Gay is Passe again
June 29, 2008
We used to have the gayest city in the world outside of San Francisco and we were proud of it. Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras used to be the biggest tourist revenue raiser in the nation. Everything about us was gay, gay, gay. The Boy From Oz was gay. It was one long gayathon. But something’s changed. Something that even the Virus didn’t stop. This year again Sydney has no Pride. While the rest of the world remembers Stonewall,
Gay Pride events attract thousands
Gay Pride … Participants in the Berlin parade pose in the street.Photo: AFP
Thousands of people across Europe took part in Gay Pride events on Saturday, with some countries in Eastern Europe seeing gatherings of gays and lesbians for the first time.
At least 20 people were injured when the Czech Republic’s first ever Gay Pride parade was attacked by rightwing extremists armed with tear gas even before the event was due to begin in the city of Brno.
Three people were arrested when counter-demonstrators threw fireworks at the gathering of lesbians and gays in which an estimated 500 were to participate.
With calls in the internet for resistance to the “queer parade”, more than 200 police were present during the planned event.
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Pride spokesman Murray Hood
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… but Mardi Gras offers to help beleaguered organisation.
Sydney Pride has been offered open-ended support by New Mardi Gras as the charity tries to rebuild itself after two years without any events or services.
Gay and lesbian communities around the world will mark the Stonewall Riots’ 39th anniversary this Saturday, except Sydney.
Last year Sydney Star Observer asked why Sydney Pride had failed to organise any events, such as its Pride Week celebrations in previous years, to discover the organisation had lost too many board members to operate.
Pride spokesman Murray Hood confirmed the situation had not changed in the last 12 months, but said an audit report due this week could open the door to a fresh board and revival.
“Once we get the report from the auditor we’ll call an AGM and decide the [organisation’s] future,” Hood told SSO this week.
Read the rest of the sadness here
Maybe it’s true what Dr Robert Reynold asked in 2002 in the piece that rocked Sydney the Is Gay Passe? theory. Is everyone over it? Is there no reason for Pride? With a dollar so strong and a gay capital all acted up and over, what the bloody hell are we going to do for our tourism gigs?
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