While LGBTQIA+ activism in Australia did not start in 1978, the events of the first Mardi Gras Parade in 1978 were the most significant and far-reaching in Sydney’s queer history.The first activist organisations were the Australasian Lesbian Movement (originally the Daughters of Bilitis, named after the US organisation); the ACT Homosexual Law Reform Society formed in 1969; and CAMP Inc., established in 1970, which became the primary activist organisation.78ers march in the 2022 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade.But how did the first Mardi Gras parade come about? Forty-five years ago, a letter from San Francisco asked Sydney activists to organise international solidarity activities in late June 1978 – the ninth anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York.US activists were campaigning against the anti-gay Briggs Initiative on the California ballot that would have made it an offence for anyone employed in a school to speak positively about homosexuality.Sydney activists formed a coalition of lesbian and gay groups which became the Gay Solidarity Group. On 24 June 1978, they staged a Saturday morning protest march around the Sydney CBD, a forum on the international gay movement and a night-time, street party for our community.
