Sydney Pride

Since 1978, Sydney has been putting on a “Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras” Celebration. Apparently it’s one of Sydney’s biggest tourist attractions, with 500,000 people in attendance in 2019 (this is the most recent statistic that I could find). Due to COVID-19, this is the first year it has been held since 2020. It was also special this year because Sydney was chosen to host World Pride – which I didn’t even know existed until Anna sent me the link to the event page only a few weeks before I came to Australia. World Pride was first held in Rome in 2000 and is only held every few years in different locations around the world (Jerusalem in 2006, London in 2012, Toronto in 2014, Madrid in 2017, New York in 2019, and Copenhagen + Malmo in 2021). So this year, Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras was also World Pride.

Obviously, as soon as I found out this was happening only a few weeks after my arrival in Australia, I knew I had to go. I originally asked Stephen and Lone if they wanted to go, but neither of them gave me a solid yes and, although I’ve become pretty comfortable traveling alone, I knew this was going to be a massive event and that it would be best if I had people to meet up with. I started looking for Facebook groups related to the event, posted on a few, but quickly realized that there isn’t much of an LGBTQIA+ community in Newcastle – there are no specific gay bars or clubs. There’s one bar called The Lass that is very gay friendly.. but I didn’t find out about this until after Pride.

So, I decided to hop back on dating apps for the first time in years to try and find people going to Pride. And boy am I glad I did this! Conversation on these apps tends to be very dry, but I ended up matching with and having a great conversation with a girl named Kelcie (Kels for short). She’s originally from Canada but has been living in Australia for four years now. One of the first things she asked me (and this was only about a week out from the parade) was if I was going to Pride. I told her that yes, of course I was going, how could I miss World Pride in Sydney?! I told her I didn’t have anyone to go with yet and asked if I could meet up with her group, and she agreed to let me tag along! :)

The parade was on Saturday, February 25 (and in all my excitement, I totally forgot to wish Emma a happy birthday until a WEEK later, so sorry sis), so that morning I caught a late-morning train to Sydney. It’s a 15 minute bus ride from my house to the train station, and then about three hours to Sydney on the train. When I got off the train, I immediately noticed the Sydney Central YHA directly across from the train station and made a mental note of this as I knew this was where I would be staying for the show I would be going to in Sydney for my birthday. I didn’t bring my camera down because I knew I wouldn’t want to walk around with it all day long, but I did snap a few pics as I made my way into the city.

Kels and her friends were busy exploring Manly when I got there, so I grabbed myself some lunch, sat in a park nearby, and people watched. Pride always has the best people watching! There are always people in crazy outfits – glitter everywhere, butterfly wings, rainbows, tutus – and everyone has a big smile on their face. Once I finished lunch, I decided to walk along the parade route and maybe get a drink.

Honestly, I got overwhelmed almost immediately. There were so many people lined up and down Oxford Street, and I was in a strange city, and I truly didn’t even know where to go or what to do with myself. I ended up FaceTiming Koju for a bit, which helped, but I didn’t end up getting a drink anywhere because Kels texted me that she and her friends were back at their hotel and that I could come meet them before the parade started.

I was a bit nervous to meet up with a group of total strangers, but within a few minutes of walking in the door, I knew I had nothing to worry about. They offered me a drink and we sat and chatted while they all got ready for the parade. I also started hunting for resale tickets to the sold-out afterparty “GIRLTHING” that they were attending after the parade (although I didn’t have much luck to begin with). Once they were ready, we ubered to Oxford Street for the parade

Now, I’ve been to Pride parades in three different cities before Sydney. I’ll never forget marching in my very first one. My first girlfriend (who was already my ex by then), puked at the end because it was so hot. It’s the only time I’ve marched in a Pride parade and boy, it was memorable. This was back when St. Louis held it in Tower Grove Park. They moved it to the city maybe two years after that, which is where it’s been ever since. So, I’ve been to both locations of St. Louis Pride, I’ve traveled to Florida for Tampa Pride, and of course, in recent years, I’ve been to Fayetteville’s small (but lively!) Pride parade down Dickson Street. Out of all of them, Tampa was easily the largest one I had been to, but it was nothing compared to the crowd on Oxford Street. I have never seen so many people in one place – and I have been to some pretty large festivals! The crowd on the one block we hung out on was comparable to the crowd at an indoor concert. Hundreds of people. Multiply that by however many tens of blocks the parade ran for, and add all the people inside bars and other viewing areas.. it was absolutely massive. We couldn’t even really see the parade (due to it being ten people deep on either side of the street), but we still had a great time cheering and talking to people over the course of a few hours. I barely took pictures of the parade (this is how you know I was having an extra-good time), but here are the couple that I snapped (one of a Pride flag across from where we posted up, and another of Kels in a tree to get a better vantage point) + a video of how packed it was!

At maybe 7:45, the girls started discussing making moves to the afterparty soon, which started at 9. At this point, I had pretty much accepted that I wasn’t going to get a ticket (I hadn’t even booked accomodation for the night because I figured I would just end up going back to Newy after the parade). Someone had tried to scam me with a fake ticket, and I was getting some other sketchy offers after I had posted that I was looking for a ticket on the FB event page. The girls had told me about Tixel (Australia’s trusted ticket resale website), and I had looked for one earlier, but the only available ticket had been snatched up right before my eyes. As everyone was standing around discussing when to leave, I decided it was worth a shot to check again, and to my absolute surprise, there was one ticket available. I bought it immediately, and this time I was fast enough! So, with an hour to spare before the start of the event, I acquired a ticket! We were all super excited and left a few minutes later.

GIRLTHING was put on at the Metro Theatre which was about a 20 minute walk through the streets of Sydney. Which were very much alive. People walking every which way to their events for the night. I’ve never been much of a city girl, but I gotta say, Sydney has made me appreciate the city a lot more! Every time I have gone since I have been here I’ve had an absolute blast (this was only one Sydney adventure of three, so far). We got in right as doors opened, so we didn’t have to wait in a big line, which was nice – I’ve been to way too many events that involved thirty minutes or more of just waiting in line to get inside. There were two stages playing music (one of which we did not discover until having been there for probably 45 minutes already), three bars, balconies & raised viewing areas at each stage, and a couple places with couches and comfy chairs to rest in. Overall, it was an awesome venue, and true to the name of the event, it was all girls, which is something I hadn’t experienced before. I’ve been to gay bars where it is mostly men, and of course most bars where it is a mix of all genders, but never anything that was all girls! Here’s the two pictures I took throughout the night.

A couple of the girls headed out around 2am, and with no place to stay, I started looking at routes back to Newy and decided I would just take the 5am train back. I left about an hour later, stopped at Macca’s (McDonald’s, which was easily the most crowded McDonald’s I’ve ever been in) before heading to grab my tote bag from the girls’ hotel, and then back into the city to catch the train out of Central Station. I think I finally arrived home, completely and utterly exhausted, around 8am. I slept from 9am to 4pm on Sunday, got up for a few hours to eat a meal, and was back in bed by 9pm, haha!

All in all, Sydney Pride was one for the books and I honestly have not had such a fun night here since. I don’t think I can top this one!