Mardi Gras’ circle of love
Mardi Gras today launched a new name, logo and community-wide proposition aimed at reinvigorating the 33-year-old event and present it as a city-wide celebration of the power and the beauty of diversity.
In a parallel move, the organisation has changed its name back to Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras after almost 10 years as New Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras chairman Pete Urmson said the move to the old moniker is in recognition that the event and brand remains owned by the city’s gay and lesbian community as it endeavours to broaden its appeal.
“The Sydney Mardi Gras will always have its thumping gay heart that celebrates the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer communities, but Mardi Gras is now inviting those who share our positive message about the power and beauty of diversity to be part of our celebration,” Urmson said.
“We would love to see people who share our values, but who never thought they would be in the Parade, to approach us and share their ideas. There will always be room for a great float which will both entertain and bring people together.
“Our hope with this change is to turn Sydney Mardi Gras into an even bigger civic event – right up there with Rio and the world’s other great carnivals – to be enjoyed by everyone, but always remembered as being a gift to the city from its gay and lesbian community and a demonstration of our pride.”
As well as a return to the old name, the organisation has also launched a new season logo developed in conjunction with partner advertising agency Moon Communications Group.
Moon creative director Greg Logan said the logo speaks to Mardi Gras’ desire to inspire the world to love each other by celebrating the power and beauty of diversity.
“The logo is a universal symbol that connects with everyone in a different way,” he said.
“It symbolises all types of genders coming together and does not discriminate. Its symmetry indicates equality and people coming together to celebrate love.”
OPINION: Where to now for Mardi Gras?
Mardi Gras also announced a string of events and performers that will form the core of the 2012 festival, which runs February 12 – March 4, including RuPaul, D.E. Experience, Trevor Ashley and Sneaky Sound System.
This year’s Mardi Gras Festival boasts over 60 special events including iconic event favourites like the Parade, Fair Day and Harbour party.
One of the Mardi Gras Party headliners will be global drag superstar RuPaul, who has been immortalised not only in a wax portrait at Madame Tussaud’s Museum in Times Square, but also in several feature film roles and television shows.
Also appearing at the Party will be top UK performer Jonathan Hellyer, who will take us from the sublime to the ridiculous with his vastly popular cabaret act D.E. Experience.
Aussie dance music ensemble Sneaky Sound System promise a throbbing DJ set, with Miss Connie providing live vocals.
Partygoers can also expect performances from DJ Lady Miss Kier from iconic ’90s dance group Deee-Lite – think Groove Is In The Heart – as well as internationally acclaimed Londoners Horse Meat Disco.
The Australian premiere of Broadway hit The Temperamentals promises an intelligent, sexy and entertaining mix of politics, camp humour and emotional candour. Playwright Jon Marans tells the tale of two men who fell in love while forming America’s first gay rights organisation. This is a fascinating exploration of pre-Stonewall gay activism, in the early ’50s in the US, when ‘temperamental’ was a code for ‘homosexual’.
Fresh from his role as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray The Musical, Trevor Ashley turns his formidable talent to channelling the one and only Dame Shirley Bassey, in the spectacular two-act show Diamonds are for Trevor.
The world’s greatest exponents of cabaret, new burlesque, circus sideshow and vaudeville will transform the Sydney Opera House Studio into a lush salon, as the stars of La Clique dish up pure old-fashioned showmanship in the not-to-bemissed La Soirée.
A sell-out smash at the Adelaide Festival, Britney Spears: The Cabaret pays tribute to the car-crash-slash-pop-princess extraordinaire. Not so much a cabaret as a cry for help, the critically acclaimed show takes a satirical look at the perils of fame, with La Spears’ hits transformed into cabaret, seamlessly telling the tragic/comic tale of her life.
Cheesy serenades and camp camaraderie abound in Bob Downe’s Retro-gras Tea Dance, as Australia’s very own Clown Prince of Polyester is joined onstage by a range of special guests, for a hilarious Sunday afternoon of retro dancing, upstairs at the Beresford Hotel.
