From Tunis to Fiji, from Lebanon to the land of Pence, This Way Out’s Planet Pride: Power and Paradoxes travels around the world to discover how LGBTQ Pride is being celebrated and defended in 2018. This hour-long Pride Month Special peaks with our coverage from Sydney, Australia of the 40th Anniversary Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras featuring Cher.
Australia’s Stonewall happened in 1978 when the first effort to stage a Mardi Gras march for queer rights was met with police violence. Veterans of that melee are heard taking a tour of the landmarks of the incident and reflecting on the experience. Today the iconic event includes Koori Gras, featuring indigenous LGBTQI people like Dreamtime Divas and Canada’s Lacey Hill.
In the wake of the controversial national vote on marriage equality and the subsequent victory in Parliament, the glitter and glamour of the Parade itself was not without its political edge … and even Cher found herself walking into a partisan minefield! Planet Pride also spotlights news reports from Pride events in Myanmar, Tunsia, Lebanon, Fiji … and a couple of unlikely places in the good old USA.