1 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:03,120 Speaker 1: From the newsroom. 2 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:04,640 Speaker 2: A news still come today. 3 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:09,000 Speaker 3: Good day there. I'm Andrew Bucklow. Well, as the saying goes, 4 00:00:09,039 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 3: the news never stops. And let me tell you, the 5 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 3: news dot com dot au team are primed and we're 6 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 3: ready to cover some pretty big events coming up over 7 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,160 Speaker 3: the next few days. We've got a few lads over 8 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:21,160 Speaker 3: in Las Vegas for the NRL season openers. I hope 9 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:23,599 Speaker 3: those reporters are behaving themselves, but you know what, I 10 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 3: doubt it. Subavaria Entertainment team are in LA for the Oscars, 11 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:29,440 Speaker 3: which are coming up on Monday morning our time. Conan 12 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:32,120 Speaker 3: O'Brien is hosting this year, which I'm so excited about. 13 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 3: He recently told GMA how he's feeling no pressure. I mean, 14 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:38,520 Speaker 3: there's a ton of pressure, but I don't feel it 15 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 3: because I take a lot of different medications and so 16 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:43,480 Speaker 3: I don't feel anything right now. 17 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:45,240 Speaker 1: Oh good, yeah, God. I love Conan. 18 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 3: And another event we're ready to cover is the Sydney 19 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 3: Game and Lesbian Marti Gras, which is tomorrow, the first 20 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 3: of March. It's such a fun parade, right, but I 21 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:55,520 Speaker 3: think sometimes it's easy to forget what the point of 22 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 3: it is and how it actually started. 23 00:00:57,600 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 4: So. 24 00:00:57,720 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 3: It was first held in nineteen seventy eight and was 25 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 3: in tended to be a night of celebration, but instead 26 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:05,120 Speaker 3: it ended in a night of shocking police brutality that 27 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 3: saw homosexuals assaulted and locked up. Here's a news report 28 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 3: from the time. 29 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:13,880 Speaker 4: Sydney's gay community celebrated International Homosexual Solidarity Day with the 30 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 4: Marti Gras. 31 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: And King's Cross. 32 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 4: At about midnight, the celebration turned into what police say 33 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:22,400 Speaker 4: was an illegal procession and more than fifty people were 34 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 4: arrested on charges ranging from taking part in the procession 35 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:26,600 Speaker 4: to malicious injury. 36 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:29,480 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's not quite how it played out. In this episode, 37 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 3: we're going to chat to one of the people who 38 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 3: organized the very first Mardi Gras march, who revealed what 39 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 3: really happened on that infamous night which changed Australia's gay 40 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 3: rights movement forever. Well, Ken Davis, let me begin by 41 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 3: saying it is an absolute privilege to chat to you. 42 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: Thank you. 43 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:48,960 Speaker 3: Before we get into the first ever Mardi Gras march, 44 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 3: can you give me an idea of what it was 45 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 3: like to be gay in New South Wales in the 46 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:55,000 Speaker 3: late nineteen seventies and what the laws were like at 47 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:55,440 Speaker 3: the time. 48 00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, So essentially in the seventies, very few homosexuals 49 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 2: in public life. There were sprinkling of bisexuals and transsexual people. 50 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: In New South Wales, the. 51 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 2: Abominable crime of buggery, which is, you know, sex between 52 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 2: men was fourteen years jalen whipping, which was twice the 53 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:21,480 Speaker 2: penalty of rape. Sydney was big center for psychiatry, and 54 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 2: so until the late seventies psychiatry in general did very 55 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:34,600 Speaker 2: invasive procedures to cure lesbianism or homosexuality, brain operations or 56 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:40,639 Speaker 2: aversion therapy and other really invasive psychiatric interventions, and all 57 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:45,519 Speaker 2: but a few religious communities define homosexuality between women and 58 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:51,360 Speaker 2: men as a sin. So the outlook for people was 59 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:55,679 Speaker 2: pretty bleak. But you know, the seventies was a time 60 00:02:55,720 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 2: of enormous international social change, and we had a demonstrations 61 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy one and then in nineteen seventy three 62 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:06,920 Speaker 2: we had national demonstrations where a lot of people were 63 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 2: arrested because there was no protection if people were publicly 64 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 2: engaged in activism. I suppose it was very dangerous for 65 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 2: your family, or for your school, or for university, or 66 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:21,639 Speaker 2: for particularly for your employment. 