Sydney Mardi Gras 2025 as it happened: Thousands line Oxford Street to celebrate city’s LGBTQ community

Sky-high boots, protests, a surprise visit from the prime minister, a no-show from Kylie Minogue and lots and lots of glitter – Australia’s LGBTQ community and its allies have put on a remarkable show.

Thank you for joining us for this year’s parade, celebrating the theme “free to be”. We’ll see you next year for the 48th Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Meantime, you can enjoy this gallery of amazing photos from the heart of the action on Oxford Street.

Whether you’re off to bed or kicking onto the after-party, good night!

After the final float made its way through Taylor Square the crowd still lingered along the barricades, slowly realising the end of the 47th annual Mardi Gras Parade had arrived.

It was a long night for many, as some excited spectators had grabbed their spots along the route hours before the parade to catch a glimpse of Sydney’s night of nights, but the mood was always jubilant.

Many revellers will make their way to the after party at Moore Park.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Crowds are beginning to disperse as the barricades are taken down. They’re making their way home, or more likely, to clubs, pubs and parties across the city to see off the final day of Mardi Gras festivities on Sunday. It’s been an incredible night on the ground, and the energy has been buzzing.

We’re sure many of the revellers are already planning next year’s outfits.

We’re going out with a sparkle. The final float, the Glitter Babes, has just passed through Taylor Square, after a convoy of more than 180 floats and 10,000 participants in the past three hours.

Glitter Babes group organiser Fiona Reid said they interpreted the Mardi Gras theme “free to be”, as “free to protect our tribe”.

They are dressed in warrior garb, and with dark battle-ready makeup.

“We’ve come in as Viking queens because they’re brutal. They would protect their tribe very fiercely: Warrior women.“

This year will mark 25 years since Reid first marched in the parade, and five years since the Glitter Babes, inspired by Sydney nightlife legend DJ Kitty Glitter, took to Oxford Street for the festival.

Michelle Pradie said while Mardi Gras had changed over the decades it was still true to its core.

“I think it’s fabulous that it’s inclusive of our full, diverse society. I think it’s fantastic.

“It’s always positive.”

The parade is drawing to a close.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

The marchers are preparing to hit the after-party at Moore Park. Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Parade goers spread their wings.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

We have spied a contingent sporting yellow and red cossies, budgie smugglers and brightly coloured zinc walking down the parade route, signalling the wave of Lifesavers with Pride participants.

More than 50 members of the group – a bunch of whom hail from Tamarama in Sydney’s east – chose tonight’s theme of “the ocean doesn’t discriminate.”

The lifesavers travelled from beaches all over Australia to march.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Tim Wright, 33, said they wanted to promote inclusivity in sport and challenge Australia’s traditionally masculine surf culture at beaches nationwide.

“Especially in lifesaving, there hasn’t always been an inclusive space. Not just for queer people, but for women as well.

“Lifesavers with Pride is there to bring awareness to that and to make a space for queer, gender-diverse, female participants to come in and feel welcome in what has been a very male-dominated space in the past.

They put those muscles to good use in a dance routine.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Madeleine Legoe, 31, pointed out women were banned from surf lifesaving in Australia until the 1980s.

“To have that female representation to show men, women, queer and gay people can be part of the surf lifesaving community is really important.”

Wright agrees: “There’s a role for everyone in surf, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from.”

NSW Police marchers ditched full uniform and opted for branded shirts instead following last year’s directive that they march only in plain clothes. They were joined by the state’s Police Commissioner Karen Webb.

Police faced being banned from last year’s parade after Sydney gay couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies were allegedly murdered by then-serving police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon days earlier.

NSW Police Commissioner joined officers who ditched their uniforms to march, following long-running tensions between police and the LGBTQ community.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

However, a compromise solution between organisers and LGBTQ community members allowed police participation only if they were out of uniform.

Another proposed ban on the police this year was narrowly voted down last December at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian annual general meeting.

The deaths of the two men stirred up simmering tensions between the LGBTQ community and police. Many floats in last year’s parade paid tribute to Baird and Davies.

Police yesterday said they had worked closely with festival organisers and the LGBTQ community to ensure a safe environment for revellers as they launched a high-visibility operation targeting criminal and anti-social behaviour that they said “undermines the celebratory spirit of the night”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is marching in the Mardi Gras for the second time since he took on the country’s top job, days before he’s likely to call an election sending Australians to the polls.

“We need to respect everyone for who they are. This is a great celebration, but it also began as a political protest, when being gay or lesbian, your identity, could be a crime here in NSW,” he said.

“We’ve come a long way, but there’s still further to go, and we need to make every Australian feel safe,” he said.

Albanese made history in 2023 when he became the first Australian prime minister to march.

He told ABC TV on Saturday night he’d been marching in the parade for the past 40 years.

“It’s fun, it’s a celebration, and it shows a commitment to respect people for who they are.”

Albanese has also fuelled speculation pop star Kylie Minogue could make an appearance later tonight. Asked who was on his post-parade playlist, Albanese, who is a famous music fan, said:

“Obviously Kylie, who’s playing out at Homebush. There’s got to be some chance she’ll turn up here later on, hasn’t there? We’ll see.”

