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Will life begin at 30?
Another year, another Fair Day – which can only mean another Mardi Gras parade is just around the corner.
Judging by the steadily declining numbers in attendance over the years (for the march anyway, if not the after-parties), news of this will be received by many with a ‘meh’ or ‘so what?’
Everybody seems to have an opinion about MG’s relevance, or lack thereof, in an age where, legally at least, we’re in a much better position now than we were in 1978 and a whole generation of queers has grown up without knowing a time where consenting homosexual acts between adults were criminalised.
But there are a couple of causes for fresh excitement this year. Firstly, as we all know, Mardi is turning 30. Cynics might believe that in gay years, Mardi is actually turning 65, but regardless, La Gras has had a tumultuous life with much to show for it. The least we could do is give her a big surprise party where everybody turns up to charge our flutes.
Secondly, the 2008 march will be the first in over a decade to (likely) receive a message of support from the Prime Minister. I almost pity ex-PM John Howard these days, essentially persona non grata within his own party as several ex-ministers and powerbrokers make crystal clear now what they really thought of him and his desperate clinging to power in the dying days of his government.
But in the last 11 years, every time March came around and I read his office’s annual dispatch that, once again, he ‘regretted’ (but of course, never apologised) that he was unable to offer a message of support, I was reminded that such an attitude from the country’s leader was precisely why the parade had to keep happening.
I’d remember that in the early 1990s it was Howard who used former leader John Hewson’s endorsement of MG against him, rallying conservative homophobes to vote in their champion of Family (read ‘anti-MG’) Values. I’d remember that it was one of Howard’s warriors, Richard Alston, who managed to expunge the ABC of its MG coverage.
Kevin Rudd does not share his predecessor’s hostility towards open expression of non-mainstream sexuality, however – not if his message of support for Melbourne’s recent Pride March is anything to go by – so there shouldn’t be any ‘regret’ channelling out of the PM’s office this year. And what better occasion to remind Rudd and Labor of their commitment to end discrimination against same-sex couples in federal law, than at a march to which he has given his blessing?
Happy Birthday, Mardi Gras. Hopefully, 2008 will be the year in which you’re given the kick-start you apparently need.
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