Bali Goes to 2006 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
Bali Rainbow Community Mounts the Island's First-Ever Float
in Australia's Annual Celebration of Gay Community
Fund Raising Party in Seminyak to be held February 25,
at Waroeng Bonita and Kudos/Q Bar
FOR GENERAL RELEASE, 6 February 2006
An informal organization of gay and lesbian residents of Bali, calling itself the Bali Rainbow Community, is organizing the island's first-ever participation in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. The group is raising funds in Bali, Australia, and beyond to finance a float in the annual parade, one of the leading worldwide celebrations of gay life and style. The parade, a colorful, creative explosion of glamour and funk, will march this year on Saturday, March 4.
The idea of Bali's participation in the annual extravaganza originated with Desmond James, founder of a sourcing/buying agency, and his partner, Wayan Sanjaya. It began as a lark: James, a native Melbournian, and Sanjaya were talking and e-mailing with friends about the upcoming Mardi Gras, and found that many of them, both Indonesian and Australian, loved the idea of creating a spectacular float for Bali in the 2006 parade.
The friendship between Australia and Bali is deep and long-established, despite being strained over the past year by a series of controversial drug trials. This negative publicity, further darkened by a tragic bombing at Jimbaran Bay last October, has tended to overshadow the fundamental empathy between the two lands and peoples. The Bali Rainbow Community seeks to reaffirm these long-standing ties by participating in Australia's premiere gay and lesbian celebration.
Once word got out, the response was swift and overwhelmingly positive. Other local business people in Bali quickly got involved, and start-up money came from friends in Australia. Plans are now well underway to organize a gorgeously costumed contingent with the simple theme "Bali Rainbow Community." At a recent meeting, the ad hoc group agreed that Bali's float should have no commercial sponsors, and made a commitment not to use the occasion to promote the members' own businesses. The sole aim is to joyously confirm the long-standing friendship between the Island of the Gods and the Island Continent. The organizers hope the Bali float will involve forty or more Indonesian gay men and women and their partners and friends - people who come from, live in, or simply love Bali.
While the travel expenses of all the marchers will be self-funded, the group is now raising money to defray the costs of the float, for truck rental, costumes, and music. Making a statement of friendship and mutual support is important - and so is making a fabulous impression!
To raise awareness about the Bali Rainbow Community's participation in the 2006 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras - and the money that will make it possible - the group is sponsoring a fund-raising barbecue and dance party on February 25. The evening will begin at 8.30 p.m. with a barbecue dinner and floor show at Waroeng Bonita, a leading gay-owned restaurant on Jalan Petitenget; then at 11, partiers will be transported by limousine to Jalan Dhayanapura for a gala dance night at Kudos/Q-Bar, Bali's leading gay-oriented club venues. Tickets are strictly limited in number to 100 patrons, priced at 100,000 rupiahs per person, for dinner at Bonita and two cocktails at Kudos/Q. Participants will be invited to make further contributions at the party.
For further information and press interviews, contact Desmond James, on +62 811 392 181 or desmond@sourcing-bali.com; Madame Bonita for Waroeng Bonita, on +62 361 746 5348 or booking57@bonitabali.com; and for Kudos/Q-Bar, contact Umar Ali Assegaff on +62 818 357 509 or Tom Tierney at tom@kudosbali.com.