[a] It includes a variety of events such as the Sydney Mardi Gras Parade and Party, Bondi Beach Drag Races, Harbour Party, the academic discussion panel Queer Thinking, Mardi Gras Film Festival, as well as Fair Day, which attracts 70,000 people to Victoria Park, Sydney.

The event grew from gay rights parades held annually since 1978, when numerous participants had been arrested by New South Wales Police Force.

[16] The Mardi Gras Parade maintains a political flavour, with many marching groups and floats promoting LGBTQIA+ rights issues or themes.

[18] In 2019 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras submitted a bid to host WorldPride 2023 competing against Montreal, Canada and Houston, Texas.

[23] On 24 June 1978 at 10 pm as a night-time celebration following a morning protest march and commemoration of the Stonewall riots[24] organised by the Gay Solidarity Group more than 500 people gathered on Oxford Street, in a planned street "festival" calling for an end to discrimination against homosexuals in employment and housing, an end to police harassment and the repeal of all anti-homosexual laws.

The police response to a legal, local minority protest transformed it into a nationally significant event which stimulated gay rights and law reform campaigns.

[26] A documentary, Witches and Faggots, Dykes and Poofters, produced by Digby Duncan in 1980 tells the story of the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

In that same year, the Labor Government of New South Wales, led by Neville Wran, repealed the Summary Offences Act 1988 (NSW) under which the arrests in 1978 were made.

[42] Criticism of the Sydney Mardi Gras was perhaps at its strongest during the early years of the AIDS crisis, and flared again when in 1994 the national broadcaster ABC telecast the parade for the first time.

[43] In 1997 a small group of people who were part of the 1978 events contributed to planning the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Sydney Mardi Gras parade in 1998.

During the rebranding in 2011, Mardi Gras Chairman Peter Urmson said "I think that whilst we are first and foremost a GLBTQI community organisation, we also are very open to all of our friends that do not necessarily identify within that alphabet soup.

[66][67][68][69] In 2012 Mardi Gras organisers faced the issue of having a Sydney Polyamorists float in the parade, whilst also promoting same-sex marriage for couples.

[76] In 2021, as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the parade, held on 6 March 2021, was relocated to the nearby Sydney Cricket Ground as a paid, ticketed event with 36,000 spectators and was televised live on the Special Broadcasting Service.

[77][78] In 2023, independent senator for Victoria Lidia Thorpe disrupted the parade in an attempt to raise awareness about intractable social issues such as Indigenous rates of incarceration and the role of police in that process.

[42] The Australian Queer Archives, City of Sydney Archives, Pride History Group,[citation needed] and the State Library of New South Wales hold an extensive collections of material related to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, including oral history interviews, organisational records, personal papers, posters, clippings, and photographs.

The parade features more than 12,500 entrants in colourful costumes and elaborate floats, who represent a community group, topical theme or political message.

Approximately 300,000 spectators watch the Parade as it snakes 1.7 kilometres (1.1 mi) from the Sydney central business district to Darlinghurst.

This honourable title has previously been awarded to: The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade is extensively covered by the media.

The Arena broadcast was presented by hosts Louie Spence of Pineapple Dance Studios, Charlotte Dawson, Ruby Rose and Matthew Mitcham.

In 2014, SBS TV broadcast delayed and edited coverage of the parade highlights, hosted by Tom Ballard, Patrick Abboud and Heather Peace.

[90] In recent years, the Mardi Gras Parade has been on the first Saturday of March, with a festival of events going for approximately three weeks preceding it.

[citation needed] Mardi Gras Party attendances at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion / Royal Hall of Industries peaked in 1998 with 27,000 tickets sold.

[94] In the years since 17,000 to 20,000 tickets are consistently sold, an increase over the first Parade Ball held in 1980 at the Paddington Town Hall, a BYO event which attracted 700 guests.

According to the bid document the stated objective of WorldPride Sydney 2023 is to celebrate the diversity of culture and identity in the Asia Pacific region, while shining a light on widespread human rights abuses.

[106] The centrepiece was a three-day LGBTQIA+ Human Rights and Health Conference focusing on LGBTQIA+ people's experiences of violence, torture, abuse, discrimination and persecution in the Asia Pacific region and more broadly.

Other stated signature events included: • Aboriginal Smoking Ceremony and Welcome to Country • WorldPride Opening Ceremony • 45th Anniversary Mardi Gras Parade • 45th Anniversary Mardi Gras Party • Interpride Reception • Bondi Beach Party • Mardi Gras International Arts Festival • 30th Anniversary Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival • WorldPride First Nations Gala Concert • Sissy Ball Grand Final • WorldPride March • WorldPride Closing Ceremony Political support has come from a number of local and federal politicians such as former Australian Democrats Senator Natasha Stott Despoja[108] and current Labor Senator Penny Wong,[109] Members of the House of Representatives Tanya Plibersek[110] and current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese,[111] former Leader of the Opposition and Labor Party Bill Shorten[110] Former Premier Barry O'Farrell[112] as well as the present Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore.

[116] Hundreds of thousands of Australians and international guests come out in support of the Parade, with many lining up for a viewing spot from early in the afternoon.

As a consequence of the impending collapse of the organisation, there was a groundswell of concern and support within Sydney's LGBTQI communities for the continuation of the work and events of Mardi Gras.

A series of crisis meetings culminated in the creation of a reformed organisation "New Mardi Gras" being formed to continue the Parade, the Festival & the Party.

[119] In 2008, it was announced that the Government of New South Wales would provide funding for Mardi Gras as it had become part of the state's Master Events Calendar.