Queer Thinking speakers this year will include Professor Sara Ahmed from Goldsmith’s University of London, artist Gary Carsley and queer Muslim lawyer and social justice activist Alyena Mohummadally.
Hats Off! will return to showcase a star line-up of Australian musical theatre, comedy, dance and cabaret performers, all donating their time and talent to raise funds for HIV-related charities.
The Mardi Gras Festival Bar will return to the Oxford Hotel with a packed program of performers, big name DJs, comedy and some of our favourite community events – including Mega Furry Friday, when the Bears take over all four floors; Mega Buzz; Swagger; Hot Rod; Dog Tag; and Burlesque – plus Underground with Sydney Leather Pride.
The Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival will also return, there will be a visual arts program, the Team Sydney sports festival and a range of events for young people including a Queer Prom to celebrate Twenty10’s 30th birthday.
INFO: To view the full program for the Mardi Gras Festival 2012, go to www.mardigras.org.au/events
[polldaddy poll=5681134]
I looked up how to set up one of these PollDaddy polls- There is a setting / flag / tickbox in the Poll settings to say “Block Repeat Votes” – that box needs to be ticked in the settings & the Poll reset from scratch & start again.
ED: David, the poll only registers the one vote, no matter how many times clicked.
The reader poll is faulty- as it lets you vote multiple times- I can imagine the entire board of NMG have been awake all night pressing vote Yes button all night! Again, they clinging to a bad decision & their supporters on the attack on Facebook to anyone who questions it, with DIVISIVE comments such as “but how would Intersex people feel”, or out of touch comments such as “now we getting equal rights we can water down our culture”. Well, we don’t have equal rights yet- and even when we do, we still have our IDENTITY & CULTURE to celebrate- again it’s like the ChinaTown being remamed to “Town” cause they thought they shouldn’t be highlighting their differences now Chinese are fully accepted. But being Chinese is in their DNA, and 10% of Australians have gay & lesbian in their DNA, (& we are inclusive of the 0.05% of Intersex too in our Parade, and Bi, and Trans, and Bears, and Fetish, etc, etc). But we DON’T have equal rights yet…. and when we DO, we STILL need to celebrate our gay & lesbian IDENTITY and gay & lesbian CULTURE. Like I said before, happy to call it the Sydney Queer Mardi Gras, but if it ain’t broke…but don’t take out any words that refer to us at all!! Fred Nile, Peter Madden, & the Australian Christian Extremist Lobby will be cheering! (and that sudden emphasis on “presented by” ass covering exercise just shows how pig headed the board are in persisting with this & are not going to give up or listen until they are continually smashed with a sledge hammer over an ugly & protracted next few months or more till they finally get the point & really listen.
The number of letters – B,Q,I,T, – sounded like a parody. Each year brought a new one. This is the inevitable result.
There has been a lot of passionate discussion today about the new Mardi Gras brand and specifically the decision to rename the event ‘Sydney Mardi Gras’. As a proud (gay) member of gen Y, I am so grateful of the 78ers and all those before us for getting us to the point we are today. This rebrand is a testament to all that has been achieved and I believe we should be celebrating!
Celebrating the fact that ‘Mardi Gras’ is a globally recognised event synonymous with gay, lesbian, transgender, queer, bisexual, intersex or however else you choose to identify yourself. Broadening the name to make it more inclusive is not going to change that identity;
Celebrating the fact that our generation doesn’t feel the need to expressly identify ourselves by our sexuality, but rather that we view our sexuality as being just one component of our identity;
Celebrating the fact that many of us, thanks to our predecessors, have equal acceptance and are even embraced by our families, friends and colleagues;
Celebrating the fact that we are so close to being able to marry the person that we love; and
Celebrting the fact that every day we are closer to the equality that has been fought so hard for. And the only way to have true equality is through inclusiveness. So long as we continue to impose exclusive labels on ourselves such as ‘gay and lesbian’, ‘GLBTQI’ or any other label we perpetuate a ‘them and us’ culture under which true equality will never be achieved.
