From Tamworth to Taylor Square, Australia shows off its pride to the world

More than 12,000 people are set to walk, dance and ride down Oxford Street on Saturday night as Sydney – and Australia – shows itself off to the world.

Some have travelled further than others to be a part of the 2023 Sydney Mardi Gras. Last week, William Weller drove the 400 kilometres from Tamworth to begin preparations for the regional city’s first appearance in the parade.

William Weller (left), Dianne Harris (centre) and Leoni Alwell will take part in Tamworth’s first Sydney Mardi Gras float on Saturday night.Credit: Andrew Pearson

A handful of the 32 Tamworth Pride marchers have taken part with other floats before, but for the vast majority who live in Tamworth and surrounding towns, it will be their first time in the event.

“Basically we are trying to combat isolation in the Tamworth LGBT community,” said William Weller, who has organised the town’s float, titled “Riding the Rainbow of Our Dreams to the Golden Guitar”.

“But also, this is WorldPride, and we are showing Tamworth and regional NSW off to the world.”

With a clear weather forecast, organisers are expecting 500,000 people to line the streets on Saturday night, as the Mardi Gras returns to Oxford Street for the first time since 2020 as the centrepiece of the eighth WorldPride festival.

Crowds enjoy the festivities at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Fair Day at Victoria Park.Credit: James Alcock

“Pride is in the air,” Sydney Mardi Gras chief executive Albert Kreuger said on Friday, adding this year’s parade was expected to be the city’s biggest.

The parade will consist of 280 floats, organised by a mix of big corporates, sports clubs, universities and political groups, as well as neighbourhoods and friends.

Anthony Albanese will take part in the march, the first time a sitting prime minister has done so, but he urged Australians not to forget the activist roots of the first parade in 1978.

“It will be a fun occasion, but we need to remember as well after 45 years that [it] began with a campaign for law reform,” he said earlier in the day.

“It’s about equality, and it’s about respecting people for who they are - no matter who they love, no matter where they live, no matter what their identity is.”

Albanese said the LGBTQ movement had been on a long journey of reform since he first marched in 1983, including achieving marriage equality five years ago.

“Pride is something that we should be proud of, that Australia is moving towards a more and more equal community where everyone is respected, no matter who they love.”

City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said that, while Mardi Gras was a night “about serious glamour and serious fun”, there was also a more serious side to this year’s event.

“We’re going to be hosting people who have come from countries where they are persecuted because of their sexuality, and we want to make sure that they feel really happy, really supported and welcomed, here in our country,” she said.

This year’s march has attracted a number of international floats.

Chicago Pride, the British high commission and a float from InterPride, the global organisation for pride and Mardi Gras celebrations, will all take part in the parade.

Also hailing from outside Sydney, interstate groups the Northern Territory Northern Stars, Tasmania Pride and South Australia Mardi Gras will take part, and parade regulars the Point Clare families and the Shellharbour Shag-harders have returned.

“It’s very difficult for people within regional towns and communities to find their people,” Weller said.

“It impacts on dating and being able to find friends. If it wasn’t for this group, I probably wouldn’t have found a lot in Tamworth. People need connection.”

Despite hailing from the centre of the city, Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross will be presenting a similar message when it returns to the parade for the first time since 2018 with a float titled “Absolutely Everybody! - A Community with No Us and Them”.

When the pandemic hit, the drop-in service, which provides meals, services and connection for those doing it tough, transitioned to outreach work, finding members of its community and helping them to survive as the world around them changed in a way that was unprecedented.

“For us to even be thinking about celebrating pride, it wasn’t on the table,” said Tom Stevenson, a member of the service’s queer working group.

Between 20 and 25 per cent of visitors to Wayside identify as queer, Stevenson said. Forty visitors, volunteers and staff are marching on Saturday night, following a month of dance rehearsals.

“We have an important message, not just for Sydney but Australia and the world, that by having an inclusive community we can have a life without loneliness,” he said.

The Mardi Gras parade marks the halfway point of Sydney WorldPride, a two-week festival that is being held in the southern hemisphere for the first time since its creation in 2000.

After Friday night’s Live and Proud concert, headlined by Kylie Minogue, other events taking place during the festival include a Domain dance party, headlined by Kelly Rowland on Sunday, a Human Rights Conference from Wednesday to Friday, and a Pride March over the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday, March 5.

The festival will end with the Rainbow Republic music concert at The Domain after the Pride March.

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