking 'Would Jesus discriminate?' and others proclaiming the holder 'Gay and Godly', Jewish lesbians and gays, and Middle Eastern participants, many of whom were sporting political messages. There were many more and I can't remember them all.
Then we had the Rainbow Labor float, and the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, who were co-ordinated with white T-shirts and 58'08 written in black and pink on them. Almost every member was holding a sign with a description of one of the 58 discriminatory laws in Australia on them. It was an excellent way to make their point, which is that there are 58 laws in the country which discriminate against same sex-attracted individuals, and we would like to see them all changed by the end of 2008. If you would like to send an email to the Attourney-General to help this cause, please visit Really Long Link (clickable link) to do so quickly and easily. The GLRL has provided the body of a text you can send, so you can either use that, customise it to suit your needs or create your own. Take action now!
I looked for my friend Andrew Carruthers amongst the GLRL-ers, but couldn't spot him.
There was the policepeople's float, the defense force's float, the fire brigade's float, and the mature age gays float in front of us, and then it was our time to go! We were all very excited as we sashayed, strolled and otherwise made our way up the street.
I decided to face the left-hand side of the street, as it held the most amount of people, and to pay close attention to the audience. The first part of Oxford Street was almost exclusively made up of Asians, which was very nice. They extended limbs towards us to wave or touch one of our own, and many had cameras with them. It was exhilerating to have so many people cheering at you at the same time, and I blew lots of kisses, yelled 'Happy Mardi Gras' whenever I thought my voice would be okay, waved the entire way through, and hugged about five or so giddy revellers.
A lady decided to give me a red rose half-way through and I was really happy about that. I'm keeping it in a water bottle in my room, and it brings a smile to my face every time I see it.
At several times during the parade the stimulation was quite intense and I couldn't believe it was happening (I had been living a very quiet lifestyle since coming back from Europe), and even though I was ever in search of more inspiration I had to admit to being pleasantly surprised by the experience. Everyone was in high spirits and celebrating the diversity of people around, a wonderful place to be it. If the crowd were like pieces of bread and we were like a sprawling, messy, uneven, sandwich filling, I was happy to be situated in the middle of this love-fe(a)st.
Now, as a spectator, you watch the paraders. As a participant, however, you watch the audience. It's a unique vantage point from where you can pick up everyone's motives. Some people were just accompanying their partners, and some were so insecure about their sexuality that they clung to their heterosexual partner as the fabulous people streamed by, stirring up excitement.
One Asian man standing next to a lamppost looked incredibly confused at the events taking place before him, like he had just awoken from a nap and was looking for someone in particular in the anarchic surge that was the parade (at least, that's my experience with the student float ;o) ).
Fortunately most people were genuinely excited and happy to be there, getting high off the paraders, opening their arms wide open for hugs and requesting kisses.
The parade continued up to Taylor Square, whereabouts the audience got less Asian, and where most of the cameras were stationed. I wonder if it was televised this year? I know that footage is available from several sources, including the official Mardi Gras website, but I haven't been in a position to watch any live streams from the Parade ever since I started going, about 8 years ago. I believe I saw an old Sydney Girls High acquaintance as one of the Parade Officials on Flinders Street. She looked thrilled, so good for her. I would have said Hi but apparently my apparel wasn't eye-catching enough what with all the much more creative costuming decisions around, and she deliberately didn't notice me. (Remind me to be a Parade Official next time - they get to see all of the floats while being able to stay on the float-ing side of the parade, and as such get to be both observers and participants.)
The crowds began to thin as we reached the Moore Park / Fox Studios Area, allowing me to lavish more attention to the fewer bystanders who were nearly cloaked in darkness.
I grabbed my bag from the back of the ute as we neared the entrance to the end of the parade, and started quizzing the others about whether they'd had a good time. Everyone was positive, except for a guy who was accusing another guy of being sexist, and a few complaints about shoes that went up from the drag queens. Poor things. You should be able to walk and look funky at the same time.
Overall, it was a very fun and enjoyable experience which I would recommend to everyone. Come and be part of the next Mardi Gras Parade in Sydney! You know you want to... ;o)
I got off on Elizabeth Street and walked back to McDonalds to buy something inexensive for dinner. There were still queues even though it was 5:15pm, so either that place is very popular, there was an influx of people in the area for Mardi Gras, or both!
I crossed the barricades into Hyde Park and was mesmerised by a girl's multi-coloured fake eyelashes... apparently the things come in many more different shades now! Everywhere I looked the becostumed girls and guys were being engaged with by the spectators, with lots of photo-taking, hugs and kisses.
A photo I didn't take
I didn't have any difficulty finding the students as they were all dressed in red near the War Memorial, as they said they would be. I got the compulsory green band from Jessica Kean, and found Harrison Swift talking to a guy named Jake who I'm pretty sure kissed one of my male friends while we were out partying at Arq. I won't say which one because he's slightly uncomfortable with his sexuality and I don't want to 'out' him without his permission, silly as his discomfort is. I also met a guy named Tom, and a couple named Greg and Tim. Greg told me he had been all around Europe and that he loved my Barcelona bag. I asked him about his favourite place and he said he had enjoyed London and Germany the most.
