Happy Mardi Gras xx

 
So, boys and girls, today brings around a very special, historically important event on the queer calendar: The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade...So many capitals! Dykes on Bikes, Ladyboys, surf lifesavers, PFLAG, Rainbow Babies and way, way more march (or ride, in the case of the Dykes) their way through the city and bring our community together, as well as dragging in tourists from all over the world and up to AU$90 million.

It's turned into a gigantic parade of sparkle, colour and love, but it wasn't always so. The parade started 33 years ago, in 1978, as a political march to commemorate of the Stonewall Riots and the pain and enlightenment the event brought to US society. That night in '78, the march was broken up by cops and 53 people were arrested. Shortly after, The Sydney Morning Herald published the names of those who were arrested and many of them were forcibly outed and fired from their jobs because, unfortunately, homosexuality was still illegal in New South Wales at that time and all the way up until 1984. The '78ers -- those who marched in that first parade -- helped to bring homosexuality into the light in this country and helped to bring queers out of the closet so the rest of the (rather conservative) populus could finally see that we're all just people. A brilliant, life-changing, history-making moment for this beautiful country of mine. I love that this is a part of our history and part of our culture, and I love that now, more than ever, straight people in support of us are marching on our behalf for our rights. I'm not much of a flag waver and I've never been to the parade (believe it or not), and I do think we've come so, so far in terms of our rights and freedoms, but there is still a ways to go and there are still some unfairnesses that we still have to face...Like marriage...Why can't we be married? Why does it matter so much? Why does it matter the gender of the parties involved? As long as they love each other and give a shit about ourselves and our families, why does it matter?

Anyway. I'm so pleased that tonight a new lot of ads have started...The ads feature queer couples of many varieties talking about the things they do within the community (the one that made me almost cry had these two women who baked queer-themed cakes for Fair Day), and talking about how long they've been together...And asking why they can't get married. One day. I hope it happens soon.

What I really wanted to tell you about is this person I used to talk to when I worked at the hardware store. I'm sad that I never found out what her name was, too. Deeply ashamed of myself. But anyway, she'd come in with her little dog to buy this and that and we'd get to talking about this and that, lol, and in 2009 she came in just before Mardi Gras and we got to talking...She told me about that first night (I finally got to meet a '78er!) and the first march and she started talking about how that political mindedness has kind of petered out a bit, or a lot, and that no one seems to be pushing or fighting for us anymore. I said to her that while that might be true in some ways, I mean, we don't have to fight tooth and nail to be just treated like people anymore, it's because of them that we (younger queers) are able to kind of take life for granted a bit because of them and the hard, painful work they did for us. It's because of them that we're able to walk down the street holding our partners' hands more of less without fear of being attacked or assaulted on the streets. It's because of them that we can succeed and have babies and be ourselves and there is not a day goes by that, when it comes down to it, we are not immensely grateful to them for their efforts and their love for our community. They really are incredible people, each and every one of them, and we owe them in a big way. Truly beautiful. Anyway, she nodded that "dyke nod", a quick uplift of the chin, and smiled. She knew I meant what I said. And that was that.

So, flist, send us your love. Make some noise in your own countries for gay rights. Yes, we're treated more or less like everyone else in most respects, but as you know, some things are still beyond our grasp and it's not fair. It's not because we're gay that we should be able to marry, it's because we're people.

Happy Mardi Gras xx

P.S. Each year the Mardi Gras has a prominent icon of the queer community as a kind of spokesperson to head the parade and this year....Wait for it...The brilliant, lovely, hilarious, effervescent, smart-ass Lily Tomlin. Love it.