Sydney’s 35th annual Mardi Gras Parade has been a success despite an early threat of rain from bad weather that thankfully cleared up at the last minute.

It had rained the previous night and all day but that didn’t deter the hundreds of thousands who turned up to line Sydney’s Oxford Street to watch the parade – which itself contained 10,000 people across 110 different marching groups and floats.

The parade started with the traditional lap of Oxford Street by the roaring motorbikes of Sydney’s Dykes on Bikes motorcycle club who were followed by a group representing the indigenous traditional owners of Australia.

The lead float was ‘The First Generation,’ – participants from the original 1978 Mardi Gras – in fitting with this year’s parade theme ‘Generations of Love.’

The first Sydney Mardi Gras had been planned to be a peaceful protest march commemorating the 1969 Stonewall riots but descended into anarchy when members of the New South Wales Police force rioted, bashing marchers and making mass arrests.

This year’s official Parade Chiefs were both ‘78’ers’ – Australian broadcaster Julie McCrossin, and the man who has been called ‘the architect of the first Mardi Gras,’ Ron Austin.

‘Ron and Julie are the elder statesmen of Sydney Mardi Gras, and they are so very responsible for the internationally renowned event it is today,’ Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras CEO Michaek Rolik said prior to the parade.

‘They were there, on the streets, part of those scenes in our collective cultural memory. After the arrests they waited outside the Police station through the night to bail out their arrested friends in the morning.

‘Sydney Mardi Gras is an idea conceived at Ron’s kitchen table. They are the first generation and we acknowledge and thank them.’

Following the ‘78’ers’ were a contingent of members of the Australian Defence Forces – army, navy and air force – marching in uniform for the very first time in the Sydney Mardi Gras.

Marching behind them were friends and family members and members of the Australian Defence LGBT Information Service (DEFGLIS) – one of the oldest LGBT defence personnel networks in the world.

Following the military groups were groups from Australia’s emergency services – Fire and Rescue NSW, the NSW State Emergency Service, the Ambulance Service of NSW and the Lifesavers With Pride surf lifesavers group.

Next were members of the Australian Federal Police and New South Wales Police Force. The Australian Federal Police were one of the first police forces in the world to introduce LGBT liaison officers.

Following after a group of hula hoopers were groups representing LGBT families – the Parents and Friends of Lesbians And Gays support network, the Rainbow Families & Kids social group and Kate and Annette who had turned a truck into a microcosm of their family’s 35 years of life together.

Marching with PFLAG was Australian Greens party leader Senator Christine Milne and her openly gay son Tom Milne.

Notable groups in the next section of the parade were the ANZ bank, the AIDS Council of NSW – the leading LGBT community health group in the state – and the Beyond Blue national anti-depression initiative.

The Wayside Chapel was the first religious entry in this years parade with others following including the Metropolitan Community Church, Freedom2B[e] – a group for gay evangelicals, the Dayenu LGBT Jewish group, the Kabbalah Center Australia, Catholic group Acceptance Sydney, and a group representing gay Anglicans.

Every major Australian political party except the rural Nationals party had entries in the parade.

The Australian Greens entry celebrated their recently retired and openly gay leader Bob Brown – one of the first openly gay men to be elected to an Australian parliament.

Next were members of Rainbow Labor, followed by members of the Sydney Liberals who were spreading the message that its OK to be gay and a Liberal Party member.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and the independent MP for Sydney, Alex Greenwich were joined in their entry by the family of Scott Johnson – an American gay man who was found dead in Sydney in 1988, but who’s death is only now being re-investigated as a potential murder by police.

Other groups supporting political causes in the parade included Queer Animal Liberation, who’s entry aimed to highlight the plight of pigs in factory farms, Amnesty International, and the Save Assange Wikileaks Coalition who were highlighting the plight of gay US serviceman Bradley Manning and his continued detention and of the Australian government’s refusal to intervene diplomatically on behalf of Wikileaks founder and Australian citizen Julian Assange.

Groups in the parade representing LGBTs from migrant backgrounds included the Asian Marching Boys, a group of spectacularly costumed Thai drag queens, Uruguayan performance group Urumbe and the Carmen Rupe Memorial Trust’s Polynesian Love entry.

The middle section of the parade was marked by the Generations of Women float – which along with the lead and final floats is one of a handful built by the organization that runs the parade and festival.

The parade ended with an entry by leading Australian LGBT marriage rights group, Australian Marriage Equality, followed by Marry the Night – the final official Mardi Gras built float.

Other notable entries included the Sydney Gaymers – a group for LGBTs who love gaming and geek culture – dressed as video game characters, the Perth Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (gays and lesbians who dress as Catholic clergy), Darline’s Transexual Angels, the Harbor City Bears and Sydney Leather Pride.

LGBT sporting groups were also notable in the parade, with entries from the Sydney Roller Derby League, the Fitness Fairies, skydivers, the Crush Women’s Touch Football Club, the Newtown Breakaways Women’s AFL Club, the Sydney Rams 10 pin bowling group, the Sydney Convicts rugby club who formed a ruck in the middle of the parade route, the scantily clad Sydney Stingers LGBT water polo team and the Team Sydney LGBT sports umbrella group.

The parade ended with all of the volunteers who had helped out with its running walking the parade route to Moore Park where the Mardigrasland after party will be held.