I briefly spoke to Andrew Rose from UNSW, who was dressed in a black and orange wig, with matching eyelashes and a red corset, and got asked to pose in photos a lot. Michael Deahm arrived a bit later, dressed as a drag queen sporting fake grey eyelashes with white polka dots on them, a combination that made his bronze skin glow. He was also wearing a light blonde wig, and had glittery pink circles on each cheek. The details of his two-piece costume were fabulous, but unfortunately escape me. He was also sporting some of the highest red platforms I have ever seen (which he had to abandon at some point during the parade as it was too difficult to walk in them).
We got moving to the part of Elizabeth St which was designed to be taken up by our float before too long, and I exchanged Hello's and How are you's with yet another QuAC (Queer Action Collective) member, Keisha Galbraith, on the way. I then spent most of my time while waiting with Harrison, and learnt that he was dressed in a wedding dress and red chains to represent the plight of the potentially 'liberated' person who was now able to be... bound by the glib tradition of marriage. He would have liked to have brought along some cutlery to make his point further, perhaps make it more obvious.
I personally want same-sex marriage to happen in Australia as soon as possible, but I can sort of see his point - marriage is an institution which can be underdeveloped and abused, and at the end of the day it's just another piece of paper, even if it does entitle you to some legal rights. I heard him sing "Life's a show / and we all play our parts..." as we walked through the swirling crowds.
For those who don't get the reference, it's a song from the Buffy musical, and continues "And when the music starts / We open up our hearts." It's sung by a depressed Buffy who is disillusioned with being part of the "glittering" world in which people strive to be all they can be. It was an interesting choice, somewhat morbid. Oh sure, there are plenty of people who get unrealistically high on the prospect of Mardi Gras or whatever, but I prefer to focus on the positives.
Trying to find Toby Armstrong and the ute we had hired for the occasion, we headed the wrong way and found ourselves quite lost amongst the crowd of early revelling glbtis, which was a marvellous place to be. We got a brief sampler of the floats that were going to be before or after us, and the glamour that the crowds were yet to get a taste of.
Eventually we realised that Toby was hidden behind the giant Mature Age Gays bus right on the corner of Elizabeth and Oxford Streets, and made our way over. There must have been about 50 of us or more, almost all decked out in red, including a female Asian COFA student who had a wreath of red roses on her crown and looked absolutely gorgeous. Meanwhile, a girl had 'No, Mum, it's not just a "phase"' on the back of her red shirt. I could kind of sympathise, but I don't feel my parents' denial is pressing enough to inscribe upon my clothing.
I'm not a big fan of red, but I was wearing a thin and elegant red polo with black velvety trousers. I even put red lipstick on, which I haven't done for ages, I'm pleased to say. I also lined the outer corners of my eyes with my eyebrow pencil before I left, and stopped there. By the end of the day, though, I had other people's glitter all over my body (even the parts of it that hadn't been exposed, believe it or not)!
Anyway, a group of females were involved in a collective effort to paint a guy in red with black swirls, while the rest of the group ate or danced to 'Don't Hold Back' by the Potbelliez.
We were positioned right in front of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), and I thought it would be interesting to chat to someone from the float. I selected a hazel-eyed woman who informed me that her son was on the Anal Float, which was campaigning for the legalisation of anal sex in parts of the world where it is currently not allowed. They had a giant globe of the world as a visual aid. This woman had a lot of assumptions to throw at me, however, one of which was repeating her son's insistence that the student float was there 'just in case', 'If all else fails'. Now, I could have marched with the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, but I opted to march with the students because I thought it would be more fun and I would strengthen my friendships with a number of people from USyd, not to mention meet new people from different universities. My favourite assumption was that I was OBVIOUSLY not Australian. Ha, think again, lady! I'm part of that fabulous Australian diversity, so question before you assume. I decided that I had had enough of this after a few minutes and returned to my float.
One by one, the floats started to set off... the dykes on bikes went first, as per tradition, and as usual there was a remarkable diversity in the women. There were tattooed and pierced participants, and very girly and feminine ones too... some of the girls had their breasts revealed, and most of them has rainbow flags stuck to the bikes. For the first time it seemed that men were allowed to participate too. Perhaps these were men who identified as lesbians? It wouldn't surprise me- anything goes in the Sydney G&L Mardi Gras! I saw the Dykes on Bikes truck near Fox Studios, and they had cutesy traffic signs like 'Not quite straight' for curvy roads. I seem to remember Asians with neon-coloured hair.
Then it was time for the religious and ethnic floats, of which there were plenty. Catholics, Metropolitan Church of Sydney members, Christians holding up white signs with blue writing asking 'Would Jesus discriminate?' and others proclaiming the holder 'Gay and Godly', Jewish lesbians and gays, and Middle Eastern participants, many of whom were sporting political messages. There were many more and I can't remember them all.
