Talk:Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

Is it a Mardi Gras celebration?
Is the event held on Mardi Gras or not? -- Infrogmation 17:50, 17 February 2004 (UTC)
 * From the external link I found apparently not; I added that information with a link to Mardi Gras in the article. -- Infrogmation 18:49, 24 May 2004 (UTC)

Mardi Gras category
Recommend removing the 'Mardi Gras' category from this article. Though the term is shared in the name, the Mardi Gras category is used for articles about an unrelated religious festival.--Jeffro77 (talk) 13:03, 5 February 2008 (UTC)
 * The Sydney festival is an end of summer, early evening street parade and party. Isn't this a typical mardi grass festival style like the other events and therefore shouldn't the category be kept? - Shiftchange (talk) 06:58, 6 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Neither the purpose nor time of the events are the same. See Mardi Gras.--Jeffro77 (talk) 07:24, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

The article now couldn't be more difficult to find, even if you know what you're looking for. I had to go roundabout - search for sydney, search the page for 'mardi gras' then follow the link to "Sydney Gay and Lesbian mardi Gras'.--Jaye001 (talk) 00:41, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Headline acts
I've added the names of some of the most notable performers, that have performed at the Party in the last 20 years, but my memory is sketchy. If anyone can recall others, and maybe the year, please feel free to add Cattona (talk) 06:04, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

How can this be Mardi Gras?
How can this be mardi gras? 'Mardi gras' means 'shrove tuesday' (the day before Lent starts) - other countries with Mardi Gras celebrate this on Shrove Tuesday (40 days before Easter) - if you heard another country celebrating Christmas Day in July you would think they were mad. Mardi means Tuesday. I think it's embarrassing at the very least. It's notable that Manchester Lesbian & Gay festival has stopped calling it a Mardi Gras once the realised that it wasn't a Tuesday and it wasn't the first day before the start of Lent. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.129.231.78 (talk) 16:06, 6 March 2011 (UTC)


 * To many if not most Australian's Mardi Gras means a big gay street parade in Sydney. If you go to the event you will hear hundreds of "Happy Mardi Gras" greetings. The Mardi Gras page has a lead which describes "wearing masks and costumes, overturning social conventions, dancing" which sounds exactly like what happens at the SGLMG. It even mentions Sydney's celebration in the lead. I think it is appropriately named and I don't think the name is going to change soon. - Shiftchange (talk) 15:52, 7 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I look forward to the Gay & Lesbian Chinese New Year in Australia in the middle of November - when will the Aussies be celebrating New Year this year? Just pick a random date - as long as they use foreign sounding words no one will know the meaning anyway - Chinese new year is 群节 （qun jie). As I said - embarrassing. Can we add 'embarrassingly called...' to the article - perhaps someone can find a citation to justify it (btw today is the real Mardi Gras - hence if you check the news you'll see lots of people all over the world celebrating it). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.78.252.196 (talk) 16:45, 8 March 2011 (UTC)

How can this be mardi gras? You're confusing a title with a translation. Literal translation is Fat Tuesday, which in itself does not force it to be the day before Lent begins. A title need not be descriptive of the item it references. The Christian "Easter" festival is celebrated on different days in Eastern and Western churches. The world seems to cope that the date 40 days beforehand can be different in different countries. You should know that many Australians do celebrate Christmas in July; how "mad" would it be to depict a fat man in a fur coat in the middle of (Australian) Summer in December? (Quite mad, and also embarrassing, yet it still happens.) And for good measure, if "shepherds were watching their flocks by night" (as the traditions suggest) at the first Christmas, then it almost certainly wasn't the middle of a northern hemisphere winter in December; it's just as likely that the first Christmas was in fact in July. The bottom line is that Sydney's Mardi Gras is a title that labels an event which celebrates in excess, much like the "Shrove Tuesday" celebrations celebrate excess prior to the austerity of Lent. Whether you think the organisers have chosen an appropriate 'title' is a different issue. But it fits totally with the Australian sense of humour, where redheads are called "Blue". What I mean is, in Australian culture, there's no obligation that "Fat Tuesday" needs to have anything to do with a Tuesday, nor with Fat for that matter. I guess there's also no obligation for Mardi to have anything to do with Mars, despite that being the origin of the word. brad 124.149.181.26 (talk) 01:09, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Specific questions
As a director of New Mardi Gras, I will work to get the page more professional and factual. If you have any specific questions I will be happy to get a formal answer for you. Thank you for updating this page, greatly appreciated. David.robert.wilson (talk) 09:47, 7 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Does the Sleaze Ball still happen and provide funds? - Shiftchange (talk) 10:03, 7 November 2011 (UTC)

