Gay cowboys ride in Mardi Gras

2006-03-04 18:38

Sydney - Thousands of Australians crammed Sydney's tiny gay quarter to applaud half-naked cowboys, gay rugby players and other scantily-dressed marchers in the city's annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade on Saturday.

Armed with picnic baskets, blankets and beer, onlookers lined the parade's 1.6km route cheering the 6 000 participants and 120 colourful floats, many loosely adopting the theme of this year's Oscar-hopeful blockbuster Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee's saga of gay cowboys.

The cowboys competed with themes - including bare-chested men hula-hula dancing in Hawaiian grass skirts, and a lesbian motorcycle club.

Many of the 450 000 onlookers had been waiting hours to secure the best positions along the route.

Jennifer Mackay,17, from outer Sydney arrived 10 hours before the start, saying "I didn't want to miss any of this".

The parade began in 1978 to protest a ban on homosexuality in Australia.

The parade's creative director, Graeme Browning, describes the Mardi gras as "Christmas for the gay and lesbian community".

One boisterous group of marchers promoted "bisexuality and paganism", while another implored onlookers to take pride in their leather.

A float entitled "Friends of Dick Cheney" featured a nod to the United States vice president, who has stood by his lesbian daughter and is at odds with US president George W Bush about the need for a US constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages.

- Reuters