3.45pm: Past Hero Trustee Anne Speir has her reservations about the Hero Parade's imminent return, saying that in her view the ‘Big Gay Out' picnic day now satisfies any community need for an annual large LGBT event. “I felt really sad when I came to the conclusion that the parade wasn't relevant anymore,” she admits. “Some people still have a very romantic notion of the parade… and it was amazing walking down the parade with all those thousands of people, and getting the Prime Minister to open it was a world-first.” Speir says she took part in this year's Sydney Mardi Gras Parade. Say says it was an amazing experience, but felt that the predominantly straight audience was laughing at the people on the floats. “They weren't with you, they were just there to watch the spectacle of the ‘fairies'. A had Kiwi friends watching the parade, and two of them independently told me they wanted to punch out the people near them for the comments they kept hearing them make.” The difference between the Hero and Mardi Gras parade is that Mardi Gras has a legacy, explains Speir. “They had their first parade 29 years ago, where there was a major police confrontation, and an ambush, basically. They herded the marchers down a dead-end street and proceeded to beat the crap out of them, and arrest them. It was predominantly trannies and lesbians, but a few gay boys. “So that was the beginning of Mardi Gras – they said ‘no, you're not going to do this to us. We can walk the streets as much as anyone'.” Sydney's parade is still political, Speir believes. “There's the floats saying ‘we want marriage', ‘we want the right to adopt', and ‘we'd like more same-sex benefits'. But we've gained a lot of those things in the last five years. So are we just doing a ‘happy clappy' parade here? “The Big Gay Out for me satisfies that desire to celebrate. I think the Big Gay Out is a beautiful day in the park, and this year especially is one of the best we've had. So in that sense, that's where I can go to celebrate and be truly me, truly queer, and don't have to don sequins.” Ref: GayNZ.com (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 19th April 2007 - 12:00pm