Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 20 Years On – 1998
The 1978 Origins and Activism of this Australian LGBTQIA protest movement builds on decades of decisive activism work across all states of Australia. Sydney-based activism is the most well-known.
What began as a peaceful combination of a daytime march and a nighttime street festival to commemorate the Stonewall Riots quickly turned into a landmark moment for Australia’s LGBTQIA+ rights movement.
The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras originated after much prior LGBTQIA+ activism on June 24, 1978, as a community-based protest march.
Organized by the Gay Solidarity Group, activists marched down Oxford Street to protest anti-homosexual laws, police harassment, and discrimination in jobs and housing. Police intervention resulted in the brutal bashing and arrest of 53 participants. The protest march turned into a violent conflagration.
As a queer interdisciplinary artist, street press /arts-based journalist I wrote this reflective piece to add to the well-spring of street press coverage marking the 20th anniversary of the ongoing protest movement. Specifically, for the influential and long-running City Hub publication in 1998.
