By Andrew Taylor
A new venue and smaller crowds did not dampen the enthusiasm of spectators and participants attending this year’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras - despite its move away from Oxford Street because of COVID-19 restrictions.
The Sydney Cricket Ground was a sea of rainbow flags, sequins, hot pants and impossibly high heels as thousands of spectators streamed into the venue.
Rita Ora takes charge at the SCG.Credit:Steven Saphore
With plenty of empty seats in the upper parts of the grandstands, the venue lacked the heaving atmosphere of the traditional street parade, but the thumping sound system made up for an at times subdued audience.
The hallowed turf was turned into a dazzling nightclub as Rita Ora, dressed in a glittering blue leotard and thigh high boots, strutted around the ground performing her dance floor anthems.
Earlier, announcements encouraging people to remain seated were ignored as spectators danced, waved rainbow flags and cheered on marchers.
The colour and the glamour!Credit:Steven Saphore
Four people were arrested after they entered the pitch during the parade, police said. They were fined $165 each and ordered to leave.
“The main issue for police was preventing anti-social behaviour and ensuring COVID-19 safety protocols were maintained,” Assistant Police Commissioner Gelina Talbot said.
Politicians of all stripes made appearances. Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore and independent MP Alex Greenwich marched around the SCG followed by a phalanx of acolytes.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro made an unexpected appearance, with an effigy of his head in a barrel pushed by a pig.
The ANZ, law firm MinterEllison and Woolworths were among a small group of corporate entries.
Despite efforts to ban police from Mardi Gras, a group of rainbow-flag waving cops was given a rousing cheer from spectators.
Sydney’s Mayor Clover Moore, bottom right, marches in the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade.Credit:AP
But the police did not have it all their own way. Protesters dressed as cricket umpires and holding banners with the words “COPS OUT - HOWZAAAT!!! #BLM #’78” attempted to disrupt the parade when police and corrective services officers marched around the ground.
The SCG’s cricket pitch was covered in the Mardi Gras hearts logo and an Indigenous smoking ceremony and welcome to country was held ahead of the parade
The SCG’s boundary line was painted in rainbow colours, marking the path parade entries followed around the ground.
Arts Minister Don Harwin said the parade was the first pride event in 12 months. “This will be a Mardi Gras like no other,” he said
Jamarr Mills, from Emerald City Kickball, said marching around the SCG would be a different experience from the traditional parade along Oxford Street in Darlinghurst.
“But I think it’s still really important for us to celebrate our community and celebrate the progress we’ve made,” he said.
Mills and his fellow members of Emerald City Kickball were bare-chested and dressed in black leather, fishnets and wings to pay homage to two iconic Australian birds: the “bin chicken” and bush turkey.
They were around 5000 participants from more than 100 LGBTQI+ community groups marching around the SCG. There was also a live performance from Rita Ora during the parade, which is began at 6pm.
Dykes on Bikes take part in the 43rd Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras ParadeCredit:Steven Saphore
Excitement builds ahead of the 2021 Mardi Gras. Credit:Steven Saphore
Mardi Gras organisers in November announced that the parade would be held at the SCG instead of following its traditional route along Oxford Street in Darlinghurst because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Parade entries were limited to groups of 40 and floats were not be permitted on the SCG’s hallowed turf. Organisers were also forced to implement social distancing and other hygiene requirements to comply with COVID-19 restrictions.
The iconic Australian “bin chicken” was represented at Mardi Gras. Credit:Louie Douvis
The venue’s capacity was capped at 75 per cent, with about 33,000 people expected to attend compared to the crowds of more than 300,000 that watched last year’s Mardi Gras parade, held shortly before the COVID-19 lockdown in March.
Also marching were members of event organisers BiCONIC with costumes inspired by characters from a Lady Gaga music video.
Koranis (Micky) Weerachaiyong designed his own amazing outfit.Credit:Steven Sewert
“Despite the move from Oxford Street, we’re excited to get back together after what has been a challenging year,” said BiCONIC spokesperson Bree Mountain. “We know our community gains so much from being together.”
The First Nations parade entry featured 40 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBT mob from across the state, predominantly dressed in black leather in response to Black Lives Matter and the black panther movement.
Participants in the Trans Pride Australia entry rehearse ahead of the Mardi Gras parade.Credit:Edwina Pickles
“It’s a great diverse mix of all members of our rainbow and we’re really excited to showcase how beautiful, Blak and deadly everyone is,” she said.
Organiser Jane Strang said the parade entry was designed to highlight the 434 deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody and not one conviction since the 1991 royal commission.
“That’s what we’re trying to draw attention to,” she said. “And also around our brother boys, sistagirls and our trans mob.”
Strang said “some of the essence” of Mardi Gras had been lost by moving the parade from Oxford Street to the SCG and creating a ticketed event with corporate sponsorship.
“It’s moving a little too far away from where it began, as a riot and protest against all the injustices we face as queer people,” she said.
Dykes on Bikes parade around the SCG. Credit:Lisa Maree Williams
“As First Nations peoples, we face so many injustices on our own land as well as our facing discrimination based on our sexuality and gender.”
The Transpride entry ‘Live It Up’ featured 32 participants dressed in pink, white and blue - the colours of the trans flag - performing a routine to Eighties pop song The Only Way Is Up.
AJ Brown, president of Transpride Australia, said the entry was about self-empowerment and giving visibility to a group of people marginalised within the LGBTIQ+ community.
“Our trans and gender diverse history has been there all along,” Brown said. “Unfortunately it has not been as strongly represented as other letters of the rainbow.”
Brown said the participants were “all my kin” who come together once a year at Mardi Gras for an enormous family celebration.
Brown said they were initially hesitant about using the SCG, which they called a “white, colonial, male building”, as the venue for Mardi Gras, but the venue had upped its game by making its bathrooms genderless.
Meanwhile, LGBTQI rights protesters were given the green light to march down Oxford Street in a separate event before the parade. NSW health officials agreed to make an exception to the 500-person limit on public gatherings after organisers agreed to enhanced contact-tracing processes.
A protest on Oxford Street highlighted discrimination against LGBTQI+ , BLM and changes to the religious freedom discrimination bill. Credit:Rhett Wyman
The marchers were protesting against social issues, including transphobia, the mandatory detention of asylum-seekers and the criminalisation of sex work.
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Andrew Taylor is a Senior Reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.
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2021-03-06 10:17:32Z
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