Oooh, Mardi Gras

This Saturday is London Mardi Gras. It kicks off with the Pride Parade, a procession of marchers and carnival floats starting from Hyde Park Corner at noon and passing through Central London to Victoria.

This year's theme is 'Gays Through The Ages'. Afterwards London Mardi Gras 2002 takes place on Hackney Marshes from 1pm. Main stage acts include Westlife, H&Claire (ex Steps), Atomic Kitten, A1 and Hear'Say. Also appearing are Suede and the Human League, and attractions include a comedy marquee, cabaret club and the Classic FM Stage. The Radio 1 stage will be broadcasting live and dance tents include Manchester's Paradise Factory, Liverpool's Garlands, Liberté, First and Trade.

Meanwhile, at the Vauxhall Tavern, the Duckie crew take a swipe at what they see as the selling out of the original Gay Pride concept with their annual Gay Shame & Lesbian event. Launched back in 1966, Gay Shame laments the way gay culture has been taken over by corporate messages, money-grabbing business propaganda, boring pop music and bad attitude.

Duckie's Simon Casson says of his reasons for starting the event: 'Gay Pride was a community event and a political idea, and I resent that being stolen away by these unadventurous venture capitalists. I know this sounds overly sentimental, but Gay Pride Day was important to me and my friends when we were coming out. Now it's just like a club that you have to pay to get into and that doesn't belong to you'.

'Today's national Gay Pride is still very much community orientated,' counters Jason Pollock, festival director of Mardi Gras. 'Politics is still very much part of the mix. It's well known that as soon as the event is fully stabilised financially, money will be put back into the community via the Mardi Gras Foundation. Right now, however, we give generously to the community via free stalls, free tickets, collection for THT, Switchboard and many others.'

London Mardi Gras 2002, Sat 6 Jul, 1pm - 11pm, Hackney Marshes, Homerton Road, E8 (0870 909 0490), £20, £17 adv, £75 VIP Shadow Lounge, www.mardigras.com.
Gay Shame, Sat 6 Jul, 9pm - 2am, Vauxhall Tavern, Kennington Lane, SE11 (020 7582 0833), £5, www.duckie.co.uk