Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is up against two other capital cities in its bid to bring mega-festival WorldPride to Australia.
WorldPride is a global LGBTIQ festival put on every two years in different host cities. First held in Rome in 2000, Worldpride has travelled to Jerusalem, London, Toronto and elsewhere in the years since.
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras recently announced they have formally submitted their bid for the festival.
They’re up against Montreal, Canada, and Houston, Texas, who are also in the running, confirmed organising body InterPride.
A 2023 Sydney WorldPride would coincide with the 45th anniversary of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
“Our bid to host WorldPride 2023 is about much more than Sydney and Australia,” Mardi Gras wrote on its website.
“It’s about the Asia-Pacific, one of InterPride’s most diverse regions that is home to 60% of the world’s population.
“Yet [the region is] too often overlooked and underrepresented. The vast majority of LGBTQI communities within this region are denied fundamental human rights.
“Together, we will listen and learn from some of the most isolated LGBTQI communities in the world, celebrate as one and show bold leadership as activists into the future.”
Sydney WorldPride would be first in Southern Hemisphere
WorldPride came to New York City this year, in conjunction with the official commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising.
At the landmark 50th anniversary NYC Pride March, a large contingent of Australians travelled to participate.
If Mardi Gras is successful in its 2023 bid, it will be the first WorldPride held in the Southern Hemisphere.
Mardi Gras has said both an 80,000-person pride march and an international LGBTIQ human rights conference would be part of the festival.
Members of organising body InterPride will decide the successful bidder at their AGM in Athens in October.
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