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Homage, Pilgrimage and Protest: Why Sydney’s Mardi Gras Parade Should Go Back to the Streets
By Dr Clifford Lewis and Kevin MarkwellIn 1985, calls for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade to be cancelled in response to concerns about HIV/AIDS were successfully countered by the organisers. The parade is now recognised as an important way of creating awareness of safe-sex practices, reducing the social stigma of HIV/AIDS and being a living memorial to those who died from it. In 2020, like many other major events, the Mardi Gras parade became a victim of another virus: COVID-19.