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Grooms with grooms and brides with brides were a regular sight on inner Sydney streets on Saturday as the campaign for gay marriage in Australia emerged as a main theme of one of the world's premiere gay and lesbian parades.
Hundreds of thousands of people turned out to witness 135 entries and nearly 8,500 marchers in the 34th annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade.
The federal government passed a law in 2004 to ensure that only marriages between a man and a woman can be legally recognised in Australia.
But the political debate was revived this week with the government considering allowing the national capital Canberra's local government to create its own gay marriage law.
Hollywood star Lily Tomlin kicked off the parade along with seven other prominent people from the gay community. Officials said they were being honored as 'gay heroes' because of their courage and advocacy.
Christian opponents of the parade held a vigil in downtown Sydney several blocks away from the festivities to protest same-sex marriage. Pastor Peter Madden, a vigil organiser, said the Mardi Gras should be held in a stadium instead of on inner Sydney streets.
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