Sleaze Ball was not run in 2010 but no decision has been made on permanent retirement of the event. Sleaze Ball has not been a profitable event for several years and attendance has been in decline for several years as well. (David WILSON 10:07, 14 November 2011 (UTC)) — Preceding unsigned comment added by David.robert.wilson (talk • contribs)

Subversive
I feel this new addition is inappropriate. "Mardi Gras is inherently subversive to tradition Christian values". Surely this text does NOT present a neutral view ? It does not give a balanced view of acceptance that is offered by many religions at the current time. — Preceding unsigned comment added by David.robert.wilson (talk • contribs) 05:50, 17 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Don't you think the tongue in check tone of many floats makes a mockery of modern christian values? Also precisely because gays and lesbian have traditionally been excluded from the church is a reason some people take to the streets. I know churches are slowly coming around but fundamentally there is a christian opposition to the presentation of sexuality such as that displayed in Sydney's Mardi Gras.  Maybe you should note which churches are vocally accepting and supportive of Mardi Gras in the support section. - Shiftchange (talk) 06:14, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

While some of the participants definitely take a poke at the church, I don't believe the parade has the subversion of traditional Christian values as a goal. "Love" is usually promoted as a "traditional Christian Value", and Sydney's Mardi Gras - rather than subverting love - aims to celebrate a diversity of love. I agree with the first guy: it's not a neutral point of view. brad 124.149.181.26 (talk) 00:31, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

After reading these comments I had a look at that bit of the page and I think outlining who opposes the event provides context about its contemporary image/role/place - which is very important in describing what the event is, particularly given that it has evolved (continues to evolve) as a political (human rights) promotional/lobbying/protest event that illustrates to law makers/authorities what the public view is on various issues and also shapes that public view - so understanding of what it's up against necessary for understanding what it's for and what it is.Kimstar0 (talk) 17:01, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

1994 parliamentary petition
In 1994, there was some sort of parliamentary petition aiming to make the ABC televise the show later in the evening. I can't find any details but I still think it should be mentioned. - Shiftchange (talk) 11:07, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Cleanup
The notice at the top of the Sydney Mardi Gras page says "A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Please discuss further on the talk page. (November 2011)"

As one of the contributors to this page has outed himself as a director of the organisation that runs the event (pun intended, hope being flippant doesn't breach a Wikipedia rule) I put aside the thought that surely those best placed to be major contributors would be those having a close connection to the subject, and replaced it with the notion that if Wikipedia content policies about neutral point of view were seeking contribution from someone without close connection to the subject, then that might as well be me. So I've made some changes to the three introductory paragraphs so they don't read quite so much like an advertisement from the NSW department of tourism, and added what I believe are a couple of relevant facts about the origins of the event and how it differs in 2012 from 1978.

It would be really good if someone else would do the same with the "Mardi Gras Fair Day" section of the page.

If there's going to be a "Supporters" section, surely it should be about those whose support involved some cost or risk or at least inconvenience to them? - not just a few politicians over the last couple of years who may well be extremely and deeply supportive of Mardi Gras but basically have nothing to lose and a lot to gain by merely saying they support a popular community event. There must be plenty of people who have been willing to speak up knowing it could/would be at significant cost to them, including political/community/religious leaders who may have had a lot to gain by doing the opposite or by just staying silent.

The Wikipedia page mentions gay marriage floats as a 2011 theme - are there main themes for preceding years (either "official"/organiser specified, or "unofficial" but widely observed/acknowledged)? These would make a good structure for at least listing in a table, then the headline performers from the Ball each year could go into another column of the table etc. Probably useful now for making the content a bit more clear/logical, and useful later for expanding/linking to relevant social/legal changes around the same time frames. Kimstar0 (talk) 17:44, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Mardi Gras Awards
I think the Mardi Gras Awards section should be integrated into the History section. It should also be converted into prose and the redlinks removed. Any support for this? - Shiftchange (talk) 04:24, 11 January 2013 (UTC)
 * You should go for it. Wikipedia says: Be bold. A single sentence generally doesn't warrant a section. Honette  06:06, 1 June 2013 (UTC)

Suggested separation of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival and Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras organisation
There is a significant blurring of lines in this article between the festival and the organisation that delivers the festival. While the two are linked, there is probably enough material in the festival article that is superfluous to the festival and needs to be transferred to an article that is based on the organisation. I'm happy to give it a go, subject to general agreement that there is consensus to the approach. Rangasyd (talk) 14:48, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

NSW Police uninvited from Mardi Gras parade
After NSW police officer Beau Lamarre shot and killed his former partner and their new boyfriend on 21/02/2024, the NSW police have been uninvited from participating in the Sydney parade itself (obviously they still do normal police work at the event). I presume ADF is still participating. Chronlad (talk) 00:31, 2 March 2024 (UTC)