{"id":511976,"date":"2026-03-01T15:02:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T15:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/511976\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T15:02:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T15:02:22","slug":"sydney-mardi-gras-mitch-brown-and-matthew-pavlich-lead-crowd-at-oxford-street-parade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/511976\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney Mardi Gras: Mitch Brown and Matthew Pavlich lead crowd at Oxford Street parade"},"content":{"rendered":"

For many West Australians watching from afar, it was a striking image: former Fremantle champion Matthew Pavlich, ex West Coast Eagles defender Mitch Brown and Sydney Swans\u2019 Brodie Grundy leading the crowd at Sydney\u2019s Mardi Gras event.<\/p>\n

The trio marched down Oxford Street beneath a wash of rainbow lights and red-and-white club colours for the two-kilometre route.<\/p>\n

Light rain didn\u2019t stop the close to 10,000 revellers; but the crowd were significantly smaller than previous years, where typically hundreds of thousands of people come out to celebrate.<\/p>\n

A poignant moment came when former AFL player Mitch Brown, who recently came out as bisexual, walked with the crowd as a parade co-host.<\/p>\n

Brown has previously spoken candidly about the importance of visibility and the power of professional sport to foster acceptance.<\/p>\n

\"ExCamera IconEx Dockers player Matthew Pavlich at Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras with Brodie Brundy. Credit: Sydney Swans\/Instagram\"ExCamera IconEx West Coast Eagles player Mitch Brown was co-host at Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Credit: Unknown\/ABC iView<\/p>\n

Pavlich, who officially stepped into the Swans\u2019 top off-field job this summer, described the club\u2019s presence as a statement of inclusion and respect.<\/p>\n

Grundy, one of Sydney\u2019s most recognisable on-field figures, embraced the festive mood – smiling for photos along the route.<\/p>\n

Many put the crowd size down a rift after \u2018Pride in Protest\u2019 was banned from the Mardi Gras parade after refusing to remove what was organisers labelled \u201cunacceptable public commentary\u201d directed at a Jewish parade group.<\/p>\n

Despite the drama, 200 floats made their way along Oxford Street for the 48th edition of the celebrations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For many West Australians watching from afar, it was a striking image: former Fremantle champion Matthew Pavlich, ex…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-511976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}