Sydney can be a pretty wonderful place to be under the rainbow. June marks World Pride Month, when cities and communities around the world celebrate and advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights. Down Under, the bulk of our pride celebrations fall during our summer – when the weather is a little more conducive to booty shorts, chaps and mesh singlets – with the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival and famous Parade in February, preceded by Melbourne’s Midsumma and followed by regional Mardi Gras celebrations around the country.
But we love any excuse to let the pride flag fly, so Sydney’s queer community is ready to celebrate alongside the global LGBTQIA+ revelers for World Pride Month. After all, we are gearing up to host WorldPride in 2023.
Launching June 3 at Oxford Street’s Stonewall Hotel, the festivities will continue right up to June 30. There are over 120 registered events in the grassroots Sydney Pride calendar, with everything from art and cinema to debates and sports.
The Stonewall is seeing a lot of action. Queer ravers House of Mince are taking over every Friday night in June with Bona to Varda (Jun 4-25), a raucous queer variety show featuring the subversive likes of Betty Grumble. There’s also live RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under viewing parties every Saturday night from 6pm. Rosie Piper also hosts queer stand-up showcase A Comedy Brew (Jun 19).
Like Mardi Gras, Pride has its origins in protest and rebellion. Marriage equality may have been won, but there’s more issues to fight against now. On Saturday, June 5, Pride in Protest is hosting a rally to defend LGBTIQ rights in NSW which meets at Town Hall at 1pm.
Want to brush up on your local queer history? Join an Oxford Street Walking Tour with Sydney’s super hero drag queen The Fabulous Wonder Mama (Jun 5).
Mardi Gras is back in town for Pride, literally – the Mardi Gras Pride Weekender (Jun 18-19) will take over the Metro Theatre for two days of fab events. It kicks off with beloved DJ competition Spin-Off, queer artist showcase Express Yourself, a timely Queer Thinking talk on religious discrimination hosted with Equality Australia, and My Drag Story takes you behind the glittering façade as you hear from scene stalwarts and rising queens and kings.
For further funnies towards the end of the month, fab inclusive stand-up (and then some) variety night Kweens of Comedy is doing a special Pride Month edition upstairs at Ginger’s (Jun 25).
See Pride-inspired pieces at Tap Gallery, which is hosting an open-submission Pride Art Prize and Exhibition (Jun 7-13) with a $1000 first-place prize.
Keep an eye out for more Pride-related events during June, and check out our rainbow recommendations for Sydney Solstice (Jun 8-20).
