MARDI GRAS!!!

Karla & Tim - a swirl of excitement as Mardi Gras reaches full swing. Watch out for the shark guys.

Well, it's a bit of a gay-a-thon tonight, after my little post about Anthony Callea below. Two of the best - Karla and Millgate - marched in this year's Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. They danced and wooed the crowds as part of the inaugural Surf Life Saving float - an absolute hit with the crowd!

However, there is a school of thought that the zeal shown by the crowd may have been directly proportional to the lack of clothing worn by some of the male patrons of the parade. Either way, great show!

My highlights:

• Being proud as punch, seeing Millgate in his first ever Mardi Gras. Respect!
• Seeing so many happy people buzz by my eyes for over 2.5 hours.
• For one night of the year, where the collective voice of hundreds of thousands of people drowned out the homophobic bullshit that resonates too often in this country.
• As a bloke, there is nothing more satisfying than coming home and sitting on the couch in your underwear. I can't imagine what it would be like to be wandering up Oxford street, dancing and carrying on like an idiot in nothing but - your underwear.

Check out the SLS group blog here for even more photos and descriptions of the lead up to the event.

Other random observations

The night started with Clare & I jumping off the bus at Wynyard Station to be confronted by an astounding array of side-shows - each peeling back a new layer of incredulity for a night still amazingly so young. In chronological order:

• A group of 16 year old young ladies (and I say that with quiet reservations) dressed in french knickers at Wynyard, drinking UDL's. Knickers. UDLs. Seriously, nothing but their polyester undies, garters and PVC boots. Britany Spears has a lot to answer for - they can vote in about 2 years.
• More 16 year olds guzzling goon in Wynyard Park. This, I'm not too worried about. At least they had their clothes on. And it was goon! Oh, the good old days...
• Even more 16 year olds carrying cases of beer down Elizabeth St toward the night's glittered festival-like carnage of Darlinghurst.
• The chick on an acid trip standing in the front window of Sax's House of Leather on Oxford St, flashing her tits at the hoards of pedestrians walking by.
• The corresponding excitement for many of the men in the crowd as the Dykes on Bikes roared into full view.
• The bogan young men, who, after the conclusion of such a wonderful celebration of love and sexuality, still persisted with homophobic comments directed toward a gay couple - would love to see some of the more built members of the parade give them a bit of a dust up for their trouble.

The floats

Below are a few photos of some of my favourite floats from this year's parade.

Poignant...

Blokes on a float, some dressed up a women, some dressed up in...well...not much at all. Crowd favourite - check out our position...right in front of the Columbian.

Hopefully these Trojans don't embed nasty viruses inside of you.
(That's an IT joke for Willis)

No idea what float this one is, but it's a pretty cool crowd shot with some great colours. I'm up in a tree for this pic. Great angles - check out the leaves. And the guy out the front left with the gargantuan arms.

Again, no idea who these guys are, but they were well-rehearsed, got some great reactions from the crowd, and wowed Clare with their oiled chests.

Scenes of the crowd after the parade. Party time.

People

A wide range of people at this year's event. Here's a small selection:

Obviously animal rights didn't get much of a look-in on the night.

This guy wasn't wearing any pants. I don't know why.

Clare and I trying to find a place to watch the parade. Why wasn't I born a 7'8" monster? Or maybe I should have worn a mega pair of wedges. We ended up buying and standing on a couple of stools similar to the green ones featuring in the photo with Clare.

This chick was definitely on the wrong side of the fence. She should have been on a motorised stage, headed east on Oxford Street dancing to George Michael.

Why do it?

Well, with one short of thirty notches to have been marked on the Mardi Gras belt over the years, the Mardi Gras represents to me a time when people can come together to celebrate the universal, undiscriminating and pink-strobed voltage of love. Whilst it's something most definitely in need of immediate support, I hope the need to protest for equal gay rights eventually dissolves as we move toward an unseen level of equality and national acceptance.

Well done to all participants, especially my two favourite life savers!!!!

Freedom is walking down one of Sydney's main streets in your grundles.