Alita grew up worried she’d get bashed. At Mardi Gras, she’ll march with thousands

Trans woman Alita Morgan, 49, remembers growing up in La Perouse in Sydney’s eastern suburbs in the 1980s, in an era when gay men were ridiculed, bashed and pelted with rocks “like it was a sport”.

“The way people spoke to each other back then was atrocious. There was a lot of homophobia here.”

Keiron Brown, Sarah Martin, Alita Morgan, Aunty Barb Simms and Russell Weston will represent the LaPa Legends when the float debuts in Saturday’s Mardi Gras parade.Credit: Janie Barrett

Morgan, a Yorta Yorta woman who lives in Chester Hill, has revisited La Perouse to join LGBTQ community members and their allies, who have links to the area’s Aboriginal population, as they prepare to debut the LaPa Legends float in Saturday’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade.

“To come back and connect with everyone doing this float for the first time has been healing in a way. I think things have changed, definitely. Because I remember the homophobia from the ’80s, I know how important it is for the young ones to see that it’s OK to be you,” Morgan said.

Hundreds of thousands of spectators are expected to crowd Oxford Street, Flinders Street and Anzac Parade to watch more than 10,000 marchers and 180 floats move from Hyde Park to Moore Park.

The theme for the 47th annual parade is “free to be”.

Sydney Mardi Gras chief executive Gil Beckwith said it was a night to celebrate the “strength, beauty and resilience of our LGBTQIA+ communities”. She said the theme was a reminder of the importance of authenticity, visibility and the ongoing journey towards equality.

“While we have made incredible strides, there is still much more work to be done,” Beckwith said.

“The parade is both a celebration and a call to action, particularly as we watch from afar the rapidly shifting political climate across the world and, sadly, closer to home.”

About 50 members of the LaPa Legends will be in the costumed convoy. Kieron Brown, 36, will be among those donning black-and-white angel wings covered in glitter, capes painted with rainbows and shells, and adornments of red, black and yellow feathers to represent the Aboriginal flag.

Itty Bitty Titty Committee members Che Ritz, Patricia Therese Benedict Thomas and Jane O’Keefe will be among 10,000 people marching on Saturday night.Credit: Kate Geraghty

Brown, a Yuin man who lives in Matraville, said the costumes were designed to represent the “strength of the gay and Koori communities”. “You go through a lot of struggles being both.”

“This day and age, to come out in the Aboriginal community is much more accepted,” he said.

“I’ve noticed the Indigenous people and the LGBTIQ community are very similar, they’re fighting a lot of the same fights around equal rights. It will be amazing to be a part of all this for La Perouse.”

Brown is the Greens’ candidate for Kingsford Smith at this year’s federal election. His partner of more than a decade, Russell Weston, said the LaPa Legends’ debut appearance was “pretty deadly for the mob”.

The Fabulous Wonder Mama, pictured in Surry Hills on Friday. This year’s parade them is “free to be”. Credit: Kate Geraghty

Aunty Barb Simms, who was raised on the La Perouse Aboriginal Reserve and Mission at Frenchmans Bay, is among local elders who will join the float to signal their support.

“I think it’s about time this happened,” Simms said.

She recalls that the first two openly gay Aboriginal men who lived on the mission and reserve were “ridiculed and ostracised” in the 1960s.

“I see now, there’s more openness with it. There’s so much diversity out there.”

Morgan said having elders march alongside the LGBTQ community sent a message.

“I didn’t come out as trans until my mid- to late-20s. As a kid, I realised I liked men, so I thought I was gay. I thought if anyone ever knew, I’d be bashed, hated, all of that. You think you’ll never fit in.”

Simms said most members of the local Aboriginal population had family members and relatives who identified as part of the LGBTQ community, and it was important to recognise their dual challenges.

“It’s about accepting. I’m extremely proud to be with them and say, you don’t have to hide behind the closet door any more. We can open that door, and you can shout to the world: this is me.

“We’ve got to walk together, and walk with pride. And it’s black pride. We’re standing tall as a people.”

Last year’s Mardi Gras was marred by grief and tensions between the LGBTQ community and NSW Police, after a police officer was charged with murdering a gay Sydney couple days before the event.

NSW Police will march on Saturday after members of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras narrowly voted down a move in December to ban them from the parade.

Police on Friday said they had worked closely with festival organisers and the LGBTQ community to ensure a safe environment for revellers, as they launched a high-visibility operation targeting criminal and anti-social behaviour that they said “undermines the celebratory spirit of the night”.

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