Subj : COMMUNITY HEROES CELEBRATED AT SYDNEY GAY AND LESBIAN MARDI GRAS PARAD
To : All
From : Major Queen
Date : Mon Mar 02 2020 01:18 pm
Source EXPRESS
Now in its 42nd year, this year's parade was just as spectacular as usual
with an array of floats. Levi Joule reports from the parade.
Sydney was once more treated to a dazzling display of diversity in a
spectacular showcasing of Australia's LGBT community.
2020's parade theme was ''What Matters'' many floats focused on issues such
as climate change and Australia's offshore dentition of asylum seekers.
With an estimated 200,000 watching, 188 floats made their way down Oxford
Street to Moore Park and included an array of community groups, political
parties and corporations.
Festivities kicked off with an Aboriginal smoking ceremony and Welcome to
Country by Graham Sims, followed by Dykes on Bikes revving up the crowd.
As is tradition, the First Nations float which celebrates Australia's LGBT
indigenous community, led the parade, followed by the 78ers, celebrating
those involved in the very first Mardi Gras.
Both groups received a rapturous reaction from the crowd, however, the
biggest cheer was reserved for NSW Rural Fire Service volunteers, who spent
the majority of the Australian summer battling devastating fires across the
state.
There was a brief interruption to the parade as protestors who objected to
the Liberal Party's float were removed by police just before Taylor Square,
halfway down the parade route.
The incident went largely unnoticed however and the parade was able to
successfully continue, with the end time being closer to 11.00pm than the
advertised 10.30pm.
