Fearless ‘78ers’ recall mayhem of first Sydney Mardi Gras
Less than a decade after the gay and lesbian community of New York City stood up to the police for the discrimination in their city, heralding the start of the modern gay liberation movement, Sydney joined the fight.
NSW
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It’s one of his clearest memories from the night, watching the mayhem around him as he crouched in a shopfront entrance with friends.
Ken Davis remembers seeing police beat people and dragging them away to paddy wagons. Huddling next to him was Diane Minnis, who had her leg in a plaster cast following a motorbike accident. And nearby was David Abello, who was trying to free lesbians being marched to the waiting paddy wagons.
These original 78ers, as they have come to be known, may not have known it then, but that first Sydney Mardi Gras on June 24, 1978 had become their Stonewall moment.
Less than a decade after the gay and lesbian community of New York City stood up to the police for the discrimination in their city, heralding the start of the modern gay liberation movement, Sydney had joined the fight.
The night that had started out full of laughter, dancing and crazy costumes publicly celebrating gay pride ended in more than 50 people arrested, several more injured and one man in hospital.
“We had never done anything like a march or demonstration in the night and the idea was that we would be dancing in the streets,” says Ken Davis, who helped form the Gay Solidarity Group that organised the first Mardi Gras.
“We were naive — we thought having a police permit to gather gave us some kind of protection.
“I was toward the front of the march in a country and western frock and I got alarmed when police started to move the truck at the front of the march faster and faster, I felt like we were running, not dancing.
“The police who came on duty that night seemed a lot more hostile. They had never had such a big bunch of gays and lesbians on the street like this before.”
Diane Minnis, who also helped organise the first march, says the initial crowd of around 500 swelled to well over 1000 as people from inside bars and nightclubs joined in.
“We were meant to stop at Pelican St (Darlinghurst) but the police hurried us along,” Minnis says.
“We had a truck with a sound system leading the parade and when the police grabbed the keys and tried to arrest the driver, it got heated. A group of lesbians tried to grab the driver back.
“The police intention was to stop the parade but there were shouts of, ‘To the Cross’ so people linked arms and marched up William St to Kings Cross. At the El Alamein fountain people were starting to disperse but the police had cordoned off all the side streets, essentially trapping people in.
“Police started grabbing people and throwing them into paddy wagons and others would come up and try to get them out of the paddy wagons.
“It was like a tug-of-war, people hid under cars and tried to run.”
Abello says he tried to free women who were being dragged to paddy wagons by police.
“We were effectively outnumbered and trapped because police had closed off streets so we couldn’t disperse,” he recalls.
By midnight, 53 people had been arrested and protesters gathered outside Darlinghurst Police Station chanting and trying to get detainees access to lawyers and doctors.
On Monday morning as people gathered outside the courts in Liverpool St, police made more arrests.
The Drop the Charges campaign began and it gathered pace quickly, and not just with support from the gay, lesbian and trans community.
Civil liberties and political groups became alarmed at what appeared an inability to protest peacefully and the precedent these arrests set.
Most charges were dropped by April 1979, thanks to the campaign.
Minnis says the real legacy of that first Mardi Gras went much further.
In May 1979 the Summary Offences Act of NSW, which is what police used to arrest people who attended protests and showed same-sex affection in public, was repealed.
In 1982 an amendment to the Anti-Discrimination Act made it unlawful to discriminate against someone on the basis of homosexuality and in 1984 the Crimes Act was amended to decriminalise sexual acts between consenting adult males.
The second Mardi Gras parade in June 1979 drew a crowd of 5000 with no arrests, clearing the path to make the event annual.
The 78ers will come together on the Thursday before Mardi Gras at a cocktail party hosted by Diageo Australia, a supporting partner of Sydney World Pride through its brands Johnnie Walker and Casamigos.
It will give original members a chance to reflect as they celebrate 45 years since the first parade.
“Today Mardi Gras symbolises something very broad about Sydney, it’s about openness, diversity and acceptance, not just about being queer,” Davis says.
For Abello, the reflection is a lot more personal.
“I will be thinking of my 32-year-old son, Reuben, and my partner David, who has been with me since 1981,” he says. “And I look forward to the wellwishing crowd, it can be quite moving at times.”
Minnis adds: “(The 78ers) are very honoured to be leading the parade this year behind the First Nations float,” she says. “It’s overwhelming to get all the thank yous from people as you march, it’s such an honour.”
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