2025 Mardi Gras Festival - Part 1

14 February to 2 March 2025 was the 2025 SGLMG Mardi Gras Festival.

In this two-part blog, we'll discuss some of the events during this annual event.

The first major event during the Festival is Fair Day, held at Victoria Park, a large park in an inner city area.

A few days before the event, I was part of the Bump-In crew that set up the park for Fair Day.

Tasks included labelling the 323 stalls, making it easier for stallholders to find their locations for the day, as well as attaching scrim to CCB, which is event industry jargon for hanging fabric advertising signage on barrier fencing.

It is a lot of work, as easy as it might sound.

The wind didn't make it any easier, plus it was also quite hot.

(Even with sunscreen applied and re-applied, I still sustained some sunburn.)

Another task was setting up an area with tables and chairs for patrons to rest and dine.

Fair Day arrived on 16 February 2025.

It was a hot day but in the shade, it was cooler with the winds.

I arrived early, more than an hour prior to the official event start time.

The first thing I did was head to the Qtopia Sydney stall, as I had a shift there.

I distributed prizes to visitors who came to spin our prize wheel.

After my shift, I was free to go and explore the rest of Fair Day.

It usually takes a couple hours or so so see everything but I believe I skipped some areas and others I went through two or more times.

The cost of living was evident in the type of and amount of freebies available.

I was selective in what I picked up, not bothering to get anything from most of the stalls.

One place I made a point to see was the area that I had helped setup with tables and chairs.

I wanted to see it in use, with people there having no idea the chairs they were sitting in had been handled by me.

In one section, there was a 'Trans Camp' with a heavy focus on a campaign to protect transgender youth, following a ban imposed by the Health Minister in the State of Queensland.

(This ban on health care for transgender youth came about within days of Trump taking office and cracking down on transgender people in the US.)

It was cool to see at one stall, free fittings were available for those in the market for a binder.

Fast forward to 22 February 2025.

In the morning, I went along to the National Art School, not as a student but as bump-in crew for another event on the calendar of the Festival, Ultra Violet.

For those who are wondering what Ultra Violet is, looking at the map gives a brief description.

For accessibility, the event organisers describe it as being 'the ultimate LGBTQIA+ women's event'.

It is an event filled with music performances, both DJ and live artists, across four stage areas, focused on a feminine rainbow audience.

I disagree with calling it an 'LGBTQIA+ women's event' since there exist Gender Identities that are closely aligned to being mostly feminine but not necessarily labelled as 'women'.

'Women' sounds too binary and promotes erasure.

In addition, more than one person employed by the organisation has referred to it as a event for lesbians, when lesbians are only one of many orientation cohorts of people with a feminine identity.

That's erasure from a Pride organisation.

Since I was there for many hours, there were many tasks that I worked on.

The main was helping to decorate the four stage areas, since they wanted creative people for that task and people with muscles on another task.

Another task I did was to wipe down a giant vūlvå.

Don't worry, it wasn't someone's actual body parts but rather a huge inflatable one that forms an archway when inflated.

In it's flattened state, it was on the floor in a building and I believe when it had been transported, the rain earlier in the morning fell on it.

A couple of us had to wipe it dry of all the water.

I also quietly got rid of a big cockroach that was hiding underneath it.

I have a photograph of the item on the floor when we were wiping it down and I've added that as an insert in a photograph of the product in its inflated state, which was erected next to the main Ultra Violet sign as people entered.

To avoid issues, I've blurred part of the photograph but you get the general idea of how big it is when you consider that the archway is tall enough to allow people to walk through.

This prop has been used at women's events in the past but on this occasion, I disagree with it being used as a symbol for the event.

This continues from my earlier comments about erasure.

In this instance, it's important to that not everyone who calls themselves a 'woman' or has a feminine Gender Identity has this set of body parts.

There are also people with these parts that identify with a masculine or strict non-binary identity.

Using this prop effectively erases anyone with a feminine identity who has other body parts or other combinations of body parts.

I left the venue just before 15:00, which was the start time of the event.

The event finish time was midnight but I didn't have time to stick around since I live two hours away and had plenty of work left to do preparing for the Parade.

In fact, I didn't go home immediately but further than home to the hardware store, for supplies.

It was somewhere during this time that I lost my Auslan Pansexual pin, a few days over two years since I purchased it during Sydney WorldPride.

It's a rare pin and I haven't been able to source another.

I believe the seller is no longer in business.

I'm still sad about the loss; it was an important pin to me. :cry:

Anyway, fast forward a few more days to 26 February 2025.

On this date, I went to an event that started at 17:00 and through the evening until late, though I went purely as a patron with a ticket.

The event was 'Queer Art After Hours', held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, across two of its buildings.

I personally found it boring, being more interested in the regular exhibitions.

There was a singing performance that I enjoyed but that didn't last long.

Some of the work was a bit too risque, like this piece that I photographed and have censored for display here.

I seriously don't see what's so good about it.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this blog, which will explore Parade Day.