When I was lucky enough to be one of two Sri Lankan participants supported by Australia to attend the Sydney World Pride Human Rights Conference in February 2023, my Sydney World Pride experience started the minute I boarded my flight. Warmly welcomed by staff which included members of the LGBTIQ community, I immediately started to feel ‘at home’! The crew bent over backwards, the plane had rainbow colours on display and just before we landed, we were welcomed to Sydney, home of World Pride and the Mardi Gras for the next fortnight! Qantas went out of their way to reaffirm their commitment to maintaining their support for the LGBTIQ communities within Australia and welcoming all LGBTIQ visitors to Australia, with open arms.
Walking through the terminal building and outside the airport I was thrilled to see so many amazing billboards, rainbow flags and welcoming people -another reason why I so love Sydney! While it was not my first World Pride nor my first Mardi Gras – but this type of welcome made me quite giddy with joy and anticipation of my next 12days in Sydney!
Prior to me joining the World Pride Conference and the general merriment of Mardi Gras, I was invited by law firm DLA Piper (Australia) to be a speaker at the launch of their ‘Rainbow Shield’ initiative. DLA Piper UK was instrumental in assisting me with my case at CEDAW. Being a part of this new initiative, which would literally shield LGBTIQ activists worldwide if they were in any type of trouble because of who they are and the work they do, was quite exciting. As I walked the area around my hotel downtown, I noticed how involved all the businesses in the area were with Pride. Windows and foyers were an abundance of rainbow flags and all things rainbows! There was an air of excitement as if Kylie Minogue herself was walking around singing and dancing on the streets! There was so much going on around Sydney, that no matter where you went, people were preparing for and event or having various events for Pride. The buzz, the excitement was palpable. Sydney was celebrating and the queer community was out in force with pride!
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The Mardi Gras Party was a sea of people: young, old, gay, straight, whatever. Everyone rocked till the wee hours or at least until Kylie and Danni Minogue ended the show! “Out of the bars, and into the streets!” –the Mardi Gras parade lived up to its name with hours and hours of floats and marchers that boggled in style, colour and enthusiasm! Marching with the community was Australia’sPrime Minister, Anthony Albanese along with other Australian politicians, which was exhilarating to see and much appreciated by the Queer Community.
The World Pride Human Rights Conference was preceded by several caucuses and started with a bang on the 1st of March. I was happy to have been part of the opening plenary and to be speaking in two other sessions as well. I was particularly chuffed at being on the same panel with the Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG, who as it happens shares the same birthday as me! Meeting fellow activists and speaking alongside some of the ‘greats’ like Victor Madrigal-Borloz (UN Independent Expert on Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity) Edwin Cameron (retired Judge who served as a Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa) Prof Paula Gerber (Professor of law at Monash University in Melbourne), Imam Mushin Hendriks (IslamicScholar from South Africa) – to name but a few – was the icing on the cake, so to speak!
The Sydney Harbour Bridge walk led by the PM and the Foreign Minister Penny Wong and other dignitaries, was the last big bang! More than 50,000 people walked in solidarity across the Harbour Bridge – one of Sydney’s amazingly iconic landmarks. But what stood out for me, amidst all the dizzying and amazing events taking place all around me, was the crazy ride I took with this amazing Drag Queen and her chauffeur, in a convertible, blasting disco hits from the 80’s and 90’s, down the streets of downtown and alongOxford Street! That…….. was PRIDE!
And I so wish that Sri Lanka too will take a page from Australia and celebrate and embrace diversity with as much passion and good will. Next step for Sri Lanka – decriminalisation!
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