67 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:23,079 Speaker 1: Far out well. 68 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 3: You helped organize the first Marto gram March, which was 69 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 3: on Saturday, June twenty four, nineteen seventy eight. What was 70 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:30,400 Speaker 3: the intention of the march when you were planning it. 71 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 2: We hadn't been doing it a lot in the late seventies, 72 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 2: but the gay community, commercial gay community in Sydney was 73 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:44,480 Speaker 2: growing rapidly and suddenly, and the situation in America was 74 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 2: that they'd made a lot of social gains, but there 75 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 2: was a backlasher Christian right backlash let initially by Natie 76 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 2: Bryant from Florida. 77 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 4: If homosexuals are allowed their civil rights, so were prostitutes 78 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:56,839 Speaker 4: or thieves. 79 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 3: Or anyone else. 80 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 2: And in California there was a referendum to remove anyone 81 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 2: that supported gay rights from any job in the California 82 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 2: school system. So activists in San Francisco asked for support 83 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 2: for Gay Freedom Day, which is the end of June, 84 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 2: an international event, and I got together a coalition of 85 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,599 Speaker 2: religious gay religious groups, gay service groups, the campus gay groups, 86 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 2: and socialist groups to organize an event. So the first 87 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:27,120 Speaker 2: thing we organized was a forum on Saturday afternoon. Then 88 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 2: we got ambitious and we organized the street march on 89 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:34,000 Speaker 2: the Saturday morning, which attracted about five hundred people, and 90 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:37,080 Speaker 2: then some people were keen to do something different, which 91 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:39,720 Speaker 2: was a late night celebration, not a protest, much a 92 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 2: celebration in Oxford Street to try and attract people out 93 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 2: of the bars, and we got police permission for that. 94 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,560 Speaker 2: I thought it was a bit adventurous, but it was 95 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:57,239 Speaker 2: an experiment in doing something completely different. We had police permit, 96 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:00,080 Speaker 2: and we had I don't know, maybe just started. A 97 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:02,920 Speaker 2: thousand people assembled, about ten thirty at Talla Square. 98 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:05,600 Speaker 1: About twenty percent were in costume. 99 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:09,800 Speaker 2: I was wearing a country in western frock, and we 100 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:12,880 Speaker 2: had a soundtrack, but we didn't have good dance music. 101 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:17,320 Speaker 2: But the police changed their attitude just after we started 102 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 2: and made us move very fast down Oxford Street and 103 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:26,479 Speaker 2: stopped us like ending at Hyde Park, and so spontaneously 104 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:28,720 Speaker 2: people went down College Street and up William Street to 105 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:31,560 Speaker 2: the Cross which was another area with gay bars. 106 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:33,839 Speaker 1: And after we were dispersing. 107 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 2: It along Main Fountain, the police blocked off the roads and 108 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:42,120 Speaker 2: started flivicious attacks and arresting people. But I think what 109 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:45,400 Speaker 2: they didn't expect was initially the lesbians and then the 110 00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 2: you know, all the people in the streets started fighting 111 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 2: back and fifty three people were taken to Darlinghurst Police 112 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:55,720 Speaker 2: Station which is now Utopia Museum and very badly treated, 113 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 2: you know, including one guy who was beaten, very dangerously beaten. 114 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,599 Speaker 2: And get lawyers or doctors in this is you know, 115 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:04,839 Speaker 2: in the middle of the night. You know, it's before 116 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:09,239 Speaker 2: mobile phones or ATMs, so people were physically going around 117 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:13,680 Speaker 2: to collect cash for bail. And about ten am the 118 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:16,920 Speaker 2: next morning, the last women were released from Central Police Station. 119 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:19,919 Speaker 1: So that's in a nutshore what happened. 120 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 3: Can you just take me back to what happened in 121 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:26,360 Speaker 3: that confrontation between police. Why did they suddenly change their 122 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:29,039 Speaker 3: tactics and turn on the people taking part in the march. 