This was published 8 months ago
The false eyelashes have been fixed, the props have been hot glued, and pieces of glitter have entered carpets within which they will remain for months as 12,000 marchers and hundreds of thousands of revellers take part in the 2024 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
Flick through the fabulousness in our gallery of snaps from the evening.
And, with that, the 2024 Sydney Mardi Gras is at an end!
A stream of fireworks shot up from Taylor Square as organisers began to pack down the barriers along Oxford Street and the crowd spilled out over the empty beer cans and – biodegradable – confetti left from the night’s festivities.
Long lines have immediately formed at takeaway restaurants and clubs with ticketed events, as revellers head to their next party destination.
Thanks for reading along with our live coverage. Don’t forget to check out our gallery of the night’s festivities, plus Michael Koziol’s report from Oxford Street.
with Amber Schultz
Throughout this evening there have been several tributes to Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, the two men who were well known in Sydney’s gay community and whose deaths have punctuated a week of discussions about police presence at Mardi Gras.
One tribute we missed here on our blog, however, was this gesture from the Sydney Swans.
Marchers with the AFL team’s float wore black armbands in honour of Baird, who was an AFL umpire, and his partner.
Sydney editor Michael Koziol was at the parade tonight and has reflected on how, amid grief and anger over the two men’s deaths, spirits still soared at the 2024 Mardi Gras.
While the crowd has started to thin, the energy remains high thanks to a series of larger floats bringing music and dance.
There have been roaming pole dancers and aerial acrobatics, while the gymnasts cartwheeled their way across the road.
Cartwheels on Oxford Street.Credit: Amber Schultz
Several groups are notable contenders for best choreography: W Hotels appeared to have a posse of professional dancers behind its float, while the Different Strokes Dragon Boat Club, dressed in silver shorts and bikinis, twirled light up rainbow tubes.
Meanwhile, gay water polo side the Sydney Stingers, dressed only in boots and budgie smugglers, were crowd favourites as they rushed to the barriers to cheers and wolf whistles.
Push-ups by the Surf Lifesavers group also had some of the crowd screaming.
Surf Lifesavers show off their push-ups at the Sydney Mardi Gras.Credit: Amber Schultz
We are at the tail end of the parade now, with only a handful of floats still yet to have their turn through Taylor Square.
Here are some of the groups which have marched, high-kicked and rolled their way down the route thus far.
Dancers high-kick down Oxford Street in the 2024 Mardi Gras parade.Credit: Jessica Hromas
Roller derby once again skated through the Mardi Gras march.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
The First Nations float led the marchers.Credit: Jessica Hromas
It’s the Timor-Leste Pride group's first time marching in the parade, and they’ve constructed a pushable Uma Lulik, a sacred house on stilts. The house represents the past and the future, with the homes symbolising a link between the dead and living and the ancestors and generations to come.
Behind them, the Angels of Gilli spread their wide, feathered wings. The angels travel across the globe along with the group, working as ambassadors to spread the word on LGBTQ+ rights and education.
The Timor-Leste Pride group on Oxford Street.Credit: Amber Schultz
Timor-Leste Pride members Amara Salgado, and Pepido Cadalack during the official launch yesterday in Sydney.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
Group organiser Nuno Carrascalao arrived in Australia as a refugee and quickly fell in love with Sydney’s gay scene in the ’80s.
“During the time there was so much backlash because of the AIDS pandemic, but attendance for the parade never dwindled,” he said.
“[The parade] allowed people to have a voice and visibility and to counteract negative media out there,” he said.
The wings and Uma Lulik will be sent to Timor-Leste for the country’s Pride Parade in June, where more wings will be built to be showcased around the world – including in Global Pride in Washington in 2025.
The NSW Police have arrived out of uniform to an overwhelmingly positive response. Crowds erupted with cheers for the police, who wore navy shirts with the colours of the pride flag in the police square-checked pattern.
They were flanked by clothed officers acting as security.
There are around 60 officers marching as originally intended. However, the group consisted of LGBTQ liaison officers, LGBTQ officers and their allies.
NSW Police march out of uniform at this year’s Mardi Gras.Credit: Amber Schultz
Mardi Gras requested that police not march in the parade earlier this week following anger in parts of the community over the alleged murder of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies by serving gay police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon.
On Wednesday, a deal was struck to allow police to attend out of uniform.
On Friday event co-chair Brandon Bear said there was space for police at the parade.
“We as an organisation are not going to tell people how to think or feel about things on the night but ... the safety of our participants in the parade and watching the parade is of paramount importance to us,” Bear said.
“We are working with not just the police but other emergency services who were there on the night supporting us as well to make sure that that experience is safe.”
NSW Premier Chris Minns has left the parade just as a group of pro-Palestine protesters entered the route ahead of his path.
Minns, the first sitting premier to take part in the parade, was ending his march with the Rainbow Labor contingent just before 9.30pm when the incident occurred outside the Oxford Hotel.
Police and protesters clash in an incident on the Mardi Gras route.
Carrying a banner reading “Queer Solidarity with Palestinian Resistance”, the group entered the parade. Some members were wearing keffiyeh, traditional Palestinian headscarves.
Green and red flares were released from the crowd, ahead of Rainbow Labor’s arrival.
Police forcibly removed the protesters from the parade route.
Minns had exited the route before the protest took place.
Correction: A previous version of this post said Minns left the parade due to the protest. It was, in fact, his intended exit point.
Drag Storytime has been a hot issue for local councils over the past few years, with some events cancelled to thwart planned protests.
Sydney’s Hills and Cumberland councils even recently passed motions to ban the drag storytimes at their libraries despite no evidence there had ever been an attempt to hold one.
Sydney drag queen The Fabulous Wonder Mama is one of about 20 performers and storytime hosts on the “Drag Storytime is Not a Crime” float, which is currently making its way along Oxford Street.
The Fabulous Wonder Mama at a Mardi Gras event on Friday.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
She said she struggled to understand the public backlash to the children’s activity.
“To be honest, I think the issue is just that it’s an LGBT performer that’s doing it. That’s where the fear comes in and that’s where the accusations come in,” she said, ahead of the parade.
“We typically read a book which might feature a queer character or focus on self-acceptance, but we also just read some fun kids stories that have got nothing to do with gender or anything like that.
“One of my favourites is called Kitchen Disco and it’s just about fruit coming alive and dancing in the kitchen.”
Swanning down Oxford Street on a giant storybook, the drag queens are carrying books with titles that they would like to see in the world, notably a “Story of Acceptance”.
The parade is approaching its halfway point but there is still about an hour of spectacle and sequins to come.
Here are some shots from our photographer, Flavio Brancaleone, on the ground.
More than 12,000 people took part in this year’s parade.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
Winged costumes at the 2024 Sydney Mardi Gras parade.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
The theme for this year’s parade was “Our Future”.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
Driving a “camp-her-van” painted neon pink, the Itty Bitty Titty Committee have created their own “Lesbie Land” world, filled with Lesbian Barbies or “Lesbies” adored in colour, sparkles and bold eye makeup.
Parade regulars the Itty Bitty Titty Committee have adopted a Barbie theme.Credit: Amber Schultz
Group member Elena Barry said the team was living by the movie’s mantra that “every night is girls’ night”.
The group is wearing matching pink boilersuits from the scene in the movie where the
Barbies vote to reinstate the matriarchy after the Kens take over.
“The film is incredible and Margot Robbie is a national icon,” Barry said, adding that the film served as a practical “jumping board” for some people who might have been scared of feminism to spur conversations.