Giving yourself a nick name does not change who you are – the living, breathing soul and personality of Mardi Gras is made up of the people within our community and it is and always will be GLBTQI. So too will the press coverage and footage broadcast around the world.
It’s time to be the bigger person, to forgive and invite the broader community to unite with us in our quest for equality, remembering that the people we are talking about are our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents and friends.
The vision is equality – now is our time to lead by example.
So, Sydney Star Observer, you are seeking to learn the community’s opinion with your poll question: “Should ‘gay and lesbian’ be removed from the Mardi Gras logo?” If that is so why is it giving a “no” response along a with a loaded judgment about why you would give such a “no” response? As in the phrase: “No, it’s about history.” To me it’s also about present circumstances. That is such a manipulative piece of poll questioning.
But, wait there is more to say about your coverage today. You have only missed the story completely that was on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald. You mention a number of things that were announced by Peter Urmson on that occasion but not the key thing, the thing that is so obviously the big story here, the thing your loaded polling is about. Of course that’s the changing of the event’s name to “Sydney Mardi Gras”. Why have you done that? It is an extraordinary slip, please correct this ASAP. (along with the loaded polling of the same issue you failed to adequately report) People’s reactions here and elsewhere online show the decision is hugely controversial in the Gay and Lesbian communities. If you have an opinion as journalists you have ways of expressing what that is without it getting in the way of reporting the basic and simple facts adequately.
Both your “polling” and “reporting” are doing their best to get in the way of the community making and expressing informed opinions over the issue. Many of your readers will understand this and want to understand what is going on at the SSO. Corrections and apologies are necessary for such big drops in editorial standards.
Why is it happening?
The parade didn’t start as a statement of gay rights. That’s a misconception that many state – but it’s not true.
From http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/sydney-mardi-gras-relaunches-itself/story-e6frfku0-1226198084835
“Mr Austin, who led the first “raggle-taggle group” down Oxford Street in 1978, said he hoped the parade could glam it up, get creative and celebrate.
“Mardi Gras didn’t start off as a demonstration. It started off as a celebration,” the 82-year-old told AAP.
“It was hilarious and in a way it was horrendous,” he said referring to the arrest of more than 50 men and women in the first parade.
“But it was a celebration and it was about showing the wider community that those people that we have been denigrating are just like us.”
The Pride History group has also documented this quite well.
Do they also suggest changing the name of the “Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir” to the “Sydney Choir”?
Another excuse they are clinging to is being worried about not offending Intersex people (after some high profile intersex & non-gender activists’ publicity the last couple of years). Intersex are 0.05% of the population, yet gays/lesbians are 10%, or 2.2mil Australians. Intersex, Bi, Trans people have always been represented in the parade without naming rights. Do we need to add naming rights for Bears, Fetish people, etc etc in the name? All this excuse does is divides our community, ruining something that worked for 33 years. The only alternative would be to call it the Sydney Queer Mardi Gras or the Sydney GLBTIQ Mardi Gras- that would suit me fine… anything but drop ALL same-sex references. The dropping of any word that describes any part of our community, let alone the largest part is only going to make Fred Nile very happy. Definately it’s like calling ChinaTown just “Town”- it is stripping us of our core culture, firstly in name, then perhaps in 2014 in more ways as watering down the name opens the flood gates for a slipery slope of unforseen repercussions.
This divisive hand grenade that has been thrown into our community could not have come at a worse time when we should be united standing up for equal rights at the upcoming Labor conference for equal marriage. Even when we reach FULL equality, we will still have our gay & lesbian CULTURE. It’s a culture we should still celebrate & call by name. It’s like the Italian Festival in Norton Street- would they rename it to just the “Festival in Norton Street”? Gaining equal rights does not mean we give up on our CULTURE!, something NMG doesn’t understand as they cling to excuse after excuse, instead of getting to work on reversing their decision. Lets not wait 10mths for them to get the message this time, reverse it first thing Monday.
