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
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So, they change the name of the festival to make it more inclusive – because the Gay & Lesbian terms were putting some people off.
But then in the very same breath, they reclaim these 2 words and add them to the organisation name.
So now if the festival is all inclusive, can one assume that the organisation running it isn’t? Are they excluding Bi, Trans and Intersex (and all the others) at an organisational level?
There are so many contradictory messages coming out of SGLMG HQ that they really need resolve.
The logo doesn’t look cheap and tacky, it looks like exactly what it is: a deliberate decision to link Mardi Gras and gay/lesbian/queer whateverness to MARRIAGE, to coupledom. Yes, we really are just heterosexuals in disguise, all we want is a white picket fence with the little woman/man and two kids. What utter shite. The driving forces behind the early days of Mardi Gras must surely be turning in their graves or their nursing home beds over this loathesome sell-out.
Who cares just have a glass of champagne and DANCE !!
The logo is a bit cheap and tacky…like a “tramp stamp”. Oh, so I guess its appropriate.
Drew xx
David W. The only reason its called China Town in Sydney is because most of the businesses in the area of Haymarket are pre dominantly Chinese. The area has never been officially named China Town. The eastern suburbs has a higher Gay population but its not Gay Town.
….. and rename it “Town”.
Benedict- in addition to the “shortened name”, the board also said in their initial press release statements that they are also handing over the festival as “a gift to the city”. It’s more than the name change that they trying to slip through. Re-read even the article above.
Even when we get equal rights in civil marriage we will still have our own culture & identity that we shouldn’t “hand over”. Imagine ChinaTown saying they are going to “hand over” their strip & events to other “cultures” and spectators to redefine it.
the true meaning of Gay and Lesbian is in actual fact “Happy men and Deviant Women” Is it then so bad that they removed that? Why on earth would you have LGBTQI Mardi Gras? sounds like a large sandwhich. Regardless of the name change, the Gay community will always have something to gripe about. When a street festival comes to a point where it has half a million spectators it does not remain specific to a small minority any more. Of the half a million spectators, 95% are “straight” because I can guarantee you there aint half a million gays in Sydney.
They have not changed the company name at all. According to ASIC on line name search, it remains New Mardi Gras Ltd. This is just another one of those little lies that MG has a history of telling.
What concerns me more than the name itself, it the qualifications/experience/skills of the current board of directors. None of them have been on the board for more than a year or two, and in that time, MG has failed to make a profit, has cancelled Sleaze, and has run elections and consultations that are nothing more than a three ring circus. And of course now they have given themselves the mandate to remove Mardi Gras’s connection with the gay community.
I was a Fair Day Working Group volunteer in 2006 and at that time there were only two full time staff, Anna and Gordon, and a board led by Marcus that had long term members who knew what they were doing. Today they have a totally inexperienced board, a large number of paid staff, are shrinking the Mardi Gras program, losing money, and are quickly destroying what was built over 30-something years.
They should immediately call a meeting of the members to explain their reasoning for what they’ve done and seek endorsement. Or resign.
So people seem to be getting WAY too sensitive about the shorthand name of our festival. Especially since I was under the impression NMG had actually now inserted the words ‘gay and lesbian’ into it’s official title for the first time in a very long time. As for the shorthand name used – Sydney Mardi Gras – let’s look at other major LGBT festivals – London Pride, Brighton Pride, Midsumma even. None of these explicitly scream gay in thier names but no one would be in much doubt that when you see 100 men walking down a parade route hand in hand – be that Oxford Street or Piccadilly – that it was anything but. Mardi Gras, in most people’s eyes, means LGBT; do we really need to spell it out every single time?
Did Mardi Gras’ company name change occur in breach of it’s compliance duties with ASIC?
According to ASIC:
A company must convene a meeting of members and pass a special resolution to change its name. Unlisted companies must give at least 21 days notice of a meeting of members, listed companies must give at least 28 days notice—however, a company may call a meeting on shorter notice.
The special resolution must be passed by at least 75% of the votes cast by members entitled to vote on the resolution.
Now, I may be wrong, but going from some of the member comments, it would seem that this process has not happened, putting the organisation in breach.
