Putting brand over principles

Putting brand over principles

The Herald headline said ‘Mardi Gras festival goes straight’. Should it surprise us? For years now, many people have wondered whether Mardi Gras had become more interested in selling its brand than promoting the principles for which it was founded.

But we have tolerated that because it still managed to provide our most significant and joyous celebration of gay and lesbian pride and sexual diversity, while simultaneously honouring all we have achieved.

Now Mardi Gras has decided to ditch ‘gay and lesbian’ – to be more ‘inclusive’. And they wonder why that immediately gets interpreted as ‘going straight’. The implication of their decision is that others cannot celebrate the achievements of the gay and lesbian communities and so, to make them feel more comfortable and included, we should not overtly acknowledge our various sexualities at all. Just some wishy-washy concept of ‘universal love’.

One justification for this decision is that terms like ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ are less relevant now – but where is the evidence for this claim? This same argument has been repeated ad nauseum for over 30 years, yet all the survey data show that most homosexual people still identify with these words, and they do so at similar rates to what they always have.

Of course, as social attitudes have changed, people have also changed how they use these terms. But that is not the same as saying they are no longer relevant in people’s lives.

Some Mardi Gras spokespeople have said this is about including heterosexuals, which begs the question why some heterosexual people are uncomfortable in celebrating gay and lesbian pride. If they are so uncomfortable then we need to make sure we publicly and loudly continue to celebrate our pride.

But if they are comfortable with celebrating it, then why do we need to hide it? They should feel perfectly relaxed in participating in our celebration – as so many of our true friends have through the years.

We should not sacrifice our history or our principles to make others feel more relaxed and included.

If this decision is about the idea that ‘gay and lesbian’ does not speak to our communities’ alphabet soup of identities then how does it help any of us, whatever our identity, to ditch any mention at all of our sexualities? Past arguments about whether bisexuals or trannies are sufficiently included are the same as more recent ones about intersex people. It has never been easy to resolve, but this current decision effectively makes us all invisible, whether marginalised or not.

Having an interminable debate about which letters of the alphabet soup should be included is way better than just handing over our most visible and effective celebration of pride in what we have achieved.

Without the words ‘gay and lesbian’, or any other of the alphabet soup, Mardi Gras will be just like any other city-wide celebration, with no more purpose than the Festival of Sydney.

By GARRETT PRESTAGE

INFO: Garrett Prestage is a Mardi Gras ‘78er and an Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales and La Trobe University.

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4 responses to “Putting brand over principles”

  1. The name of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras should not be changed, especially to PC name such as ‘Sydney Mardi Gras, until Australian LGBTI citizens have Equal Civil and Human Rights across the board in every State and Territory.

    The Sydney Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras is acknowledged as one of the worlds most significant Civil and Human Rights Protests. Historically the original march is recognised as a benchmark protest in the LGBTI Civil Rights Movement.

    Re-branding the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardis Grad with the PC title ‘Sydney Mardis Gras’ before Australian LGBTI citizens have Equal Civil and Human Rights completely contradicts and demeans the intention of the cause, insults the 78ers efforts, and diminishes the meaning of the protest and its history.

    The true weight of this issue does not lie within the frame work of marketing and advertising, the re-branding of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras raises a deeper issue: Cultural Assimilation.

    In a democracy that respects and honours Cultural Diversity and LGBTI Civil and Human Rights…
    What exactly is not inclusive about the definitions Gay, Lesbian and LGBTI?

  2. ‘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.

  3. Take away 3 words. Take away 33 proud years of history. Shame on Sydney (Gay and Lesbian) Mardi Gras.

    The S(GL)MG Board have taken away the most frequently-used, positively-portrayed, and socially-powerful use of the term “gay and lesbian” in the mainstream media – the reporting of the Sydney (Gay and Lesbian) Mardi Gras.

    For 33 years, we have fought for positive visibility in the mainstream media, and achieved it often because the media have had to use the term ‘gay and lesbian’ in reporting on the Sydney (Gay and Lesbian) Mardi Gras.

    Even major commercial organisations, as sponsors of Sydney (Gay and Lesbian) Mardi Gras had to make explicit their message of support to the gay and lesbian community.

    The current Board have thrown all that away.

    It is easy for us in the heart of our community to believe that a vigorous visibility is no longer needed – that acceptance has been achieved. But tolerance of the gay and lesbian community is lightly held outside of our small world, and easily lost in the face of continuing ignorance on the part of a much greater part of the Australian community. It’s been said in so many hundred ways… “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” And, in this context, “eternal visibility”

    Again, the current Board have sacrificed that visibility for some bizarre notion of palatable, short-term financial gain.

  4. Great move reclaiming the name Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, New Mardi Gras is no longer new.

    It’s a shame people (choose to) miss the point of reinvigoration and gretater investment in Parade and Party, our Mardi Gras.

    Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras is back, grab it and make it yours!! Celebrate being Gay!!!