As a 78er… I am torn. I marched in 1978 to give us a voice, I got beaten to give us a place, we made the IDGS, then SGMG, then SGLMG a force to be reckoned with and a voice for us which has become one of the most recognisable on the planet. I lamented when the name originally changed, but I lived with it as it seemed to promote more facets of (specifically the Lesbian Community whom had felt somewhat disenfranchised at the time). When the Festival added to their credo, the tenets of GLBTQI (the so-called alphabet soup) inclusion, I applauded even more as it seemed to become more inclusive. It worked with many ‘hidden’ people in the community whom had been overtly ignored: Transgenders, Bisexuals, Queers, and many of fluid sexual identity whom did not fit into the so called ‘norm’. Now, we become (as was publicly predicted by me at the EGM at Oxford Square all those years ago) the “Sydney Mardi Gras” – with NO Festival/Parade identity except something which is more sponsor-friendly and mainstream-agreeable. Oh yes, the symbol is a stylised version of the butterfly logo from our original IDGS identity, and our first march, but who will know in 3-5 years? Those who have abhorred the ‘Gay’ identity of our Festival are rejoicing, Fred Nile is smiling, and those who made this all possible are simply …..disappointed.
‘As someone who was at the first Mardi Gras in 1978 I am completely shocked that an event that was held in the name of gay solidarity, and included us all chanting ‘stop police attacks on gays, women and blacks’ prior to so many of us being brutally bashed and arrested that night seems to have been effectively ‘de-gayed’ by removing these words from the parade title. I had thought that Mardi Gras was actually becoming more inclusive, not less, and if anything it should be the GLBTI / Queer Mardi Gras Parade in this day and age, surely.
No one can seriously think that our elders and youth, who continue to suffer fear of discrimination, bullying and persecution to the point of considering or committing suicide, have nothing left to fight for and no longer need clear, specific, mainstream visibility. We all do. The struggle is far from over.
I wondered last week, when I saw the 1978 and 1979 posters being used by Mardi Gras on their new ‘through the ages’ poster and as their profile picture on Facebook, whether something similar to the butterfly might be the new symbol – a tribute to the first events, to the 78ers, and to the designer of those posters. To me the new symbol is not just two hearts, to my eyes it is an immediately apparent direct reference to that butterfly on our first two posters, and it needs to be acknowledged as such and the designer of that beautiful original image credited for that.
Hopefully Mardi Gras will reverse this decision that erases its true history, consult with 78ers about the way forward, and embrace rather than alienate large parts of the GLBTIQ community’.
Jo Harrison
78er.
What is this vote? Shame on the Star Observer.
No…but not because “it’s about history”. That’s fucking lame, and essentially the same excuse the right/family/conservative lobby use to justify not supporting gay marriage. No, because it’s about identity and being proud of it.
lame lame lame.
@Jack – As someone who attended all the Mardi Gras consultations, followed the issue in the GLBT media, and received all the invitations to take part in discussions on the future of Mardi Gras, you can probably answer this question – When exactly did the New Mardi Gras Board explicitly say “We’re thinking of dropping the words “gay and lesbian” from Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, we’re thinking of changing the names of the Parade, Party, Festival, Fair Day – the whole Mardi Gras season to the Sydney Mardi Gras – what do you think?
Which consultation was it? Which GLBT media reported this? Did the Board email or write to all its members explicitly asking them whether they agreed with the change? They certainly didn’t seek the members support by putting it to a vote at a general meeting.
My point is that a change as profound as this shouldn’t be made at the very least without the people who created and built Mardi Gras, the lesbian and gay volunteers and parade participants who ensure it happens every year, and the broader GLBT community having a chance to express their view. A profound change such as this should be carefully considered, tested, discussed and debated.
What is particularly sad is that 10 years ago, at least one person who is a party to this decision would have agreed with me, and would have been outraged if this had’ve been attempted in the same way back then.
This is not a whinge. It is a lament for a lack of courtesy, respect and basic community democracy.
