A different era, a different parade route, the same sense of community. Barry Lowe recalls his first foray.

It was my first Mardi Gras Parade and I was a member of Nexus, the group chosen to lead the 22 heavily political floats and sundry marchers. Saturday, March 21, 1981. Nexus was a support group for disabled gay people recently founded by Robert Lomax, which had both abled and disabled members...

Budding lesbian comedians are invited to come under the spotlight in the Giggling Gertie workshop during the Mardi Gras Festival, writes Katrina Fox.

Do you like to tell jokes and stories at dinner parties? Have you ever done a work presentation that got laughs? Like to be the centre of attention? If so, according to Jody Ekert, you’re a closeted comedian and it’s time to hone your talent by attending the Giggling Gertie stand-up comedy workshop for women...

Lesbian love, relationships and loss are explored in a New Mardi Gras Theatre Initiative next month.

In a tug of war of love, Milena sways back and forth between the women she loves. Trying to please her seductive lover and her conservative Italian mother is a comic drama fraught with miscommunication and frustration. As she battles with desire and obligation, Milena embarks on the almost impossible mission of satisfying her multiple loves...

S.V. Koumakis puts the ‘gay gene’ theory under the microscope.

Humanity has frequently sought explanations for the driving force behind human desire and its various forms of expression...

Robert La Bua explores a cool country from tops to bottoms.

Flowers, palm trees, fumes, smoke, fruits, dog, swastikas, smiles. Tiny ladies in conical hats heave huge parcels of goods onto their sexagenarian backs; Prokofiev and Vivaldi emanate from the violins, violas and cellos of an all-Vietnamese orchestra in the Hanoi Opera House, in stark contrast to the cacophonous frenzy on the streets outside; bygone French colonial Belle Époque edifices serve as current Socialist government offices...

Don’t miss Alas from Spain’s hottest and most celebrated dance company, Compañía Nacional de Danza. By Garrett Bithell.

In a programming coup, Sydney Festival presents the hotly anticipated return of Spain’s most lauded dance company, Compañía Nacional de Danza (CND), helmed by legendary artistic director Nacho Duato...

Syria is a colourful country in a black-and-white world. It gets a lot of bad press in the West, mostly because the Syrian government doesn’t toe the line drawn by its Western counterparts with regard to its views in international affairs. This, however, is no deterrent to an enjoyable visit to a diverse and friendly nation with a...

Without ever formally coming out, Andy Warhol was openly, obviously and famously queer almost a decade before Gay Liberation urged us “out of the closets and into the streets” Writing in The New York Times in 2002, Holland Cotter went so far ...