Thousands of loud and proud marchers have flooded West End with rainbows as the Brisbane Pride Festival’s Pride March and Fair Day returned to the city’s southside.
After several years at New Farm Park, Queensland’s largest LGBTIQ+ pride event is back at its original home in Musgrave Park in South Brisbane.
On Saturday morning (September 24) a huge crowd of marchers spread out riverside in Orleigh Park in West End before marching as a sea of rainbow along Montague Road and Vulture Street.
In 1990, the first Brisbane Pride Fair Day was held in Musgrave Park following a Pride march.
Speaking at the pre-march rally on Saturday, Brisbane Pride President Bec Johnson (below, inset) paid tribute to the leaders of the 1990 Brisbane Pride committee, telling the crowd “we stand on the shoulders of giants”.
“We see you, we hear you and we remember you,” she said.
“Today, we celebrate the 32nd year of the Brisbane Pride Festival.
“We’ve endured because of all the people in the crowd today that come to stand up and stand together, shoulder-to-shoulder and stand up for the rights, the equality, the inclusion and the recognition of LGBTIQ+ people.”
‘Equal love always’
Pride President Bec Johnson went on, “We’re setting the standard for the generations to come, and we need to make sure it’s safe for them.
“We need to make sure they work in safe workplaces and they live their lives safely within the community.
“We need to make sure that they are just as equal as everybody else, to love who they want to love. Equal love always.”
She continued, “Let’s take to the streets together to turn up the visibility and the pride and show the community that we’re not going anywhere.
“We are here and we are staying here.”
After the march, Bebe Gunn and Paul Wheeler then hosted Brisbane Pride Fair Day event in Musgrave Park, with a lineup of live entertainment all day.
Earlier, Brisbane Pride announced Fair Day would go ahead with far fewer stalls than originally planned after heavy rain earlier in the week impacted the park.
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I was one of the three carrying the Dykes on Bikes sign in the first Pride March. Was an awesome experience!!