The Winner Is Sydney!
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has won their bid to host WorldPride 2023.
WorldPride, also known as the “gay Olympics” is a LGBTIQ Pride event held once every two years. The event will run over February and March 2023, coinciding with Sydney Mardi Gras, and aims to raise the profile of LGBTIQ issues through parades, festivals and other cultural activities.
Sydney WorldPride will be the first time the event has come to the Southern Hemisphere and Asia-Pacific region.
“This is a major win for Sydney, Australia and the region more broadly. Bringing WorldPride Down Under means we can celebrate and shine a spotlight on the unique challenges faced by the LGBTQI community in the region,” said Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Co-Chair Giovanni Campolo-Arcidiaco.
“We’d like to say a huge thank you to our Federal, State and Local governments, corporate and community partners, the extended team at Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras as well as our global community for helping bring WorldPride to Sydney 2023. This has been a truly collaborative pitch,” said Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Co-Chair Kate Wickett.
Robyn Kennedy, Chair of the WorldPride Committee said Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras’ hosting of WorldPride showed how far the organisation had come since 1978.
“Interpride has recognised how far Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has come since 1978, and now the world will march with us down Oxford Street to celebrate our community and support our region,” Kennedy said.
Federal Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham said the winning bid proved Sydney was the city for world-class events.
“Sydney has long demonstrated its ability to host spectacular world-class events that attract visitors from right across Australia and around the globe,” Birmingham said.
“It is absolutely fitting that Australia and particularly Sydney celebrate our diversity through such a symbolic event that will also deliver a huge boost to our tourism industry,” Birmingham said.
“Congratulations to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, the wider LGBTQI community and all other supporters on the work they have done to secure the internationally renowned extravaganza that is World Pride 2023. We are proud to have helped secure this win and look forward to promoting an event not to be missed!” Birmingham said.
NSW Minister for Arts Don Harwin mirrored these comments saying via a statement:
“I am absolutely delighted that Sydney has been chosen to host this incredible event, which coincides with the 45th anniversary of the first Mardi Gras Parade and the 50th Anniversary of the first Australian Gay Pride Week,” Harwin said.
“This event will attract thousands of international visitors and put Sydney on the world map as a truly inclusive and united global city,” Harwin said.
In the meantime there’s the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras coming up in 2020. Get your event tickets via the Sydney Mardi Gras website.
