Celebrate Mardi Gras Down Under

Catholic countries the world over are celebrating carnival this month to store up the fun before Lent settles in. But in Sydney, the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is simply an excuse for the fun-loving city to throw a big bash. During the three-week-long festival more than 500,000 visitors and residents take part in one of the world's largest celebrations of queer culture, featuring drag-queen shows, coming-out theater, erotic poetry, porn readings, art exhibits, glamorous parties and lesbian rangers paroling the city's parks.

Sidewalk cafés along Oxford Street, the city's most famous strip of nightclubs and the center of gay Sydney, fill to capacity with international partygoers, many of whom look like they have spent the past six months in a gym. Local shops are crammed with astonishing outfits that can only be described as fit for a queen. Even the elderly lady who runs the corner bookstore cashes in. "Well, dearie," she says, "we have everything here: books on leather, S&M, bisexual, lesbian, whatever."

On the final weekend Sydney explodes in a riot of colored sequins, feather boas and fluorescent lights, as representatives of all aspects of gay life, from lesbian grannies to members of the Australian army, take to the streets for the annual Mardi Gras parade (this year on March 2). Dykes on Bikes, who traditionally lead the marchers down Oxford Street, rev up the crowd of more than 500,000, honking horns, raising fists and baring breasts along the way. They are followed by drag queens in full regalia and troops of shirtless muscle men dancing to the rhythms of Madonna, Cher and Australia's homegrown diva, Kylie Minogue.

The parade wasn't always so exuberant. It began as a gay rights march in 1978 but was soon transformed into a celebration, a carnival-style event offering the community a chance to be "out and proud." Rather than a protest against discrimination, the parade is now an in-your-face display that the city cannot—and does not want to—ignore. Both Sydneysiders and tourists flock downtown to enjoy the show. This is the night that the city's straights cheer on the queer population, as it flaunts outrageous costumes, passion and politics. Marching routines and floats are worked on for months, in an attempt to outdo the previous year's offerings.

Spectators in the know bring their own ladders or milk crates, or arrive in the late afternoon to get a front-row view for the parade that kicks off at 8 p.m. The alternative is an agonizing four hours on cramped tippy toes craning to catch a glimpse over the heads of bystanders packed six deep. If you think that is agony though, consider the poor drag queens who walk the 3-km-long route in 15-cm stilettos. A few floats and costumes may shock—and occasionally the crowd gasps loudly—but more often they simply laugh, applaud or roar in approval. The largest cheers are reserved for gay members of the police force, who march in uniform. Twenty-four years ago, the authorities stopped the protest march. Now they are part of it.

It's the Mardi Gras party after the parade that draws in the dance devotees and those searching for sheer unbridled pleasure. Up to 25,000 people—mainly gays and lesbians—follow the parade to a cluster of entertainment venues in the inner-Sydney suburb of Moore Park for a 12-hour dance extravaganza, which starts at 10 p.m. For one night, the cavernous, and usually vacant, Royal Hall of Industries is transformed into a dance club with more laser lights and go-go boys than a Britney Spears concert. Thousands dance to one beat in the main hall, the rest scatter to smaller pavilions with different themes or spill out into the open-air quadrangle. Volunteer dancers—men wearing tight pink shorts, women in body-clinging vinyl and hairy guys in leather—gyrate on stage to work the crowd into a bacchanalian frenzy. Pop stars perform throughout the night—and morning. Gay icons from Boy George to Gloria Gaynor have made an appearance in the past. Each year the identity of guest performers is kept secret, but this year speculation centers on Janet Jackson or Elton John showing up.

Only members of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras organization can purchase tickets to the dance party, but straight guests are welcome to join. While feathers and sequins are not out of place, the party outfit is best kept to a minimum. Since there are at times 5,000 heaving bodies heating up the main dance floor, false eyelashes don't stand a chance. One year, as the sky grew lighter and sweat-soaked dancers with platform shoes in hand and wigs askew stumbled from the hall, one fellow dressed in a tutu made out of plush koala bears attracted particular attention. He said he was straight. He had decided to do something crazy for once, and Mardi Gras seemed the place.

Although the event is put on for the queer community, most of Sydney sees this night as the party highlight of the year. And Oxford Street is at its gayest. Bars and clubs there are generally packed on the final weekend. The Stonewall Hotel, The Oxford Hotel, ARQ and The Midnight Shift are the most popular for gay men. Lesbians gather at clubs and bars such as Caesars, the Green Park Hotel and Home nightclub. Straight and mixed venues include the Burdekin Hotel, the Exchange Hotel, NV and DCM. So, as strangers greet each other in Sydney, during the celebratory weekend: happy Mardi Gras.