If they have breached their legal compliance duties, then maybe they would like to correct the situation, and take the opportunity to change the event name back, in the process? Save a little face with the community, maybe?
This is a freebie to the growing ex-gay movement… the scalp of the ex-gay mardi gras!
To take gay and lesbian out of Mardi Gras is to rip the heart out of the organisation. Mardi Gras has never sought to exclude anyone and has reached out to other sexual minorities for many years. Mardi Gras is a celebration of gay/lesbian identity. Take that away and what is there to celebrate? Sure, things have changed and society accepts gay people in a way the 78ers could only have dreamed about. But guess what? We can celebrate the inclusive and diverse society we live in the other 51 weekends of the year. Just give us that one weekend to stand up and celebrate being gay whilst at the same time excluding nobody. A shocking decision, which Mardi Gras had no mandate to make. It is a total abdication of responsibility and is contemptuous of the people who have supported Mardi Gras through the years. If they truly want to make Mardi Gras a mainstream organisation for everyone, then let another organisation (eg Pride) re-emerge to step in its shoes to provide a platform to celebrate gay identity.
I am disappointed with the direction that has now been imposed on our Mardi Gras.
I think the committee has completely dishonored us by forgetting what Mardi Gras stands for at the fundemental level. That this is a celebration of what we have fought for and won over the years as GLBTs.
That is: sexual equality, anti vilification, equality in the workplace, and so on. The fight is not over we still do not have the right to marry our partners if we choose to. We are not fully accepted in many parts of the country as witnessed by bashings and gay hate crimes. We are not in many peoples eyes considered as equals to others, just look what is going on with the anti gay backlash in the US and parts of Europe..and dare I say it some areas of Australian cities.
The 78ers are no longer at the core of the movement.
I would be also fascinated to know how you are going to prevent hetersexual domination of the parade going forward? If you are going to be inclusive this means you are opening the doors to all without prejudice. How would you handle it when groups call foul when you prevent them from participating because of their corporate or social beliefs. You can see the headlines of the paper “ONLY INCLUSIVE FOR SOME !”
I am sorry I am very disappointed in the MG commitee and the decisions made to dishonor the community and culture that is LGBT in Sydney. I for one, who have never missed a MG (32 yrs) and have participated in over 20 will not be their next year.
So now this new corporate world of Mardi Gras is scared of using the word Gay or Lesbian, as it might offend Bob Katter and friends. He said we stole the word Gay, so now we cannot use it for fear of upsetting people like him.
On June 24th, 1978 a group of random people united by pride, took to the streets and marched at risk of being bashed by the police, and lengthy imprisonment. Many carried signs announcing their sexuality publicly. The audacity to stand up and be counted still inspires us to march, and we still see signs at protest, we publically declare our sexuality and demand the same rights as others. In the first march, many marchers were arrested and bashed, and the Sydney Morning Herald published the names of all those arrested to force employers to sack these people from jobs. The move to outsource government services to Church Businesses has resulted in us being openly excluded from thousands of jobs now in 2011. Things are moving backwards in some areas. The Victorian Liberal/National Party recently rolled back our protections; they use the words Gay and Lesbian to discriminate in the State Equal Opportunity Act. The licence to hate the words Gay and Lesbian is still with us. This is why I believe our parade should wear these words with pride. It still matters. The symbolic meaning of these words is at the heart of Mardi Gras, it is the foundation of the march, to stand up and be counted, and we should have these words held up with the same pride the original brave marchers had. Not hidden on some website to explain things as we were worried what Bob Katter or Jim Wallace would think. It needs to be out and proud. It is one of the few major public events that these words say we exist and we are proud to be ourselves.
The new corporate Vodaphone Mardi Gras has said about the change to drop us, it is for “…..the many who do not like to label themselves”. Like Bob Katter I guess. But what about the many who simply have no issue with their sexuality, like those who marched in 78, who are writing here disgusted. I happen to believe like many of the original marchers writing in, that the words that are used over and over to punish us, still matter, and should be worn with pride. What is next along this path? You cannot use these words in the floats? I mean what course is the parade now on if the organizers do not wish to offend people who have an issue with the word Gay or Lesbian?
