Mardi Gras
More than 80 members of the community turned last night to join the Dayenu float in the 2013 Mardi Gras parade.
Acting Dayenu president Kim Gotlieb reports:
Enjoying the night Photos: Tomar Hasson
Last night was an amazing night for Dayenu – Sydney’s Jewish GLBT Group – (Gay Lesbian Transgender & Bisexual group). We celebrated our Bar Mitzvah in the Mardi Gras parade with a float featuring a dazzling pink Magen David, emblazoned with the words Mazel Tov. On board was our President, Kim Gotlieb in a fascinating gold rainbow outfit and committee member, Susie Griffin in a chassidic outfit.
We had over 70 people marching, many travelling from interstate to be part of the festivities. We made beautiful rainbow tallitot with pink fringing and choreographed an excellent routine which the crowd loved.
Our President will be stepping down shortly, and we look forward to a future where we can strengthen our place in the communal landscape of Sydney.
There continues to be many people within the GLBT communities who experience difficulties with their families as well as youth who struggle at school, and then deal with not-so-great coming out processes. There are also the issues of people remaining in unsatisfactory marriages -sometimes associated with the pressure to keep up appearances, and sometimes concerned about the estrangement from family and community,which can emerge once one comes out in later life. Many gay people have stepped away from Jewish communal life – some appreciate that this is the reason, others can not be clear about their reasons.
