The Protect Mardi Gras campaign has begun a new push to strengthen the satirical, subversive and sexy spirit of Mardi Gras.
The campaign is calling on Sydney’s entire LGBTIQA+ community including parade participants, the Mardi Gras board, its staff, and all relevant festival committees to take ambitious action to organise, encourage and provide material support for floats in the parade that include elements of humour and satire, political and cultural commentary, and that celebrate the diversity of our culture, subcultures and countercultures.
“Mardi Gras has a proud history of activism, advocacy and community education via the creativity and artistry of its members and parade participants,” Protect Mardi Gras co-founder Peter Stahel said.
“Core to the spirit of Mardi Gras are floats that make cultural and political statements through humour, satire and sometimes confronting material.
“From Fred Nile to Pauline Hanson to Mark Latham to Donald Trump, the parade should be an opportunity for our rainbow community to exercise creativity for visibility, and for defending both our place in the Australian community and Mardi Gras itself. It is one of the nation’s most important institutions for culture, community and activism,” Mr Stahel said.
The Protect Mardi Gras campaign says that parade participants themselves, alongside the Mardi Gras leadership and its committees, should actively encourage, support and organise floats that:
• Include political commentary and activism, including the satire of public figures, organisations and ideologies in the advancement of liberation.
• Include raunch, grit, grime in the celebration of our sexual and gender identities, subcultures and countercultures.
• Celebrate and encourage diversity, inclusion and equality across the full spectrum of our rainbow communities.
“Not all floats need to do all things, but rather, we should all work hard to ensure that the parade embodies the spirit of an inclusive, subversive, satirical and sexy Mardi Gras. This is creative energy pointed outward at the world, not inward at our own community, festival and volunteers,” Mr Stahel said.
“None of this is contrary to Mardi Gras’ commitment to inclusivity and safety. For example, there is nothing stopping the police float participating alongside a float satirising the Police Commissioner or bad police behaviour, or Rainbow Labor participating alongside a float that makes fun of the Premier, or indeed major sponsors participating alongside a float satirising pinkwashing. In fact, this kind of inclusion makes Mardi Gras much stronger, way more fun and more visible.
“So, let’s get down to the dirty and edgy business: get your best subversive creative juices flowing – starting with the 2027 parade and building to the most successful, powerful and fun Mardi Gras ever for our 50th anniversary in 2028,” Mr Stahel said.