(Toowoomba, Australia) — Sydney was once again the host city for a Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, which ran from February 14 to March 2, 2025. This year, the parade itself (which is often a magnet for controversy) was held on Saturday, March 1. The theme for this year’s festival was “Free to Be”. After witnessing one such moment, where a drag performer was pointing a spear at a person dressed as Jesus Christ, it is clear that some participants wanted to exercise their freedom to be blasphemous! The question that organisers and participants need to reflect on is this: why is it only Christianity that is always mocked and attacked? Why not Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and others? Well, whether they realise it or not, they are being inspired by the adversary to attack the truth.
Leaving aside the gay and lesbian portion of Mardi Gras for a moment, many people are unaware of its pagan history. In fact, some historians point to the celebrations of Saturnalia and Lupercalia as potential origins of the modern Mardi Gras, with both involving feasting, masquerading, dancing, and drinking. The Saturnalia, dedicated to Saturn (the Roman god of the harvest), was a harvest festival celebrated in mid-December. The various inhabitants of Rome and other cities would throw great feasts and ignore various rules of etiquette at the time. Presents were exchanged and merrymakers made a habit of dressing up in a variety of outfits, while temporarily celebrating the suspension of social norms. Lupercalia (which was celebrated in mid-February) had a much darker side. Also celebrated by the Romans, Lupercalia was a bloody, violent, and sexually charged celebration awash with animal sacrifice in the hopes of warding off evil spirits and infertility.
Roman traditions eventually influenced medieval France and it is here that we bear witness to the origins of the term “Mardi Gras”. Although this term has come to reflect the supposed festivity, freedom, and fun promoted by the LGBT community around the world, the meaning of the term bears no connection to an LGBT lifestyle at all. You see, “Mardi Gras” is French for “Fat Tuesday”, which was a pre-Lenten celebration observed by French Catholics. It was called “fat” because observers would use up all of the rich, fatty foods in their home prior to the fasting and abstinence observed during Lent. It was observed on “Tuesday” because they needed to consume these foods on the Tuesday immediately before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday.
Some also refer to it as Pancake Tuesday because it is customary to eat pancakes. It is said that this tradition stems from the need to exhaust the reserves of eggs and fats that will not be used during Lent. But you may ask, how did we go from pancakes before Lent to drag performers committing blasphemy? It must be remembered that in the Middle Ages, the disguises of Mardi Gras not only promoted fun (supposedly), but also encouraged participants to transgress the boundaries of the social order. Thus, the poor could dress as rich, men could dress as women, lay people could dress as religious servants, civilians could dress as policemen and so on. So, although there is a degree of uncertainty as to whether there was a sinister intent behind such historical social transgressions, the LGBT community has adopted the spirit of Mardi Gras and turned it into a celebration of all things queer.
Australia’s first gay and lesbian Mardi Gras did not take place until 1978 when a group of young queer Australians decided to march in order to protest the criminalisation of homosexuality in Australia and denial of equal rights to the LGBT community. The event was also intended to be Sydney’s contribution to the Gay Solidarity Celebrations, an international show of support for New York’s Stonewall riots in 1969. Since then, it is estimated that the parade attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators and over 10,000 participants. But the parade is not merely the supposed celebration of a particular lifestyle – lately, it also promotes the denigration of Christianity. That is what has drawn the ire of Christians in Australia. It would appear that in order for the LGBT community to feel free to celebrate, they must first denigrate. But why? As I said earlier, it is an attack on truth.
People love the truth when it shines warmly on them but hate it when it rebukes them. That is why people hate the Word of God – it reveals the true character and darkness of man and his sin. That is also why people are so intent on suppressing and perverting the truth of God in this age – because it rebukes the vile sins that the world embraces. Truth cannot be adequately explained, recognised, understood or defined without God as the source. In fact, notice that God’s truth has been given to us in a threefold way:
- His Word is truth — John 17:17: “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.“
- His Son is truth — John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me.”
- His Spirit is truth — 1 John 5:6: “And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.”
The Bible treats truth as a treasure. The world treats truth as an inconvenience – an obstacle to sinful living. But to reject and rebel against the truth of God results in darkness, folly, sin, judgement, and the wrath of God. This is a consequence that is not only ignored by most of mankind, but also openly ridiculed. Worse, we are accused of engaging in hate speech if we warn people of the consequences of their sin. Yet, we are reminded that truth sounds like hate to those who hate the truth.
To those who participated in the mockery of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on those streets of Sydney, let me say this. Yes, we were offended. Yes, we are growing tired of the constant mockery. Yes, we are disappointed with your attack on God’s truth. But know this also – we would rejoice if you were to come to a saving faith in Jesus. John 3:17-18 says, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
