1978: First gay Mardi Gras march, Sydney
Contents:
- A NOLA HISTORY OF GAY MARDI GRAS | GAY NEW ORLEANS MARDI GRAS
- FIRST GAY MARDI GRAS
- WHERE DID GAY MARDI GRAS ORIGATE?
A NOLA HISTORY OF GAY MARDI GRAS | GAY NEW ORLEANS MARDI GRAS
They asked for solidary activi on the Stonewall anniversary to ci wh their march agast the anti-gay Briggs Iniative on the California ballot.
Ken and others lled a meetg of lbian and gay groups and dividuals, which beme the Gay Solidary Group. Chants of “Out of the bars and to the streets” joed the sound of gay liberatn anthems ‘Glad to be Gay’ and ‘O to a Gym Teacher’. The Gay Solidary Group, other groups and dividuals and me together for a massive polil and legal effort – the Drop the Charg mpaign.
• 15 July – 2, 000 take part largt ever gay rights march wh 14 arrts. • 27 Augt – 300 march down Oxford St om the 4th Natnal Homosexual Conference wh 104 arrts.
FIRST GAY MARDI GRAS
This was the thori’ attempt to keep the muny le, but Sydney’s gays and lbians would not get back le. Today, New Orleans has a number of different Carnival krew that are specifilly formed to clu membership om the cy's lol gay muny.
While NOLA is nsired one of the most gay-iendly lotns Ameri acrdg to Metrosource and, that wasn't always the se almost 65 years ago. The story of New Orleans' gay Mardi Gras was born durg a time when people who did not openly intify as heterosexual faced legal discrimatn and rtrictns not only the cy, but throughout the Uned Stat.
Acrdg to Edward McDaniel, who is the current ball pta and the 60th queen of the world's olst gay Mardi Gras krewe, the Krewe of Petroni, there were laws still on the books about homosexualy the 1960s. "Back then, beg gay, you uld be arrted; you uld lose your apartment, your job, " McDaniel said. It was this climate that the Krewe of Yuga, which is nsired to be the world's very first gay Mardi Gras krewe, me to beg.
WHERE DID GAY MARDI GRAS ORIGATE?
While the raid dismantled the cy's first gay krewe, did not keep gay Carnival celebratns down for long.
Acrdg to Petroni' webse, the krewe's members were actually succsful gettg a state charter and rporated themselv as a legimate Mardi Gras krewe 1966, th beg Louisiana's first officially regnized gay krewe. One of the ma fg attribut of a lot of the gay Mardi Gras krew, much like many of the other krew New Orleans, are the annual balls that they put on.