Then we had the Rainbow Labor float, and the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, who were co-ordinated with white T-shirts and 58'08 written in black and pink on them. Almost every member was holding a sign with a description of one of the 58 discriminatory laws in Australia on them. It was an excellent way to make their point, which is that there are 58 laws in the country which discriminate against same sex-attracted individuals, and we would like to see them all changed by the end of 2008. If you would like to send an email to the Attourney-General to help this cause, please visit Really Long Link (clickable link) to do so quickly and easily. The GLRL has provided the body of a text you can send, so you can either use that, customise it to suit your needs or create your own. Take action now!
I looked for my friend Andrew Carruthers amongst the GLRL-ers, but couldn't spot him.
There was the policepeople's float, the defense force's float, the fire brigade's float, and the mature age gays float in front of us, and then it was our time to go! We were all very excited as we sashayed, strolled and otherwise made our way up the street.
I decided to face the left-hand side of the street, as it held the most amount of people, and to pay close attention to the audience. The first part of Oxford Street was almost exclusively made up of Asians, which was very nice. They extended limbs towards us to wave or touch one of our own, and many had cameras with them. It was exhilerating to have so many people cheering at you at the same time, and I blew lots of kisses, yelled 'Happy Mardi Gras' whenever I thought my voice would be okay, waved the entire way through, and hugged about five or so giddy revellers.
A lady decided to give me a red rose half-way through and I was really happy about that. I'm keeping it in a water bottle in my room, and it brings a smile to my face every time I see it.
At several times during the parade the stimulation was quite intense and I couldn't believe it was happening (I had been living a very quiet lifestyle since coming back from Europe), and even though I was ever in search of more inspiration I had to admit to being pleasantly surprised by the experience. Everyone was in high spirits and celebrating the diversity of people around, a wonderful place to be it. If the crowd were like pieces of bread and we were like a sprawling, messy, uneven, sandwich filling, I was happy to be situated in the middle of this love-fe(a)st.
Now, as a spectator, you watch the paraders. As a participant, however, you watch the audience. It's a unique vantage point from where you can pick up everyone's motives. Some people were just accompanying their partners, and some were so insecure about their sexuality that they clung to their heterosexual partner as the fabulous people streamed by, stirring up excitement.
One Asian man standing next to a lamppost looked incredibly confused at the events taking place before him, like he had just awoken from a nap and was looking for someone in particular in the anarchic surge that was the parade (at least, that's my experience with the student float ;o) ).
Fortunately most people were genuinely excited and happy to be there, getting high off the paraders, opening their arms wide open for hugs and requesting kisses.
The parade continued up to Taylor Square, whereabouts the audience got less Asian, and where most of the cameras were stationed. I wonder if it was televised this year? I know that footage is available from several sources, including the official Mardi Gras website, but I haven't been in a position to watch any live streams from the Parade ever since I started going, about 8 years ago. I believe I saw an old Sydney Girls High acquaintance as one of the Parade Officials on Flinders Street. She looked thrilled, so good for her. I would have said Hi but apparently my apparel wasn't eye-catching enough what with all the much more creative costuming decisions around, and she deliberately didn't notice me. (Remind me to be a Parade Official next time - they get to see all of the floats while being able to stay on the float-ing side of the parade, and as such get to be both observers and participants.)
The crowds began to thin as we reached the Moore Park / Fox Studios Area, allowing me to lavish more attention to the fewer bystanders who were nearly cloaked in darkness.
I grabbed my bag from the back of the ute as we neared the entrance to the end of the parade, and started quizzing the others about whether they'd had a good time. Everyone was positive, except for a guy who was accusing another guy of being sexist, and a few complaints about shoes that went up from the drag queens. Poor things. You should be able to walk and look funky at the same time.
Overall, it was a very fun and enjoyable experience which I would recommend to everyone. Come and be part of the next Mardi Gras Parade in Sydney! You know you want to... ;o)
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Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
I used to watch the Brighton Pride which is MASSIVE in the UK and was always mesmerized by the costumes and detail that went into it. I`ll have to send you some pics sometime.
It was always an interesting day and everyone always had a good time.
Ash
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I went regularly in the late 80's/early 90's but haven't been for about 15 years. Few parties since have matched the sheer energy of revelers, really want to go to Rio someday.
Crazy, decadent good times at the after parties too...
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Daily Inspirations
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
Please send me pics of the Brighton Parade, I'd love to see them! I know, the costumes can be so exquisite, can't they? You should co-incide your next trip to Sydney with the Mardi Gras Parade, methinks! ;o)
Hey JD,
There were already people waiting for the official party at Fox Studios by the time the parade finished for us, and we were in the middle! There was still an hour or more to go until everyone spilled out into Moore Park.
I'd love to go to Rio myself. Right now I'd also like to catch the parade in Sitges, Spain (very close to Barcelona), where same-sex marriage and adoption is legal. It sounds like the perfect premise for a parade!