I am sure the Board is well intended, but simply very misguided. Perhaps they should look back to the past and take into account the present, and then add a few very powerful words back to the event. The words that make this Mardi Gras special, out of the hundreds accross Australia. Wear it with pide.
Here is a link some of the old footage of that original march.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojf5Yg9sAnM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBPF5LuEArc
I’d prefer to keep “Gay and Lesbian” and drop out the BQIT (but happy for BQIT participation and support in the parade)
We should not panel-beat out our identity to accomodate other identities.
(And Queer is a political construct/theory, not an innate sexuality)
I have read through the comments, and can understand both sides of the debate. However, having a very good friend on the Board, I know how much he loves the community and what it stands for, and I know wholeheartedly the driver behind this change is NOT to disrespect the history of the parade and the hard-working activists pushing for legislation and societal change; is NOT to tone it down to make “Fred Nile and Christians happy”; is NOT to make it more sponsor friendly. I can honestly say it is because the whole essence of why he works so hard for this festival each year is that at its heart, the festival is about the right to be accepted and loved. Its what the gay and lesbian community fought so hard for, and then its why the friends and family of gay and lesbians joined the fight.
So I wouldn’t define the change of name as a ‘dropping’ of the ‘gay and lesbian’, but an opening up to all who love the community and want to celebrate it.
And the logo is genius. Not one person in these comments has noted that the design is also a take on the mathematical sign for infinity, ∞
It means ‘infinite love’ or what we are asking the world to feel about people who are ‘different’. It started as just for ‘gays’. Then for ‘gays and lesbians’. Then it added bi-sexual… then transgender, then more and more groups were included. The message this year is: we love you all, we are an example to the rest of the world of what love and inclusion means, learn from us! I think its a beautiful message, and is being interpreted in a manner that was not intended.
Debate is healthy and welcomed, but it is worth remembering that the changes came from a good place, even if you don’t agree with the change.
Steve we are not calling an Ipod an Ipod, we taking the identity and history away from a GLBTI celebration. There are many MP3 players, and many Mardi Gras across Australia, I went to one the other day, but there is only one Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Sure you and I know it, but why not spell it out for those who do not. What is the harm in acknowledging the history of the event? I have travelled to many countries and the people I have met know it by name, not as the New Orleans Mardi Gras, but the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. It is not the Maffra Mardi Gras is it? Keep the identity, grow it I say, make it strong. Sure we have some rights, and some rights we do not have. It is so nice to have a celebration with our name all over it. Just one Mardi Gras, out of all the others, that is ours and proud.
Well while we’re bemoaning the dropping of TWO WORDS off the title of the party, why don’t we go the whole hog and really differentiate ourselves…let’s all live in the ghetto, have sex with everyone and anyone, take drugs, not get married, not have kids, not grow up, hate girls, hate boys, shirk responsibility and all mince around like flighty feathery fags. Oh wait….that’s not who we are is it? We’re actually growing up as a community……maybe if we stop treating/thinking of ourselves like a hemmed in minority everyone else will too. Respect to those who fought for our rights. But didn’t you fight so one day we didn’t have to differentiate ourselves as being ‘outsiders, different and weird’?? Isn’t this the natural evolution of who we are. I know I’m gay, my friends and family know..and strangely, having “gay and lesbian” in the title of a party doesn’t change that. In fact, now my many straight friends feel more welcome and share the experience with me…in in doing so, learn more about me and the community then they did before.
As a 24 yr old gay man, what I knew as Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras lost its relevance for me. I support the new brand and identity. It has brought the meaning of Mardi Gras back. To me Mardi Gras is all about equality – it’s about the love we have for ourselves and for our community – that cute guy we met in the RHI – and for each other!
I am forever grateful for what the 78er’s fought for. But it’s 2011 – we have rights. The right to be whatever we choose to be – openly. We don’t need to fight for those rights anymore, we need to fight for equality. We need to be the voice for all those young people who don’t have one. For all who are too afraid to use theirs or those who don’t even know that they have one.
