Members of the La Perouse First Nations community in Sydney will be making their debut in one of the first 'floats' at this year's parade. First Nations families have lived in La Perouse for more than seven and a half thousand years and the group's organisers want to show they're still here and thriving.
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00:00The LARPA legends are putting on their final touches for their Mardi Gras parade debut.
00:17This year's theme is all about being free to be.
00:19We can express ourselves the way we want to without shame.
00:24For Vanessa Mason, it'll be her first time making the two kilometre journey through Sydney's
00:29queer district.
00:30I feel like I've earned my wings.
00:32But growing up in the La Perouse Aboriginal community as a queer woman, she didn't always
00:36feel she could express herself.
00:38I just had to suppress it because of fears of being punished for it.
00:46Now she's ready to step out with the support of her community.
00:50My mum would be very proud of me.
00:52In the late 1800s, First Nations people were relocated to a mission in La Perouse.
00:57For sister girl Kuncha Brown, it's about showing who they are.
01:00I think it sort of like shows that we're still here.
01:03We actually have an Aboriginal community within Sydney that a lot of people don't realise.
01:10And they won't shy away from raising awareness of the issues impacting mob.
01:14Aunty Kuncha says this aligns with the protest origins of Mardi Gras in 1978.
01:18I was on the side watching with a few friends and then the police come and I said, no I'm
01:25going.
01:27Wearing hand-painted capes, the group are not only expressing their LGBTIQA plus identity,
01:33but also their cultural ties.
01:36They act as almost concepts of protest but celebration of identity.
01:42So there's one here of all the shells that you see and can find all across the shores
01:49of La Perouse.
01:50So I'm going to be angelic for a night.
01:54It signifies purity.
01:56So I'm, you know, pure.
02:01From New South Wales Wreck Bay, Kieran Brown says his sexuality wasn't always understood
02:05when he was younger.
02:06I was like the only gay in the village down there.
02:09He moved to La Perouse in his teens and has felt accepted.
02:12Now as a father of three and standing in the federal election for the Greens, he wants
02:16the next generation to know they're not alone.
02:19It just shows that no matter where you're from, there are gay people in the community
02:25and we all have our supporters that are there to push us up high so we thrive in the world.