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Sydney Events Mardi Gras Mardi Gras History
Mardi Gras History
Originally, the Parade was first organized on June 24, 1978 in memory of the Stonewall Riots that had begun on the same day of 1969 and continued for several days. The riots were a sequence of conflict between the gay and transgender community and the New York City police officers. It was a proclamation of their rights and their resistance to the police harassment meted out to their community.
The permission given to the organizers for holding such a protest was later revoked by the government and the march was broken up by the police. Many of the marchers were arrested by the police to be later on released having dropped the charges against them. However, the names of those arrested were brought to public notice by the media like the Sydney Morning Herald. As homosexuality was not socially accepted and was perceived as a crime in New South Wales then, many of these arrestees were ousted from their social circles and expelled from their employment at that time.
The event was reorganized in 1979 under a new name "Sydney Gay Mardi Gras," and again in 1980, and in 1981, the Parade was shifted to February. In 1988 the Parade was renamed again as the "Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras." Every year participants in the Parade from the gay community steadily increase as homosexuality becomes more and more socially accepted and today there are representatives from the government and the police as well as all other walks of life and from all corners of the world.