Independents for Inclusion Nicolette Boele, Sophie Scamps, Kylea Tink, Allegra Spender and Zali Steggall pictured in Hyde Park before the parade.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Albanese was joined by Sydney MP Tanya Plibersek. The NSW Liberal party also had a contingent.

Riding aboard the Independents for Inclusion float earlier were Bradfield candidate Nicolette Boele, as well as teal MPs Sophie Scamps, Kylea Tink, Allegra Spender and Zali Steggall.

We’re slightly more than an hour into the parade. The heaving crowd is still growing and a thick layer of confetti is building up underfoot.

There have been some longer pauses between floats in the parade tonight, which has left some scratching their heads. However, as soon as the next float arrives the mood rises again.

The parade has been littered with glitter and sparkle. Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Among more than 180 floats there has been a bevy of colourful costumes and dances on display, and some unifying features throughout the night.

Sky-high heels, perhaps inspired by the Australian cult classic film Priscilla Queen of the Desert have been spotted on participants on the Queer and Gender Divers Pole Dancers, Sex Workers and Community, and the History Trust of South Australia floats.

There has also been a clear favourite when it comes to music choice. American artist Chappell Roan has been blasting out of the speakers of almost every float that passes. Roan topped the 2024 Triple J Hottest 100 with her soaring falsetto pop blockbuster Good Luck, Babe! in January.

Trans Pride Australia passes through Taylor Square. Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

The parade has taken place under clear skies. Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Forget Mr Whippy, it’s time for Mx Kicky, the gender-inclusive theme of the Emerald City Kickball league’s float for this year.

The sport, which director Emma Corbridge describes as a mix of dodgeball, soccer and baseball, has become increasingly popular in the queer community recently, inspiring the creation of a float.

Participants dressed as sweet treats.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

This year’s float is inspired by childhood nostalgia.

“For kids that grew up in Australia when you hear the Mr Whippy song it was always a joyful moment…the joy that is sparked from that, is the same joy we spark with kickball, so that’s where the theme came from,” Corbridge said.

The group bonded over their love for kickball.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Marching alongside their very own ice-cream truck, 80 members of the kickball league will be holding puppets dressed as famous ice-creams — including, of course, Golden Gaytimes — which they will donate, alongside their costumes, to local schools.

Corbridge said that “for a lot of queer people, sport has not been a very friendly or inclusive space,” and that the league helped LGBTQIA+ people come together and feel accepted.

Player Jamarr Mills said that once they reach the end of the parade route there will be some tears, and that the marchers will “have a moment of togetherness and community” before breaking off to celebrate the end of the Mardi Gras festival.

Celebrating the joy of cake.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

The childless cat ladies have arrived in pink satin robes to deliver a message to United States Vice President J.D. Vance: They are powerful – not miserable – and they are not going anywhere.

The Itty Bitty Titty Committee is marking its 20th year in the parade, marching to the theme of “Childless Cat Ladies” and carrying a banner bearing the slogan “Paws off our pussies”.

The Itty Bitty Titty Committee loves to capture the zeitgeist with their float theme.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

Vance went viral during the US election campaign when he derided prominent female Democrats as “childless cat ladies”. The remarks sparked a global backlash, including from celebrities Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey and Jennifer Aniston.

Jane O’Keeffe, 56, said the group had decided to reclaim the tired, sexist trope for this year’s float.

“My wife and I are childless cat ladies. He called us miserable. Do we look miserable?

“We are not miserable. Do you know who’s miserable? White men who are billionaires who still need more power.”

The women have been marching in the parade for two decades.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

The group’s banner refers to Trump’s notorious “grab [women] by the pussy” quote.

Chez Ritz, 71, is marching in her 41st parade tonight, and hopes to send a strong missive to Trump and Vance on behalf of the global sisterhood:

“We’re here and we’re not going away. It’s not just us lesbians, there are millions, and millions, and millions of women who are powerful.”

“It’s resonating throughout.”

Trump restricted some LGBTQ rights in his first term in office, while Vance has attempted to roll back the rights of transgender citizens.

Shimmering and spectacular, the Asian Marching Boys and Friends have opted for a “Diamonds and Pearls” theme.

Lead organiser, Phu Nguyen, has been involved in the parade since before there was formalised Asian representation, and said having a float to represent the Asian community was important.

The Asian Marching Boys and Friends adorned themselves in diamonds and pearls for the parade.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

“I just don’t want people to forget the presence of, or how important Asian people are in the gay community,” said Nguyen, who felt that his community was treated as an “underclass” in the past.

“There was a lot of hate…there was a lot of racism back then. I felt it was really important to have a presence, and for people to see that we can be anything we want to.”

Zag Kiattisak Phimsorn went online to find parade groups to join, and after seeing “amazing” pictures of previous Asian Marching Boys and Friends floats he knew he had to join.

The group wants to show how important Asian people are in the gay community.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

This year is particularly significant for the Thai community as it is the first Mardi Gras since marriage equality was legalised in the country.

Phimsorn, who grew up in a conservative family in Chiang Mai, said: “Our life is short, you have to represent who you are, you do not hide yourself.

“Just come out. Just represent who you are, do the right thing, be a good person.”