The Very First Mardi Gras

Feature, By Christian Taylor, 27th February, 2008

Tonight many of the people responsible for creating the very first Mardi Gras thirty years ago will be hosting their event Meet The 78ers. It’s not only an opportunity for them to get together and reminisce, it’s also your chance to meet them.

Same Same spoke with Ken Davis, one of the original 78ers, who told his story about the first Mardi Gras, the years that followed and what still lies ahead.

“I was the original Mardi Gras skeptic – I didn’t think it would last an hour, let alone thirty years. At the time the gay community in San Francisco were fighting the Briggs Initiative, which was a push to remove anyone who supported gay rights from the school system. They wanted gay solidarity events happening all around the world.

“So we called a demonstration in the morning which was very successful by our standards – we got maybe 500 people. Some people wanted a night time celebration, because it was hard to get people to a daytime demonstration – if your employer saw you or if your school saw you then the results were terrible. I didn’t think it would work, I didn’t think we’d have the support.

“At 10pm that night, when people were supposed to assemble at Taylor Square, we had a sound truck playing Meg Christian’s Ode To A Gym Teacher and Tom Robinson’s Glad To Be Gay but not a lot of people. Although about forty minutes or an hour later a lot more people had showed up. I was really shocked. The police that came on duty didn’t want to honour the permit that we had. The truck was meant to travel down Oxford Street, stop a while at Riley Street and then carry on to Hyde Park. The idea was that all the people would come out of the venues and join us in a street party, but the Police kept us moving really, really fast and wouldn’t let it happen.

“By the time we got down to College Street we had about 1,500 fairly hyped up people with us. The Police took away the truck and they wouldn’t let us in the park. The other gay area at that time was Kings Cross, so it seemed logical that we’d all make our way up there. Once we got there we started to disperse, but Police had blocked off both ends of Darlinghurst Road and they started arresting people. Lesbians started fighting to release them, most were released just through others opening up the paddy wagons and pulling them out. The police really didn’t expect queens, dykes and poofs to give any level of resistance.

“Then the people in the street got involved in the fight as well – the indigenous people and the sex workers. Police conduct at the time was really really terrible and that was what bound us all together. Prior to the first Mardi Gras there was a chant people used to say – ‘Stop Police attacks on gays women and blacks.’ The Summary Offences Laws that were in place at the time prevented sex work, drinking in public, demonstrations, same sex affection – women had been arrested for kissing in Hyde Park, men for dancing in venues. People were being entrapped in beats too. The numbers of arrests and beatings was also an issue, a number of sex workers, trannies and gay men were being raped in the Police stations. It was a time when venues were paying Police to stay open because of the licensing laws. It was a real high point for organised crime. Around that time there were a number of illegal gambling venues on Oxford Street that the newly elected Wran government ordered to be shut down, so suddenly overnight these venues became gay bars.

“When the first Mardi Gras happened the police and the government were really angry that gay men and lesbians were gathering in public places at night. It just became this enormous political watershed of conflict not just between us and the government but between all these social movements – anyone that was vaguely civil libertarian, people in unions, in progressive churches, in the women’s movement. It became a real spark – it wasn’t just lesbian and gay rights, it was a big confrontation about Police power over public space. It was incredibly exciting but it was also very, very traumatic because of the level of violence and the number of arrests.

“Because of the first Mardi Gras the Summary Offences Act was repealed and I think that was an enormous victory – it meant the right to march, it really changed Police power in public space. It was also the first time that lots of straight people really went out of their way to support us – a whole lot of people had a vested interest in Police power and the government.

“The first couple of Mardi Gras, which were in winter, were by and large opposed by most gay groups and gay businesses. The fact that it survived is a bit of a miracle. People were worried about scenes of conflict in public. In the early eighties when it moved to summer, there was this move to make it a real community and arts event, but it still involved a lot of politics too, around law reform and things like that.

