On June 24 in 1978, more than 1000 people marched down Oxford Street, Sydney, to mark International Gay Solidarity Day, in recognition of the Stonewall Riots, in New York. The Sydney march called for an end to discrimination against homosexuals in employment and housing, an end to police harassment and the reversal of all anti-homosexual laws. Like the Stonewall demonstration, the Sydney protest almost ended in a riot too. Police arrested 53 people following cancellation of the march permit. Another 100 people were arrested in the protests that followed. These charges were subsequently dropped. No arrests have been made at a march ever since. The parade was held in June the following year with over 3000 people attending.

The Parade was brought forward in the year in 1980 to coincide with Summer in Australia. Attendances have steadily grown each year since with numbers approaching three quarters of a million people. The Parade itself is now the climax of a month long festival to highlight issues of sexuality.


The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardigras has certainly become one of the most colourful peaceful Human Right's Parades in the world. People of various colours, political ideals and sexualities travel from all over Australia and the world to participate or watch this incredible spectacle.