We need to put our egos aside and stop bickering over three words. We need to celebrate and share what we have with the WHOLE community. We need to include those who we ask to include us. We need to look them in the eye and yell “FUCK IT, WE’RE ALL FABULOUS!”
If there are 66 comments on this article, where have they all gone? There are only about a dozen showing here. Editor – is this an IT glitch or is it careful editing to change the ratio of readers’ comments? Your opinion poll questions are certainly slanted, a simple yes or no would have enabled a more realistic representation of readers’ opinions.
Ed: Sam, at the bottom of the comments there is a tab to ‘Older Comments’ – all you have to do is click on it and it will take you to the next page.
@Dave … you make the comment “What if we drop the word Ipod, and just call it an Apple Product?” … well, no – it’s the other way around. The word Apple is dropped and it’s called an iPod. Everyone knows it’s an Apple product.
Same with Mardi Gras. Look at the title of this article. In fact, look at your last paragraph “Mardi Gras is a flame of hope across our region”.
It works for me – it is what everyone calls it. When I travel overseas, people know about the Mardi Gras in Sydney – and they know it’s gay/camp/homosexual/outrageous/cheeky/bums/tits/colorful/proud – even non-LGBTQI people that are not hidding under a rock and know something about the world.
With you there Ben.
There was a huge outcry back in the late 80’s when Lesbian was added. The beginning of everyone wanting to be identified and as you say nearly every year a new letter is added.
Not against it you mind ! But just inevitable. Even the Intersex
community are having arguments.
But dropping out all reference to anything about the community is possibly a big mistake.
Maybe just have the GLBTIQ Community added to the posters and if a new letter is required just add to it. Of course most will end up not being able to tell you what each of those letters are for.
Seems the whole community is just breaking apart and solidarity as a whole no longer required.
I wonder how these smaller offshoot ? groups will get their voice heard ? I’ve seen some Intersex comments slamming the Gay community yet they come back to air their views.
If this is what the younger generation want then it has to go that way.
Well don’t we all like to whip each other up into a frenzy.
And how disgraceful so many of you think spewing out hysterical bile is mature, reasoned debate.
Let’s face facts, the notion of community has changed a lot over the last 33 years – and today we are faced with a very different community and a very different scene to what we have in the past.
Mardi Gras has, for a number of years now, struggled to make money because less of us go to its events (Sleaze, anyone???)
The community has bellowed for Mardi Gras to change, to be more inclusive, to be more representative for years.
Here, they attempt to do just that and still the community is not satisfied.
Are we all so blinded by rage (or should that be over-reaction?) that we cannot see the real logic here? At what point do we let go of this thirst for blood and start rationalising this?
Just like any event, business or organisaton, Mardi Gras costs money to run. That money doesn’t just appear in bank accounts from some generous gay fairy every year. That money is generated through ticket sales (remember, decreasing ticket sales because less of us are going), and sponsorship.
We screamed loudly about the level of sponsorship a couple of years back …. but still we didn’t go to enough events or parties to cover those costs.
We all gossip away about who might be performing at the party this year – we want Kylie, Madonna, GaGa, Rhianna, Katy Perry …….. the list goes on. These people also cost money to book, and we all know how we react when we think the ticket price is too high.
Businesses must grow and adapt as the world changes – and change is a constantly moving goal post. Mardi Gras is no different – and make no mistake, it is a business.
While I can appreciate those among us who fear the festival name change (note, not the organisation which is now Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, not new Mardi Gras) may not provide a blatantly obvious nod the event’s history, I’d argue that Mardi Gras in Sydney is already globally recognised as a LGBTI event and will always hold that identity. You don’t need to be slapped in the face with history to know it.
So I would encourage people to stop and think rationally about this for a second, and while it may be difficult, put your emotions aside.
Mardi Gras cannot step forward to evolve, grow and remain relevant if we continually expect it to keep one foot firmly planted in the past. Because if we continue to insist on such a way of operating, then all we end up doing is spinning around in a circle, and that’s not going to lead us anywhere.
The organizers were caught taking magic cookies on the Yellow Brick Road, at the Wicked Witches House. We need to tell them to snap out of it, they are seeing a delusion, we need to help them get back onto the Yellow Brick Road.