123 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:32,200 Speaker 2: Look, I think you've got to remember sitting at the time, 124 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,280 Speaker 2: like Darlinghurst Police in particular, but police in general had 125 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:40,080 Speaker 2: a big reputation for corruption. There was a chant we 126 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 2: had stop police attacks on gays, women and blacks. You know, 127 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,040 Speaker 2: there's been a lot of rapes in Darlinghurst Police Station. 128 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:57,200 Speaker 2: Women and what we're not now called transgender people and 129 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:00,120 Speaker 2: indigenous people been a lot of bashing. 130 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:02,120 Speaker 1: You know, we just thought we'd have a celebration in. 131 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:03,919 Speaker 2: Oxford Street, you know, like a bit of a street 132 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 2: party or a festival or a martigrahs. And I think 133 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 2: what had happened was the police and the other powers 134 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 2: that be got really affronted that there were lesbians and 135 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 2: gay men, you know, in the streets in the middle 136 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 2: of the night, you know, in a place that they 137 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 2: thought was very much under their control, and you know, 138 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:27,120 Speaker 2: it was very disruptive for them. This is before reclaim 139 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 2: the night marches or any of that stuff. So, and 140 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:34,040 Speaker 2: also on the Monday, I think the heralds published the 141 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:38,000 Speaker 2: names and addresses and jobs and ages of the fifty 142 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:42,640 Speaker 2: three arrested, and that led to enormous trouble for you know, 143 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 2: people in their jobs and with their families and stuff. 144 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 3: Right, So the media named and shamed some of the 145 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 3: people who were arrested. And at a time when, as 146 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 3: you mentioned, it wasn't really okay to be publicly gay. 147 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 2: Not at all, not at all. I mean, there was 148 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:00,520 Speaker 2: no antid discriminational protection. As I said, sex twin men 149 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 2: was completely illegal. A lot of people were arrested by 150 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:09,720 Speaker 2: pollutione entrapment in public places. Lesbians were arrested for public affection. 151 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 2: There was a body of law called summary offenses, which 152 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:16,560 Speaker 2: was really about police power in public places, about the 153 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 2: right to march, about sex work, drinking, Indigenous people the 154 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 2: same sex affection or you know things like that. So 155 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:27,160 Speaker 2: day men were arrested in bars for dancing, for example. 156 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:29,400 Speaker 3: Well, despite the trauma of the event, that first Marti 157 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 3: Gras March in nineteen seventy eight was the catalyst for change. 158 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 3: In just a moment, Can we'll explain what laws were 159 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 3: changed as a result. Welcome back on chatting to Ken 160 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:47,320 Speaker 3: Davis who helped organize the very first Marti Gras march 161 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:49,760 Speaker 3: in Sydney all the way back in nineteen seventy eight. 162 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:52,440 Speaker 3: Can can you talk about the change that occurred as 163 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:53,480 Speaker 3: a result of that march. 164 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:57,560 Speaker 1: So there was a trajectory from the Marti Gras. 165 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 2: About review of the Summary Defences Act dropped the charges 166 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 2: against the people that were arrested not only on the 167 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:07,680 Speaker 2: Marti Gras night, but in all the subsequent demonstrations later 168 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:11,520 Speaker 2: in the year and then nine one eighty two, New 169 00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:14,559 Speaker 2: South Wales became the momentum of the Martigra and lobbying 170 00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 2: meant and you know that people took sides, like the 171 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 2: trade unions and people in the Labor Party, in the 172 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:22,720 Speaker 2: women's movement and so on took sides of these questions. 173 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:25,520 Speaker 2: So we were able to be the second legislature in 174 00:09:25,559 --> 00:09:30,079 Speaker 2: the world to include homosexuality as grounds for discrimination after 175 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:33,760 Speaker 2: I think Quebec, and that was a really really big 176 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 2: change that you know, you couldn't be denied services or 177 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:41,080 Speaker 2: jobs or education on the basis of homosexuality. And then 178 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:44,520 Speaker 2: nineteen eighty four, after HIV was already a big crisis 179 00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:47,320 Speaker 2: in Sydney, you know, we got partial repeal of the 180 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:51,120 Speaker 2: you know, the buggery laws in New South Wales. So 181 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:54,280 Speaker 2: there was a trajectory of change by the First Martigra. 