Mardi Gras 2026 LIVE updates: 10,000 revellers, more than 200 floats ready for Oxford Street parade in Sydney’s 48th Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras celebrations

And we have more on the fallout over activist group Pride in Protest’s exclusion from the parade tonight.

Jenny Leong, the NSW Greens MP for Newtown said there was “no excuse and no justification” for Mardi Gras’ chief executive Jesse Matheson to ban Pride in Protest from the parade.

“I have empathy for the pressure that would have been put on Mardi Gras. But that is no excuse to engage in censorship and punitive measures against those who stand up and speak out for human rights and against genocide,” she said.

NSW Greens MP Amanda Cohn said the Sydney Mardi Gras has a “proud history of standing up to authority since 1978, and there is a place for Pride in Protest to be in the parade tonight.”

Federal Greens senator Nick McKim said: “Calling out genocide apologists is actually a really, really cool thing to do, and nobody – nobody – should be sanctioned for it. Pride in Protest should be marching with us today.”

One of the original “78ers” who took part in the 1978 protest that spawned the city’s annual pride parade has slammed Mardi Gras’ decision to exclude an activist group’s float after they made social media posts claiming a Jewish float supported genocide.

Pride in Protest, a left-wing group that has previously marched in the parade with Palestinian flags and recently claimed the Mardi Gras organisation is transphobic, was excluded after not replying to a formal warning issued on Friday morning.

Mardi Gras Chief Executive Jesse Matheson emailed Pride in Protest at 11am on Friday asking the group to remove an Instagram post characterising a Jewish float, Dayenu, as “pro-genocide” and alleging they “support genocide”.

Standing outside St Andrew’s Cathedral near Town Hall station today, Mark Gillespie said: “I’m saying that as a 78er, I want Pride in Protest in not out of the parade,” which was met with cheers of support from the crowd.

He called Mardi Gras chief executive Jesse Matheson “in an attempt at mediation” and told him it was a “foolish” move to ban Pride in Protest.

“This was a blatant attempt by the chief executive of Mardi Gras to demonise this very group which carries the very soul of the first Mardi Gras,” Gillespie said.

Dazzling in a cape thrifted from Vinnies and splashed with sequins, Stephen Carter couldn’t be more thrilled to be at Mardi Gras.

“Mardi Gras is a good reason to come together and be a bit colourful, a bit nonsense and a little bit mischievous,” he said. “In a very serious world, don’t take things too seriously.”

And with news that the official Mardi Gras after party is off the table this year after organisers scrapped the event due to financial losses, we’re handing the reins to the revellers.

The floor is yours: if you were calling the shots, who would be your dream headliner?

If it were up to Bryce Wentworth, the answer is easy: “Cher or Kylie,” he said.

“I can’t think of anyone else – they are dykeons. They might not be lesbians, but they have a big gay following.”

Back at the marshalling area in Hyde Park, some are reflecting on the long journey it took to embrace their sexuality.

Growing up in Mudgee in the NSW central west, Michael Faucett hid his sexuality for years.

“I was always worried, I didn’t come out until I was 31 because of the fear,” he said.

Standing alongside the Harbour City Bears, a Sydney’s community for LGBTQ+ hairy or bearded gay men, Faucett, now 61, beams when thinks of how far he has come.

“Back then I would have been amazed to think we can celebrate something that is natural”, he said.

Faucett has played an active role in Australia’s fight for gay rights, fighting for marriage equality. He was featured in a Sydney Morning Herald article in 2011.

While many keen revellers are eager to see the parade get under way, some may rock up late tonight.

And the reason? You can’t miss your own wedding!

Heath Seib and Darren Sheen met by sheer coincidence thirty years ago at the 1996 Mardi Gras.

Had the two men who grew up on the Central Coast and at the time were not out as gay, not travelled to Sydney’s Oxford Street that night, it “might have just been a friendship”, Sheen said.

