Kylie Kicks Off 25 Years Celebrations at Sydney Mardi Gras

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and strategic partner Destination NSW, today confirmed that Kylie Minogue will attend this year's Sydney Mardi Gras Parade and join Sydney's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex community in celebrating a milestone in her career K25 -- 25 Years of Kylie.

"I am coming home for Mardi Gras this year!" said Minogue. "I simply cannot wait, and it's going to be a beautiful way to celebrate 25 years of this relationship."

"Your support over the years has just been phenomenal and I can't wait to come home and share that with you. So see you in March."

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras alongside its strategic partner Destination NSW, wanted to mark the acclaimed artist's career milestone, K25, with a personal invitation to be part of the event, widely recognised as the world's best celebration of LGBTQI pride and diversity and one that draws significant economic benefits to Sydney and NSW at large.

SGLMG will honour Minogue during the Parade with a spectacular K25 float that pays homage to her career and support of the LGBTQI community. SGLMG's CEO Michael Rolik says Minogue's RSVP to Sydney Mardi Gras 14 years after her last Party performance will once again make Mardi Gras go down in history.

"There is no doubt that our community contains an enormous number of Kylie fans so we are delighted that she will be here for Mardi Gras at the start of her 25th anniversary in the music industry," says Rolik. "There are often rumours that Kylie will be back at Mardi Gras and today we are pleased to confirm she will be here to party alongside us over the Parade weekend. We will be pulling out all the stops to show her a good time."

"In strategic partnership with Destination NSW we have been investing in the quality of the Parade. This year promises to deliver a wonderful Parade and Kylie's attendance will be the cherry on the cake."

NSW Minister for Tourism, Major Events and The Arts, George Souris said, "We welcome Kylie Minogue to Australia's leading tourism and events city for one of the world's leading events."

"Ms. Minogue has a very special place in Australians' hearts. She has a global audience who adore her. Where better for her to celebrate her 25 years in entertainment than in Sydney, Australia's global city."

www.mardigras.org.au

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Mardi Gras Launches Festival Guide and More Party Details

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG) has launched its 2012 Sydney Mardi Gras Festival Guide, Parade Entry Kit and more information about the line-up for the 2012 Harbour and Mardi Gras parties.

The festival includes more than 60 events from February 12 to March 4, culminating in the Mardi Gras party and parade.

The festival guide is a pocket-sized edition and will have four alternative covers featuring faces from Sydney’s LGBTI community.

The first of these, featuring Sydney drag entertainer Summer Salt, will be available from this weekend in local bars and clubs. The other three covers feature Mardi Gras 1978 organiser Ron Austin (pictured), Sydney Bear community member Ross James, and Oxford Hotel functions manager Tia Lee, and will appear around Sydney over the coming week.

The guide is an overview of key events, so look out for the full festival line-up in an upcoming calendar and on Mardi Gras’ website.

A new event featured is The Year of Magical Wanking, presented in association with the Sydney Theatre.
Featuring one of Ireland’s most incendiary performers, Neil Watkins, this piece of theatre will take audiences through a wilderness of queerness.

Younger LGBTIs will have a safe place to party at a Queer Prom, presented by Twenty10 and Camp Out, while Queer Thinking returns with speakers including Professor Sara Ahmed, artist Gary Carsley and lawyer Alyena Mohummadally.

The parade will have the same eligibility criteria as this year’s parade, with eligibility based upon each group’s message and LGBTI status.

The Entrant Criteria specify that entries must be either “LGBTQI individuals, groups and organisations communicating a message” or “non-LGBTQI individuals, groups and organisations communicating a clear message of support or celebration for LGBTQI people”.

SGLMG will also hold a Parade Entrants Open Day in the Velvet Room of the Bank Hotel, Newtown, 1-4pm on December 18 to talk to the Parade Creative team about entries.

“This year’s Parade Entry Kit features the same simple criteria that we established last year,” SGLMG CEO Michael Rolik said.

“The Entrant Criteria ensure that our Parade is a platform for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex community to celebrate their diversity and express themselves.

“Whether this is your first time taking part, or you have marched in the Parade for years, we hope you’ll get involved in making the 2012 Parade an unforgettable and electrifying night.”

SGLMG will provide additional funding for community floats thanks to funds raised through this year’s Big Gay Weekend, and will double the funding allocated to its in-house floats.

