On what date was the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras inaugurated?

The first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras was inaugurated on 24 June 1978.

It began as a gay-rights protest and street festival in Sydney, organised during a period of international Gay Solidarity events commemorating the 1969 Stonewall uprising. Organisers called participants to move “out of the bars and into the streets” on Oxford Street.

Although the march had initially received permission, police later revoked it and broke up the event near Kings Cross. Fifty-three participants were arrested, and many were publicly identified in newspaper reports. The arrests and subsequent protests helped turn Mardi Gras into a major Australian gay-rights movement.

A common mix-up is treating 1978 as the year of the first modern summer parade. The event was originally held in June; after the third parade, organisers moved the celebration to summer, and the parade shifted to February in 1981. The name also refers to a pride event, not a traditional pre-Lenten Mardi Gras celebration.