Archive Article

Mardi Gras 2004

THE RIGHTS STUFF GLRL Newsletter 2004 |

THE RIGHTS STUFF GLRL Newsletter 2004

Mardi Gras season, as usual, made for an extremely busy couple of months for the GLRL Events team. GLRL staged or participated in six Events associated with the Mardi Gras season - the post-launch “Launched” party, the “Boxing Club”, Fair Day, the Raffle draw, the Azure party and the Parade - as well as a “Thank you” event for our volunteers, held just prior to commencement of the season.

The season was preceded on January 31 by our inaugural annual Volunteer Appreciation Event – on this occasion, a champagne picnic held in the Botanic Gardens. A crowd of volunteers, old and new, from management committee and working groups, attended this sunny afternoon event, followed by drinks at sunset beside the Harbour and Opera House. It was an opportunity to thank volunteers for their efforts in 2003 as well as to make informal contact in preparation for the upcoming 2004 Mardi Gras season.

Thanks are due also to the volunteers who helped to make this day successful. Particular thanks are due to Shane Carter for his generous donation of champagne for the day.

If you’d like to volunteer a little (or a lot if you like!) of your time each month to help GLRL in 2004, ( click here ).

The GLRL's Mardi Gras 2004 events got off to a roaring start with a fun and reasonably profitable “Launched” party, held at the Stonewall Hotel on Friday 6 February as a follow on event after the Mardi Gras season launch in Hyde Park .

Our Door people collected more than $1500 at this event and our Mardi Gras Raffle got off to a firm start. We also gained a number of potential new members during the evening.

Thanks to Deb, Ricca, Jonathan & the door staff from Stonewall who were wonderfully supportive on the night.

Candy Box gave GLRL a number of onstage plugs and also auctioned off a Stonewall VIP Membership as a fundraiser for us. In one of the sweetest actions of the evening, Chelsea Bun helped bid up this prize, eventually winning it - something she certainly doesn't need - for $200. Effectively, this entertainer gave the Lobby a $200 donation!

Our fun and fantastic Boxing Club event with Gillian Minervini, Julianne Sanders and Shane O’Brien on Wednesday 18 February filled the Imperial Hotel’s show room and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Our sincere thanks to Gillian, Julianne, Shane and crew for putting on a great professional show! Thanks also to Arlene and Paul and the Imperial staff for providing us with their fab venue and valued assistance during the evening.

Much appreciation is due to our wonderful & entertaining guest "prize fighters", Lynnette Osborn and Andrew Brennan, who really fired things up for us, and to everyone who got up to vent their spleen!

Congratulations to prize winner, Jenny Mann, who received the audience vote for the best "box", with a spirited defence of the older lesbian.. Jenny won Mardi Gras Odyssey Lounge Recovery tickets and a beauty treatment at the new "Salt" clinic about to open in Taylor Square . (Thanks to Shane Carter for that one!)

This Event was always primarily about community consultation, education and profile for the Lobby, but we also pulled in some extra funds to assist in covering our costs. Raffle takings amounted to just under $200 and Door coin collection came to just under $260.

Thanks to everyone who helped out and braved sunburn at this year’s Fair Day.

This was the first Fair Day featuring one of our new giant GLRL emblem flags, donated by and transported from San Francisco by Jim Boyd. Jim also braved sunburn to promote the Lobby to the crowd, many of whom apparently decided that the flag was a good place to throw coin donations. Ultimately we collected about $500 from this source.

We also gained a number of new members on the day and sold about $280 worth of raffle tickets.

The GLRL marched under the banner of “The Same-Sex Super Squad” in a Mardi Gras Parade that not even the rain could put a stop to. In a federal election year, the entry highlighted the need for superannuation reform for same sex couples, along with other issues such as relationship recognition, workplace discrimination and violence.

The entry cost approximately $2000 to produce and featured gays & lesbians dressed as “Same-Sex Supermen and Superwomen” as well as a marching group of “Mild-Mannered Citizens” who carried aloft the huge new Lobby emblem flags. The entry received some media coverage in the week before the parade being featured on the front cover of the SSO and also on Channel 7’s Sunrise Program.

Thanks to all the volunteers who contributed with costumes and the media. And thanks to all the Superheros and Citizens who spent hours on a very wet parade route and marched on behalf of the GLRL.

Our fundraising raffle this year ran over all of our season events from Launched until the Raffle Draw Night, and raised close to $1000. Prizes were:

Thanks to the fantastic businesses who were kind enough to put up such great prizes. Congratulations to all the winners! And thanks for supporting GLRL!

To crown things off, the fabulous Azure Party again made its mark in Sydney ’s most beautiful party setting in the Royal Botanic Gardens on Sunday 29 February. A big thanks to Azure organisers Iris for their continued support of the GLRL in 2004.

Overall GLRL gained some good exposure for our campaigns, a number of new members and volunteers and collected sufficient income from raffle ticket sales and door and other donations to almost cover our costs for the season.

A Big Thanks Again to ALL who contributed over the Mardi Gras Season.