As Mardi Gras approaches it’s monumental 40th anniversary, Monsta Gras, an alternative party held in Sydney’s inner west on Mardi Gras Parade night, approaches its 10th. Held at the community owned and operated, Red Rattler Theatre, Monsta Gras has become a legendary annual event that centres art, politics and performance to create a playground for a truly diverse LGBTIQA+ community of devotees that flock to celebrate. Monsta Gras was born in 2008 out of a desire to create a much needed space for all genders, sexualities and culturally diverse LGBTIQA+ community who felt a growing sense of disconnection from the main Mardi Gras parade and party. It very quickly grew into a vibrant act of rebellion that embodies the spirit of the political roots of the first march in 1978. Created by The Glitter Militia collective, it is more than a party: it is a radical gathering for Queer family, a home for outsiders – a safer space where Queer people of colour, Trans, intersex, gender Queer and non binary humans are living for each other and taking centre stage. It is where art, life, identity and culture collide.