The day we have full equality, can get married, live where and how we choose without fear THEN we can change the name to sydney mardi gras. Until that day comes we need those words ‘gay and lesbian’ in the title.
Such a sad day/week! So would the MG board like us all to go back into the closet and start wearing beige? I too add my distaste to the dropping of Gay and Lesbian from the logo name… and hey I have only spent 20 odd years fighting for my rights. My Cv of fighting for our rights include..Media.. BrotherSister, MCV, MSO, SSO… community orgs; ACT Up, Midsumma Board member, ALSO foundation parties and directory, almost every political rally in Melbourne over the last 20 yrs… so many night clubs parties were yes straight people were welcome, but it was a gay space and if two boys were having a good time in the girls loos and a straight girl complained, she was asked to leave! FFS… I can not believe that MG seems to be making a play to make the not gay or lesbian people feel welcome..you always were as long as you understood it is our space… not made to make a PFLAG member feel comfortable… it was OUR space to feel comfortable..as a PFLAG member can feel safe in the street not a GAY person….arr so angry! Oh and peep’s her is an insite… Tourisms NSW (apparently) tried to stop gay owned non NEW business from being a fair day on a few occasion… just ask any gay small tourism business owner from tassie!
Now the Mardi Gras organisers on Facebook are latching onto blaming the smh headline as being the problem “re going straight”. We are not dummies- of course the headline is sensationalist- I’m more concerned about simply te dropping of the words Gay & Lesbian. Going on about the headline is more wasted time that the organisers still don’t get the point… simply the decision needs to be reversed ASAP ! I noticed they’ve reversed their display name of their Facebook back- the sight of it yesterday without the words is still burned into my memory. Now get to it & change the Event name back- and NOT via “SGLMG present’s”. Phleeeze- just admit you’re wrong & fix it immediately. Don’t persist with excuses, delays, tricks, window dressing, & head in the sand, then in 10months time due a survey & then finally admit you’re wrong – admit it NOW!!!
I think this is a really positive message from Mardi Gras and says really good things about their attitude towards non-typical community members and people who are BTQIs. Who isn’t aware that Mardi Gras is gay and lesbian? Are they living on the Moon? It’s not the words that make the difference it’s the events and what we do in them. Better floats, smarter messages and more humour please. I think Mardi Gras have done the right thing in focusing on inclusion and diversity, because it’s not 78 any more, things have moved on. All credit to those from that time, but if you insist that things can never change then the event’s destined to a slow death. Surely that’s not what we want??
Can I be honest, I am glad that the alphabet soup os LGBTIQ has gone – I mean that was a mouthful even without saying what it stand for!!
Secondly I am in two frames of mind about this change. It is upsetting to see “Gay and Lesbian” dropped from the Mardi Gras name but at the same time things have changed and shifted somewhat. Just go down Oxford St and you will see what is happening. What was once the gay heart and hub of Sydney has changed and is continually becoming smaller and smaller.
Yes this could be a move to raise more dollars from corporate Australia but I don’t think it will ever loose its history or its core values. Looking at the survey on here people want the name change and remember they did consult with the community and the majority want it to be about inclusion, not exclusion.
Its a positive yet negative move but what would have happened if it continued down the same path? Would Sydney have lost Mardi Gras altogether? Maybe – perhaps. Looking at the last couple of years the parade as gotten smaller and smaller with less entries into the parade, at fair day and numerous other events. The gay community has changed and shifted in a huge way!
Look at grindr and all those other new dating applications. They have changed how most gay guys and gals meet other people!! No longer is it about going to oxford st to meet new people, all you have to do it just touch your smartphone and get the app working and your on your way to hooking up or finding love or new friends!!
Also how many of us say “hey are you going to Mardi Gras??” or “I was in Mardi Gras and it was awesome!!” we don’t ever say “hey are you going to Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras?” no one ever has said that to me unless I had to explain it to someone who didn’t know what it was about.
