SYDNEY, Feb 27, 2008 (AFP) — Police, pastors and military personnel will be among the drag queens and divas on parade at Sydney's Mardi Gras on Saturday when one of the world's premier gay and lesbian events marks its 30th birthday.
The March 1 parade by 10,000 people through streets thronged with thousands of spectators will be unrecognisable from the city's first "fancy dress" gay pride march which ended in clashes with police.
The inaugural 1978 Mardi Gras, a street celebration to commemorate International Gay Solidarity Week at a time when male homosexuality was still illegal in New South Wales state, ended with more than 50 arrests.
Since then, the event has been transformed into one which draws tourists to Sydney and millions of dollars into the state economy, with the blessing of the government.
"From those humble roots to probably the world's pre-eminent gay and lesbian arts and cultural festival -- I don't think anyone could have really envisaged just how far we would have come," organiser Marcus Bourget told AFP.
Bourget, who chairs the non-profit organisation behind the event, said this year's parade would be the most inclusive ever and include for the first time a contingent from the Australian military, which in 1992 lifted a ban on gay members.
"They won't be allowed to march in uniform but they will be identifiable as ADF (Australian Defence Force) members so that's an incredibly positive step for the gay and lesbian community and for the ADF," he said.
In another first, a group of about 100 ministers of organised religions will offer an apology for the treatment of gays and lesbians -- similar to the government's recent apology to Aborigines.
"(It) is an incredibly powerful first step," Bourget said. "It's a very brave step for them."
The Mardi Gras parade, which this year has the theme of "Brave New Worlds" to mark the transformation from 1978 to 2008, will also include members of the police force, as it has for several years.
"They are always incredibly well received by spectators and they are very welcome to march as part of the Mardi Gras family," Bourget said.
Sydney's oldest drag queen, Carmen Rupe, believes the change in the city's attitudes over the past three decades is nothing short of wonderful and credits the Mardi Gras with helping dispel prejudice.
"These people have fought for the rights (of gay people)," the 70-something New Zealander said from the sidelines of a float rehearsal last week.
Carmen, who will lead a 300-strong float in a motorised scooter on the night, said she had often been beaten and jailed by the police when she worked in the nightclubs of Sydney's King's Cross red-light district in the 1960s.
"The police were very heavy on gay and drag people," she recalls of the days before male homosexuality was legalised in the state in 1985.
"I used to get a lot of hidings because I was gay. We used to get beaten up very, very badly. They were awful to us, (they would) kick us, punch us and then laugh at us.
"I think the wonderful thing about Mardi Gras, coming to the end, is the police joined in and marched along. It's a big change from being arrested," she said.
Bourget said there is a new sense of excitement in the event after it hit hard times financially in 2002, largely due to the loss of tourists in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the US and higher public liability insurance.
This year the parade appears to be a success before it even starts.
"We're maxed out. The interest from within the gay and lesbian community this year in all of our events, not just the parade but our parties, our special events, it's just incredible," he said.
"It's a real sense of celebration and joy."
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