Sydney's gay Mardi Gras to paint the town green

SYDNEY, March 3 (Reuters) Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, one of the biggest of its kind in the world, is going green this year with a message to Australians that they must take action to protect a threatened environment.

Centrepiece of the parade today night will be a giant replica of planet Earth, split into two with one half barren and decaying, and the other bright and colourful to symbolise hope. There will also be all the usual razzmatazz, with a 250-strong posse of Kylie Minogues, a band of gay Sydney lifesavers and a six-storey high Trojan Horse all helping to pave the city's streets with glitter.

''We've got 250 Kylie Minogues. Lots of boys love Kylie,'' said event organiser Marcus Bourget of the popular Australian showgirl.

A record 7,500 people will take part in this year's parade, with hundreds of thousands of spectators expected to line the 1.6-km route.

Leading the revellers will be British actor Rupert Everett, star of such films as ''My Best Friend's Wedding'' and ''The Madness of King George'', and the voice of Prince Charming in the ''Shrek'' movies.

''I'm totally psyched and thrilled to be leading the Mardi Gras this evening,'' said Everett.

Adding to the international flavour, gay icon and 80s pop legend Boy George will be DJ-ing at an exclusive after-party, while a plucky group of boys from the windswept Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic have made the trip for the first time.

They're here to celebrate their government's extension in December of anti-discrimination laws to include sexual orientation.

''Growing up as a gay male in the Faroe Islands you can't help but feel alienated. Every aspect of homosexuality was taboo and regarded as immoral and sinful,'' said group leader Redin Husdal Leonsson.

Politics is never far from the surface at the parade, now in its 29th year, and Australian Prime Minister John Howard is a perennial target for ridicule.

''We've got people from over 35 countries attending this year's Mardi Gras, but Howard cannot even bring himself to wish everyone a happy Mardi Gras,'' said Bourget.

''So Mr Howard, where the bloody hell are you?'' he added, evoking Australia's recent tourist campaign ad to lure foreign visitors.

Although Australia decriminalised homosexuality in 1984, federal law does not recognise same-sex marriage.

''That needs to change,'' said Bourget.

REUTERS PDM RK0904