In less than two weeks Sydney will host the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade. Every year organisers boast amazing attendance figures. Currently their Website is claiming “…..over half a million Sydneysiders turn out each year to cheer on the parade.” (http://www.mardigras.org.au/internal.cfm?sub=Parade&nav=Mardi%20Gras%2007).

For years I have accepted these figures, but recently I started to question their accuracy. I soon found out that a bit of basic primary school maths raises some raises some very interesting questions.

Let’s assume that 2 people standing shoulder to shoulder take up about one metre in length.
The Mardi Gras parade is, at the most, 2km long.
Therefore, 4000 people standing shoulder to shoulder would form a single line 2km long.
When viewing press photos and TV news coverage of the parade and the crowd only ever seems to be 5 or 6 rows deep. That’s 5 or 6 single lines.
Even if the crowd was 10 deep on both sides of the road, for 2 km, We are looking at no more that 80,000 people. 20 rows X 4000 people)

If there were 500,000 people in attendance the crowd would have to be 64 rows deep on both sides of the road for the full length of the parade.

If we assume that each row is about half a metre deep then for “…..over half a million Sydneysiders turn out each year to cheer on the parade.” The viewing area would need to be more than 30 metres wide, on both sides of the road for the full length of the Parade. That is the equivalent of ten lanes of traffic either side of the parade route.

Blind Freddie can see that attendance figures of half a million are totally unrealistic. Even 10% of that would be generous.

Can anyone tell me why these figures are so exaggerated and what do the organisers hope to prove by making such outrages claims?

These people will inflate figures in an effort to legitamise a perverted lifestyle. No doubt the figures quoted by SBS/ABC will be much higher than those attending.

I think the Mardi gras are a yawn. I have only seen it on television and have the impression of a collection of sad old drag queens showing too much of their hairy and pimply bums while trying to look happy. The poor old butch chicks meanwhile feign happiness while attempting to attract a dolly and advertise their life style.

Proverbs, take a closer look at the footage this year. The buildings lining the street are packed, people climb onto shopfront awnings and up telegraph poles and crowd onto the rooves of buildings to watch it.

There's also a lot of movement as people come and go from Mardi Gras parties in the area. The side streets are also packed as is the upward curve of Oxford Street off the main route of the parade. And it doesn't end with the parade itself as people crowd around the areas around the beginning and ends of the route.

I don't know how the crowd numbers are officially estimated, but the numbers on the footpaths along the route are only a portion of the total crowd.

Regardless of the messages the Mardi Gras sends about sexuality it is a fantastic spectacle with free entry. A lot of the crowd is there for the entertainment more than to make a statement about sexuality. That's certainly the case for our heterosexual, standard nuclear family.

Chainsmoker,

Even if the crowd was ten deep either side of the road I am sure the buildings would collapse if you had anothr 450,000 people hanging out the windows.

The point is that the figures are totally outrages. The police have even refused to continue to verify such figures

Adam Carr, a prominent homosexual journalist/activist, in an article in the Melbourne Star, a homosexual newspaper, entitled “Mardi Gras crowd puzzle” (March 7, p. 6). argues for a ‘total crowd of 60,000 to 75,000’.

As for the entertainment, Thanks but no thanks.

Basically we have a group of people who are publically saying "this is how I like to have sex". They are then trying to justify this by overstating the number of people who support them.

Why don't we have a parade that celebrates all types of sexuuality. We could have floats depicting threesomes, Bondage, beastiality and the list goes on.

As for your encouragement to enjoy the "entertainment", Thanks but no thanks.

My pre teen children do not need to see such open displays of sexuality. I prefer to let them grow up and enjoy their childhood.

In fact, I am sure I don't need to see that sort of stuff either

proverbs: "Let’s assume that 2 people standing shoulder to shoulder take up about one metre in length.
The Mardi Gras parade is, at the most, 2km long.
Therefore, 4000 people standing shoulder to shoulder would form a single line 2km long.
When viewing press photos and TV news coverage of the parade and the crowd only ever seems to be 5 or 6 rows deep. That’s 5 or 6 single lines.
Even if the crowd was 10 deep on both sides of the road, for 2 km, We are looking at no more that 80,000 people. 20 rows X 4000 people)"

This argument seems to me to be a little (ahem) 'anal retentive'... google it if you don't know what it means :)

Get a life, mate.