SGLMG has announced that Lee Dagger of Bimbo Jones, Andy Butler and Wayne G will be among the big acts performing at the Mardi Gras Party, dubbed Mardigrasland in which the Entertainment Quarter will be transformed into a theme park of music, dance and electrifying acts.

SGLMG also announced the ticket options available for the party.

For the first time, general admission tickets can be purchased as a bundle of four, for $99 per ticket, plus booking fee.

A $99 ticket will also be available to youth and concession party-goers, plus booking fee.

Premium tickets will include express entry, access to specially reserved seating in the Hordern Pavilion, access to the express bar lane in the RHI and the Hordern, access to a designated premium lounge with comforts such as couches, a complimentary cloak room, premium toilets, a souvenir welcome pack and a premium wristband for identification.

Tickets are available from Ticketek at www.ticketek.com.au.

The iconic Harbour Party has been named Harbour ’12 Cool Change and will be held on February 25, with acts including Lee Dagger, Kate Monroe, Troy Cox and Olivian DJ, and moves from its traditional Sunday setting to a Saturday after feedback from partygoers.

Tickets are $105 plus booking fee.

“Harbour ’12 is the cool change you’ve been waiting for. We can’t wait to see even more local and international guests join us on the Saturday for this must-do Mardi Gras event,” Rolik said.

In related news, the venue for a December 17 information night on SGLMG’s recent name and logo changes has been changed from the ACON building to Darlinghurst’s Heffron Hall at 34 Burton St.

The event will still take place from 10am until noon.

INFO: www.mardigras.org.au

Still no inquiry into transgender woman’s death

Almost three years after an indigenous transgender woman died under suspicious circumstances in a NSW prison; there is little support for a parliamentary inquiry into the matter.

Veronica Baxter died in a men’s prison, age 34. She hung herself in early 2009, despite being assessed and found to be happy three separate times.

No one can remember who spoke to her last or what was said, and the coronial inquiry two years after the incident has been described as a ‘sham’ and ‘cover up’.

Ms Baxter had commenced hormone therapy, but there was no mention of whether she was provided with ongoing hormone medication in the coronial findings.

This is significant because The Department of Correctional Services and Justice Health have legal responsibility to provide transgender people continued access to their medicine if they have already started the treatment.

Transgender people are known to become suicidal if their hormone therapy is ended abruptly.

Two sets of health notes which would have indicated whether Ms Baxter was receiving this treatment have disappeared. Case notes entered into the computer on the14th of March at the MRRC were not saved and case notes from her time at the Sydney Police Centre in Surry Hills have gone missing.

In response to recent question son notice asking if Ms Baxter was supplied her hormone treatment while under the care of justice health, The Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Michael Gallacher, refused to confirm it, saying only that “All health services provided by Justice Health to Ms Baxter during her time in custody were in line with Justice Health policy.”

Mr Gallacher dismissed any concerns relating to her death, saying “Ms Baxter’s death was the subject of a Coronial Inquest.

The Coroner made no recommendations in relation to Ms Baxter’s death.”NSW Greens MLC David Shoebridge is concerned about the validity of the inquest.

“It is a serious disappointment and a failing in the system that there was a two-year delay for half-day coronial inquest,’’ he said. “That delay has meant that witness recollections were stale.’’ “There was no expert psychological testimony about the impact of Veronica not receiving her hormone therapy in gaol. The details of her last desperate calls tithe prison’s emergency help line were not recorded and witnesses who may have taken the calls denied any recollection of what was said.”

“The death of Veronica Baxter under such disturbing circumstances cannot just be ignored. It is essential that this woman, who was doubly vulnerable identifying as both Aboriginal and transgender, receives some justice. Her family, her friends and the community deserve some real answers,” Mr Shoebridge said.

Ray Jackson, president of the Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA), an advocacy group with a long history in dealing with aboriginal deaths in custody, believes Correctional Services and Justice Healthcare conspiring to cover up the circumstances around Veronica’s death.

“This inquiry was a sham. It did not resolve how she died. We saw whitewash,” he said.

By Jason Marshall

Re-posted from: http://www.altmedia.net.au/still-no-support-for-inquiry-into-transgender-womans-death/46115

‘We’re not going straight’ - Mardi Gras Sydney

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG) has moved to quash conjecture it is “going straight” after it changed the name of the parade and festival to the Sydney Mardi Gras.