182 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:58,480 Speaker 2: And I guess I want to say that the motivation 183 00:09:58,559 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 2: of First Matigra was about internettionalism, like we realized our 184 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:05,120 Speaker 2: issue was international and last century. 185 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:07,800 Speaker 1: I know that sounds weird. You know, there was a 186 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:09,160 Speaker 1: lot of progress on democracy. 187 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 2: There was the over in the early seventies, the overthrow 188 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:14,320 Speaker 2: of the dictatorships in you know, Southern Europe for example, 189 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:16,800 Speaker 2: and then you know the overthrow of the Soviet Bloc 190 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 2: and so on. So there's progress about democracy and democratic 191 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:23,559 Speaker 2: rights and human rights and you know, decolonization in the seventies. 192 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:29,960 Speaker 2: But this century, we've got to return to authoritarianism and 193 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:33,440 Speaker 2: human rights for everybody in a lot of countries are 194 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:37,719 Speaker 2: going backwards fast, and democratic space is going backwards. So 195 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:42,320 Speaker 2: I think important in our movement is attention to a 196 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:46,120 Speaker 2: set of human rights issues, not just ours, and attention 197 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:46,760 Speaker 2: to what's. 198 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,120 Speaker 1: Going on in the world as a whole and particularly. 199 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:52,760 Speaker 2: Countries neighboring us, and that's part of what makes Marti 200 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:54,800 Speaker 2: Gras create a bit relevant. 201 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:59,840 Speaker 3: Still, Wow, it's an incredible story ken obviously very traumatic 202 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:03,880 Speaker 3: for everyone involved, but amazing that it has inspired such change. 203 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 3: You must be proud of everyone that took part in 204 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:07,920 Speaker 3: that initial march back in nineteen seventy eight. 205 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:08,600 Speaker 1: Yeah. 206 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:12,640 Speaker 2: Well, you know, by the time of the police intervention, 207 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:15,360 Speaker 2: as we say in the christ you know, there was 208 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:19,640 Speaker 2: like fifteen hundred or more people involved, and I think 209 00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:22,520 Speaker 2: the police thought by attacking the lesbians that you know, 210 00:11:22,679 --> 00:11:28,080 Speaker 2: they didn't expect anyone to resist, and feelings were very polarized, 211 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:30,480 Speaker 2: so a lot of non gay people, you know, in 212 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:36,320 Speaker 2: the streets were motivated to get involved on our side. 213 00:11:36,679 --> 00:11:39,520 Speaker 2: So that was a very particular moment in Australian history. 214 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:44,360 Speaker 2: But having the second Marti Gras in seventy nine was 215 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:46,640 Speaker 2: the real victory because a lot of gay business and 216 00:11:46,679 --> 00:11:50,360 Speaker 2: gay media and gay groups were very hostile, and that 217 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 2: we had a peaceful and successful second Marti gra with 218 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:56,520 Speaker 2: I think three thousand or more people in seventy nine 219 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,520 Speaker 2: meant that we could do it every year and we 220 00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:05,679 Speaker 2: can retur haining this queer sensibility like satire, humor, creativity. 221 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:07,240 Speaker 1: It's sort of public art. 222 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:10,640 Speaker 2: I think we can speak truth to power in the 223 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 2: proper way that Marti Gras or the Feast of Fools 224 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:15,880 Speaker 2: in Christianity is supposed to be about, like to tear 225 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:22,320 Speaker 2: down the arrogance of power structures. But I think Marti 226 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:24,800 Speaker 2: Gras people want a bit of a sexual edge to it, 227 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:28,160 Speaker 2: and they want humor and satire and talent, you know. 228 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:32,160 Speaker 2: I think that's the continuing relevance of Mardi Gras well. 229 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 3: It's only grown since then. It is now one of 230 00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:37,959 Speaker 3: the world's largest LGBTQ plus festivals. And you were there 231 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:39,680 Speaker 3: at the beginning of it, a big part of the 232 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:41,880 Speaker 3: reason that we celebrate it today. Ken Davis, thank you 233 00:12:41,920 --> 00:12:43,720 Speaker 3: so much for Chattington News dot com dot AU. 234 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:45,960 Speaker 1: All right, thank you, had a good day. 235 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:48,920 Speaker 3: What an amazing man. The Mardi Gras Parade is taking 236 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:51,000 Speaker 3: place in Sydney tomorrow and we will bring you all 237 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:52,280 Speaker 3: the color at news. 238 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:53,120 Speaker 1: Dot com dot au. 239 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:57,480 Speaker 2: Thanks for listening, follow us, subscribe to from the newsroom, 240 00:12:57,520 --> 00:12:59,200 Speaker 2: wherever you get your podcasts.