“In the mid eighties HIV played a big part. In 1985 it looked like the government or god knows who was going to step in and stop the Mardi Gras. It was a period of enormous fear for us and a lot of people involved in the first Mardi Gras died. So in the first couple of years of Mardi Gras you’ve already got all of these amazing transformations, but then from the late eighties you’ve not only got a lot of straight people coming in because of HIV and re-engagement by lesbians – because a lot of the lesbians left – you’ve also got this progress towards the glory period. I always found that time very difficult, because it became more regulated, it became a spectator event. Up until then it wasn’t about being looked at, it was an event for the participants, but the pressure of doing something sexy, funny and glamorous for all the spectators was an enormous pressure on the community. It’s really hard to keep the creativity and the humour. I kind of like that there isn’t the pressure of television now, that there are less people watching than before. I think now the people who are watching in the street now are much more supportive. There’s a better relationship between the spectators and the participants now.

“During the so called glory days I was pulled out of the parade and was beaten up by the spectators – that was the late nineties. There was a period where the whole thing was really contradictory – it was glamorous, funny, it was the place to be, but that put enormous pressure on community groups, because you can never be sexy enough, funny enough or glamorous enough for some spectators who’ve done a lot of drugs and alcohol and in fact don’t even like lesbians or gay men. I don’t think those people are there so much anymore.

“As for Mardi Gras after the 30th anniversary, well who knows? I think Mardi Gras really defines Sydney as a cosmopolitan city of diversity and different communities and equality. I think it is quite hard to keep up the momentum, in terms of community energy – the floats are primarily done unpaid by groups in the community. Then there are the floats sponsored by companies – I don’t think they’re appreciated or that they work real well. Even the tackiest float, if it’s created by a genuine community effort, is more valuable, and that effort is really hard. It’s hard to come up with new ideas and to look different every year and to come up with something that’s of benefit to the audience.

“From a business point of view Mardi Gras helps to define the city, it generates a whole lot of money, yet it gets very little financial support from the City Of Sydney. I think there’s something in Mardi Gras that’s still very valid. It’s funny when I hear people talk about Fair Day or Mardi Gras Party or the Festival as being community events that could almost stand alone. I don’t agree. As far as funding goes, I think we’ve got a right to it, but there’s always a cost involved. Reporting to those bodies stands in the way of something that should be out of control, transgressive, camp, queer, topical… But I do think we have the right to it. I think it’s obscene that as a tax payer I not only pay for Catholic and Pentecostal schools, or drug and alcohol services or $100 million for the Pope’s visit, but the Parade that’s actually very important for Sydney isn’t adequately supported. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t get $5 million without conditions.

“Perhaps it needs to be re-organised and re-invented after this year? Financially I can understand how you can make the dance party work, I can almost understand how you can make the Fair Day work, but as far as the Parade goes, you can’t pose the questions in money terms and get good answers.

“As far as Oxford Street goes, it’s not entirely relevant anymore. I think there’s a lot to be said for claiming public space, for saying ‘we have a right to be in this space’. For me, it’s not about the spectators – participants are what’s important and the symbolism of which public space we’re in is also important. But does it need to be Oxford Street? I thought the launch – when it was big and when it was at the Opera House – was an opportunity for us to claim pre-eminent public space and to have our agenda voiced in that space. I think the parade can still do that even if it’s not a spectator event and even if it’s not Oxford Street.

“I’m looking forward to the Meet The 78ers event. We don’t want it to feel like Anzac Day where people have to be ‘kind to the veterans’. It’s just an opportunity for people to meet us and for us to all catch up. Remember, the first Mardi Gras involved a lot of people who weren’t lesbian or gay but were there out of political loyalty to support us. A lot of these people have spent the last twenty years making really interesting contributions to social justice in all sorts of different ways. There’s something really positive about that.”

Meet The 78ers is on 7.30pm tonight 27 Feb 2008 at The Rex Centre, 58A Macleay St, Kings Cross. Entrance near Baroda St. Donation appreciated.

Take a walk down memory lane. Check out our Thirty Years Of Mardi Gras gallery right here.

Here’s some highlights from last year’s Parade:

And from 2006:

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