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Mardi Gras biggest ever
Sydney Mardi Gras 2009
Olympic gold medallist Matthew Mitcham has led the Parade in this yearââ¬â¢s Sydney Mardi Gras
More than 300,000 people turned up to watch the Parade, making this Australia’s biggest Mardi Gras ever.
Now in its thirty-first year, the theme of this year’s Parade was “Nations United” and was designed to draw attention to gay rights around the globe. The Parade was divided into seven sections to represent each of the world’s continents.
More than 10,000 revellers took part in the Parade, which made its way down the city’s Oxford and Flinders Streets to Moore Park, from where the party continued well into the following day.
Among the 135 floats was one dedicated to the memory of Harvey Milk, the murdered gay activist and subject of the recent biopic starring Sean Penn,.
Comedienne Joan Rivers also took part in the Parade, together with drag queens, leather men, and the self-styled Dykes on Bikes.
Mitcham, the only out gay male athlete in last year’s Olympics said: "Mardi Gras is the biggest celebration of homosexuality in the world, and aims to promote not just the tolerance but the acceptance of the gay community in the wider community.”