Thirty years on from their first meeting, Seib and Sheen tied the knot today. They will march in the parade tonight on a wedding-themed float.

About 200 guests attended the couple’s nuptials at the Hollywood Hotel in Surry Hills, dressed head-to-toe in white wedding tuxes or gowns.

Read more of their story here.

The marshalling area at Hyde Park is awash with colour as marchers embrace this year’s theme of “ECSTATICA”.

We are counting down the clock now – the start of the parade is three hours away.

More than 10,000 spectators and up to 200 floats are expected to line up on Oxford Street tonight.

Here’s a taste of the showstopping glitter, stickers and outfits through the eyes of our photographers Audrey Richardson and Sitthixay Ditthavong.

The sun is shining and there is a buzz in the air as paraders descend on Hyde Park for the 48th annual Mardi Gras celebrations.

The marshalling area has only just opened, so crowds are a little thin, but it has not stopped Amy Forsyth and Anna Stewart from the CSIRO from getting excited.

“This is the first time I’m marching, and we are really proud of our workplace’s progressive culture,” said Forsyth.

With a little more than three hours before the parade kicks off, the anticipation in the air is palpable.

An activist float has been kicked out of the Sydney Mardi Gras less than 24 hours before the parade after it claimed a Jewish float supported genocide.

Pride in Protest, a left-wing group that has previously marched in the parade with Palestinian flags and recently claimed the Mardi Gras organisation was transphobic, was excluded after not replying to a formal warning issued on Friday morning.

Mardi Gras chief executive Jesse Matheson emailed Pride in Protest at 11am on Friday asking the group to remove an Instagram post characterising a Jewish float, Dayenu, as “pro-genocide” and alleging it “support genocide”.

“[Mardi Gras] considers that the nature and manner of these statements, directed at a fellow approved parade entrant, raises serious concerns regarding compliance with the code of conduct,” he wrote. The organisation had received complaints about Pride in Protest’s posts.

Mardi Gras’ code of conduct prohibits parade participants from harassing, bullying or discriminating against other participants.

Dayenu had pulled out of this year’s parade, citing safety concerns following the Bondi attack. However, last week it announced it was rejoining the march.

Pride in Protest slammed its removal on Saturday morning, calling on Mardi Gras to immediately revoke the decision.

Read the full story here.

This year’s Mardi Gras celebrations marks the first time train, light rail, and metro services will run on a 24-hour timetable for a major event other than Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations.

There will be additional train services late at night and early in the morning to help parade-goers get home, but Transport for NSW has urged commuters to plan ahead as, from about 1am on Sunday, not all train lines will run frequent train services.

Metro services will run every five minutes from 5pm until midnight, every 10 minutes until 2am, then every 20 minutes until 5am on Sunday. Light rail services will also run around the clock until 5am on Sunday.

There will be extra daytime and late-night bus services, with a number of routes diverting around the road closures and using different stops. Additional late night 370 and 343 services will also be operating on a 24-hour timetable.

Karl Zlotkowski remembers the horrors of the first Mardi Gras in 1978, when Sydney’s gay and lesbian community came out onto the streets and were met with violence.

One of the “78ers” who took part in the protest that spawned the city’s annual pride parade, Zlotkowski said reports this week of gay and bisexual men being lured off dating apps and beaten in Sydney parks were eerily reminiscent of a violent past from decades ago.

“It’s appalling,” Zlotkowski said. “It’s revisiting horrors many of us had to deal with going back to the 1970s.”

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras chief executive Jesse Matheson – who himself was brutally beaten as a teenager for being gay – said it was more important than ever to carry on the legacy of the parade as it turns 48.

Tens of thousands of revellers and up to 200 floats will descend on Oxford Street tonight. This year’s theme, ECSTATICA, promises to be a celebration of euphoric rebellion, capturing the feeling of collective release when queer communities freely move and gather in public spaces with joy, pride and defiance.

Read the full story here.