So its all about change and thats what happened within the LGBTIQ community! I think this could and maybe a positive move to become more inclusive and much bigger event than ever before because isn’t that what it’s all about at the end of the day – inclusiveness??
Much has been discussed today about the new direction for Mardi Gras.
For the record, the G&L is coming back to the name at the very front – it will be known as “Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras” presents…. “Sydney Mardi Gras”, “Fair Day” etc etc. We are no longer “New” but we certainly are run by the Gay & Lesbian communities first and foremost.
For the record, the Parade criteria has NOT been changed to let anyone participate. A proven commitment to our diverse communities is still very much essential. I would not support any dissolving of our current criteria nor has it been suggested at any briefing or meetings regarding the rebranding.
Our new message, your new message, is that we are leaders of showing the world that it really is about love and our right to love freely, openly and without restrictions – everyone, everywhere – NOW!
How YOU take that message and embrace it is up to YOU.
Please ensure the correct facts are used and feel free to cut and paste, or share, my comments as a Director of YOUR Mardi Gras.
The name change and removal of ‘Gay and Lesbian’ is so saddening. I have been marching for the last 4 years. Last year my parents joined me for the first time. They didn’t care that it was called ‘Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras’…for them that was the whole point. My parents marched to support their gay son.
There are still so many issues we face as a queer/gay community and now one of the best platforms to raise these issues has been destroyed. We are still fighting for same-sex marriage, against discrimination in our work places and places of worship. We are still campaigning for our transgender and intersex friends. We are still fighting to see ‘ex-gay’ programs shut down and for better healthcare. We are fighting against HIV/AIDS and believing for a cure. Most importantly, Mardi Gras was about us standing together and saying to the world that we are here and we are queer and we are not going away!!
makes me think do i want to bother going to parade and events if they remove the words gay and lesbian.
There’s something wrong with the reader poll- when I vote “No”, the “I don’t care” percentage goes up! Also- not good that it allows multiple votes- that should be blocked.
Anyway- latest on Facebook NMG page- they are now calling it “Sydney Mardi Gras, Presented By The Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras Organising Committee”. Phleeeze! I’m so trying not to be negative, but they now even blaming the smh for blowing out of proportion- the smh were just publishing their direct quotes & now they backflipping. They need to immediately fix this ASAP !!! Don’t persist with this worsening train wreck!
Now all we need are some heterosexual types to step forward and take over the planning and running of the event.
The parade started as a statement of gay rights, why remove it from the title. This is completely fucked
“Don’t be so negative – GET OVER IT!”
Get over what:
• The trashing of the organisation by the people who are running it for the sake of their egos and personal aggrandisement?
• The complete farce of a ‘community consultation process’?
Every single decision that ‘arose’ from those consultations was already decided beforehand. I sat in meetings where I and others were told what those decisions would be days before the ‘consultations’.
• The disenfranchisement of almost every long-serving volunteer and the shunting aside of those who won’t leave or ’play nice’?
The defection of all of the Volunteers from Area 2 in the Parade this year and the promotion of people with almost no skills or experience to significant positions within Parade while overlooking or ignoring people who had demonstrated both commitment to the goals of the organisation and more importantly the skills required.
• The continual misinformation put out by the organisation for the last 4 years about the finances and other organisational errors?
Some of these include the laughable ‘booking oversight’, ‘a strategic decision to separate Parade and Party’, ‘a small loss/possibly even a small profit ($400K isn’t small).
• The elimination of the words Gay & Lesbian from the events of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival?
“The current chair and board have done more to re-invent and improve our festival and consult our community in the process than anyone ever has.“
• The Current Chair and Board are yet to deliver anything but losses (the last profit the organisation made was under the Chairmanship of Nick Parker).
• The current Chair and almost all Board members weren’t even on the Board when the last profit was delivered and Mr Urmson has served less than two years as a Board Member in ANY capacity.
“All this whilst facing challenging financial conditions and cynical people like yourselves who moan and bitch about what they ‘should/should not’ do. “
I think that I have more than earned my right to be cynical:
• I marched in the Parade for almost 10 years.