“The objects and policies in the organisation’s constitution have not and will not change and SGLMG remains committed to producing LGBTQI events and advancing LGBTQI interests,” Mardi Gras CEO Michael Rolik told the Star Observer.

“It seems the fear is that the name change signifies a content change as well. It does not. Participation in all our events — including Parade and Fair Day — remains subject to the same criteria and these remain unchanged.”

Rolik acknowledged that some people felt there had been a lack of consultation over the name change, but said it had come out of a survey of members and non-members conducted earlier this year.

“An overwhelming majority said we should call the organisation Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, rather than keep it as New Mardi Gras,” he said.

“A substantial number also suggested other names — the lead being ‘Sydney Mardi Gras’, with comments stating that it was a more inclusive and internationally recognised name, and that everyone knows it’s a queer festival.”

Feedback from SGLMG’s Youth, Women and Community Engagement committees also informed the move, as had a unanimous vote at the company’s AGM this year to include intersex people in the organisation’s constitution — meaning there were now four groups left unrecognised in the name.

Rolik said it was unfortunate that confusion over the name change had overshadowed it’s first season 2012 announcements.

Parade producer Victor Petroff and artistic director Ignatius Jones will return in 2012, while SGLMG will double funding for the production of in-house floats. Community floats will receive additional cash from the Big Gay Weekend funds.

Attendees have also been told to expect an extra-special 30th Mardi Gras Party.

“We’re promising a party like never before in the Entertainment Quarter, transforming it into a theme park — Mardigrasland,” Rolik said.

“You can expect not just a huge RHI production number from Ru Paul but also a bonus intimate show in our little Retroland and there will also be sublime and ridiculous cabaret from the amazing Dame Edna
Experience coming over from London.”

UK electronic act Chicane will close the Hordern Pavilion with a two-hour live set.

SGLMG will also resurrect the Laneway recovery party in 2012.

Glamazon! Featuring RuPaul

So this has to be the biggest news to come out for the Mardi Gras 2012 period!

RuPaul, the world’s greatest drag supermodel is heading to Australia for the first time in over a decade to perform live at “Glamazon”, a one night only dance party spectacular held in honour of the drag diva herself.

Boasting an impressive line-up including girl group sensation The Margaritas, The Wild Spirit Aerialists plus 3 of Australia’s most recognised DJ’s: Jimmy Dee, Dan Murphy and Kitty Glitter, the night will culminate to an spectacular live performance by RuPaul.

Glamazon presents a rare opportunity for Sydney fans to have an audience with their Queen in a night of glitz and glamour. Without a doubt the most anticipated event this coming Mardi Gras season. One night only, tickets limited.

When: Sunday 04 March from 20:00 to 23:00
Where: Metro Theatre, Sydney Australia
Ticket Price: $85.00 (plus booking fee)


This is an 18+ Event, so if you buy tickets and are under-age you will not be permitted.

DIVA Awards 2011

The 2011 DIVA Awards have just finished and were held at Fox Studios Australia. The night was full of pizzazz and glamour where the cream of Sydney’s drag scene were recognised.

Decoda Secret was named Entertainer of the Year

Joyce Maynge was named Queen of Hearts award, while Mama Shirl took out Costume Designer of the Year

Chelsea Bunn was named Miss Congeniality while the Variety Award went to Rock Your Box Flash Mobs

Most Popular Male Performer went to Ripley Waters and Most Popular Venue to The Midnight Shift

Charisma Belle was named as Sydney’s Favourite Drag Personality and Kitty Glitter Sydney’s Favourite DJ

Most Popular Show went to Twisted Fairytales and Bitch Of The Year to Tora Hymen

Lil’ X took out the Rising Star category, while Christy McNicol was inducted into the Hall Of Fame

The Technical Achievement award went to Hank Adam while Dallas Dellaforce and her production team from the 2011 Mardi Gras Show were recognised for their Big Diva Moment.

Now all we need to know is who is ready for next year?

Charisma Bell (Pictured Above) named as Sydney's Favourite Drag Queen

'I DO' - Australian Marriage Equality Ad

Australian Marriage Equality have released their latest video campaign on YouTube to promote the growing support for Gay & Lesbian Marriage. Hundreds of people attended the event which was held at Sydney Town Hall on the 25th September 2011.

Have a look if you haven't seen this already