What a feast for the eyes! As dusk settled and the Dykes on Bikes shredded up Oxford Street the 2008 Sydney Mardi Gras Parade was finally under way... and what a fantastic evening's entertainment!

Each group in the parade had a story to tell and a message to send... whether it was to say sorry (100 reverends marched to apologise for the church's treatment of the LGBT community), to offer support (the defence force marched for the first time ever this year) or just to make sure we're not forgotten.

A homophobic attack left two boys for dead on Oxford Street a few months back simply for walking along holding hands. These same two boys joined the parade and should leave us wondering "Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?" (Ernest Gaines).

The parade went on well into the night and we bring you a selection of the photographs... Feel free to caption them and to add your own images if you have shots that we may have missed or just moments that you'd like to share.

And if you were one of the many hundreds of thousands of spectators and you're looking for your photo don't panic - we'll be running a separate collection of our favourite crowd shots over the next few days!