• I volunteered for almost a decade after that.
• I was involved in close discussions about the direction of the organisation with the current Chair (when he was a Board Member and after he became Co-Chair).
• I had detailed discussions with the former CEO and her replacement on separate occasions detailing what I and the people I represented were concerned about and feeling, as well as offering suggestions on how to help achieve those things and a commitment to work hard at it.
• I and others in those meetings were always assured by those individuals that they; agreed with our views, saw significant merit in the ideas proposed and would move heaven and earth to ‘fix things’. Each and every time they did none of the things that they had said they would.
“If you want to make a difference, then support our organisation and provide feedback at the forums they have opened up to us all.”
I will not support an organisation:
• That started in 1978 as a protest march for Gay & Lesbian Rights and now feels the need to remove the words Gay & Lesbian from the name of the Parade staged in commemoration of that Protest March.
• Which decides on behalf of the members (I still am one) with NO consultation to make what can only be described as the MOST radical decision the organisation has ever made and become something that invites ‘those who share our positive message about the power and beauty of diversity to be part of our celebration,’ It wasn’t and isn’t called ‘Sydney Diversity’, it is called the ‘Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras’.
• As for the forums ‘they have opened up for us all’, they always seem to be targeted at people who live and/or work in Darlinghurst or Paddington, who are available to provide input at 6:00pm on a week night and they always strangely enough arrive at the point that has been prepared beforehand.
“Don’t sit in your chair and chastise it!”
I have to sit in my chair and chastise it. It’s the only option I have left:
• I have spoken to them
• I have tried to work with them on affecting positive change
• I have worked my arse off for years as a volunteer
• I have continued to demonstrate my support over the last three years.
It is a bit like some of the organizers of Mardi Gras were dancing along the Yellow Brick Road, and stopped at the Wicked Witches House, eating some strange magic cookies.
I can live with the logo (normally seen on Target girls wear for the 1-6 age group, I used this sort of design lots of times in my textile designs days), but at least the logo should include what makes this Mardi Gras special, out of the hundreds of Mardi-Gras across Australia. It is not Moomba, or a Christmas Parade, it is not the Heyfield Mardi Gras or other country town Mardi Gras, it is an amazing event for the GLBTI community, and it should wear the history of the parade with pride.
What next? The Vodaphone Mardi Gras? I would presume we have been dropped from the title to make way for corporate sponsors. I would like to see a bit more of a return to the political roots of Mardi Gras.
Not being a Sydney person, it is very interesting to read all of the comments and the passion that people have about this subject!
I dont like seeing the negativity from the community about the changes to Sydney Mardi Gras. So here is my opinion. There are people out there who just dont identify as either Gay or Lesbian, and fall somewhere in between the BTIQ community…. They may not know what they are, but they know they are different, and we should not be excluding anyone from our supportive community. We should be offering to help these people by giving them a chance to find acceptance and love. There are new challenges ahead, and we will never forget the efforts from the past. This is not about forgetting, or ignoring – its about uniting, growing and including. Equality means we treat all people the same – isnt that what we have been fighting for? Alienating ourselves, undoes all the wonderful work we have done to make this country as accepting as it is today – but we need a united front to keep challenging the future. I applaud the changes, and I welcome the new message of infinite love. One last thing: Mardi Gras isnt the Gay government. They are a brand and a business that doesnt run on rainbows ans sequins. They cover the needs of many many different groups that make up the GLBTQI community – this new branding acknowledges that. Or would you prefer the Sydney Gay and Lesbian and Bisexual and Transgendered and Queer and Intersex Mardi Gras?
Why not just call it Sydney’s Pride Parade? Those in the community know what that means and others will soon learn.
A lot of overseas people currently think it’s just like New Orlean’s “Mardi Gras” and don’t get the “Pride” connection anyway.
Yeah, right they’ve registered the term “Mardi Gras” so what?
Can we please make this issue a poll question. I’d be quite eager to see the results of what people think.