With WorldPride officially underway, Sydney's LGBTQI community is ready to revel in and reflect on how far it's come.
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The harbour city has marked the start of WorldPride with a Progress Pride flag raising ceremony before launching into a 17-day program of art, performances, talks, parties, sport and comedy to celebrate equality.
The festivities will amount to Sydney's biggest 'occasion' since the 2000 Olympics and are expected to draw 500,000 visitors to 300 free and ticketed events.
While a time for joy and celebration, WorldPride CEO Kate Wickett says those attending should remember it's a "party with purpose".
"I really encourage everyone going to an event to think about why they're there. Why are you at a party or performance art piece or the theatre?It's because we don't have equality," she told AAP.
Activist and self-described "old lesbian" Jane Marsden remembers harsher times.
"The eighties were tough," she said.
"It took me a long time to come out and understand my own identity and sexuality. In those days, people were in the closet. And you can't be what you can't see."
Ms Marsden said Sydney WorldPride and its accompanying enthusiasm felts like a full-circle moment.
"The event makes me feel incredibly proud. I've been a very small part of it, but it's a full-circle moment for me."
"Things have changed and WorldPride is representative of that change."
Drag performer J STARR told AAP the ideas that drive pride are inherent in the existence of LGBTQI people.
"We don't have to do anything else other than show up and be ourselves," they said.
"What we do is in defiance of all the -isms, phobias, all of the things. Just existing is our protest."
WorldPride 2023 coincides with the 50th anniversary of the first Australian Gay Pride Week, the 45th anniversary of the Mardi Gras Parade and fifth anniversary of the Australian marriage equality plebiscite.
Sydney Mardi Gras CEO Albert Kruger says WorldPride will allow Australians to reflect on the movement's next steps.
"Here in NSW, religious schools can still discriminate against LGBTQI students and teachers, trans and gender diverse people face cruel barriers accessing identity documents that recognize them for who they are, and LGBTQI people are still subject to conversion practices," he said.
"We still have a way to go and our festivities are just as relevant now as they were in 1978."
Australian Associated Press