If we are to be dropped and have the Vodaphone Mardi Gras in this new corporate wisdom of the Sydney Mardi Gras organizers, then how long before we have the Christian Lobby Mardi Gras? If they were the highest bidder they could take legal action if we said no! We have the word China in Chinatown, as the history of the area is worn with pride. It symbolises a unique identity, a rich and diverse culture. What if we drop the word Ipod, and just call it an Apple Product? Or Grindr is called Place to pick up on an Apple product? Imagine for a moment, no Grindr, Sydney, or Chinatown? “Sydney could be called Big City in NSW. What if we drop the word Leather from Leather Pride? Just call it Pride? What makes all these special, what gives them a unique identity?
Imagine for a moment the Optus Mardi Gras, yes? Well I would say no, as it is owned by the Singapore Government who currently has people in jail based on carrying out a homosexual act. Do you see where this corporate world of the new Mardi Gras is taking us? Far from the origins of Mardi Gras, when GLBTI people, their friends and supporters, marched with pride. I am not saying we cannot change; sure we can use the words gay and lesbian, and evolve that to GLBTI or GLBTIQ. Such changes would be a welcome platform for community discussion across Australia. Mardi Gras is so much more then Vodaphone Mardi Gras. We are losing something special, something that makes our parade unique in name and celebration, its identity.
Yes the Mardi Gras is in Sydney and? Of the hundreds of Mardi Gras around what makes this one different? Mardi Gras is a flame of hope across our region that sees homosexuality a criminal offence in many countries. I have to ask, why put out that flame that has burnt so bright for so many years?
The Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras need our help to save it!
Shelley Argent, from PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), however have welcomed the changes.
“The renewed focus on inclusion will help me encourage more parents to play a part in the parade,” Argent said.
If the parents she talks about were uncomfortable playing a part in the parade because it contained the words gay and lesbian, then she’ll need to advocate that PFLAG change its name and reason for being too I guess? What happened to honouring the very reason for PFLAG’s existence, Shelley?
http://www.pflagaustralia.org.au/default.aspx
Why does PFLAG exist?
In Australia today, there are many parents with homosexual children. These children, and often their families are victims of social, political and economic prejudice. Gay persons in many communities are affected by discrimination in theirpursuit of happiness and in striving to live their lives with openness and dignity. Homosexuals are not the only ones touched by this discrimination. It also touches their friends and families. We as parents, families and friends of lesbians and gays wish to join together to appeal to the public conscience. We want to achieve the same rights and opportunities for our gay sons and lesbian daughters as are enjoyed by other Australians. As proud parents of gay people, our lives have been enriched by reaching an understanding and acceptance of our gay children and embracing their diversity. It is our goal to bring this understanding and acceptance of diversity to the community.
There’s a whole lot of mentions of gay and lesbian there Shelley, may need to change that …..
“the rise of the determined and dangerous teaching of homosexuality.”
http://www.petermadden.com.au/media-releases/228-gay-brainwashing-could-it-happen-here.html
This quote from Sydney politician who fought to ban the “gay mardi gras” at the March 2011 election THIS YEAR. Here is a story on his “war on gay mardi gras”.
http://m.samesame.com.au/news/local/6345/Christian-Democrats-declare-war-on-Mardi-Gras.htm
Remember this was THIS YEAR. We NEED to keep the words gay & lesbian.
The board can admit they made a mistake & immediately say they’ll change it back, either now, or for 2013 if everythings already gone to the printers, & I would be happy with that- as long as they immediately committed to changing it back no later than 2013. But the reason I’m getting more stressed & angry by the minute is because instead they are doing the same thing they did with the parade/party a week apart fiasco- they are rolling out every excuse under the sun apart from admitting they made a mistake & trying to fix it. Only thing is this time it’s WORSE than just the party being on a different week to the parade, this is worse- removing the very identity of gay & lesbian at a time when we are under attack more than ever. Even when we win full marriage rights, we still need to celebrate our gay & lesbian culture- imagine the “Italian Film Festival” being renamed “Film Festival”