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Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

Drag queen Courtney Act surrounded by gold stars

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

Our future starts now! Join the ABC, the exclusive broadcast partner for coverage of pride, progress, and community during the 2024 Mardi Gras celebrations.

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LGBTQIA+ on ABC iview

Compass: Welcome to Gayrabia with Patrick Abboud

Patrick Abboud takes us inside a hidden world, where being queer is still a crime and 'coming out’ comes with consequences.

Holding the Man

Holding the Man is the warm, funny and extraordinarily moving story of the 15 year long love affair between Timothy Conigrave and the boy he fell in love with at high school, John Caleo. (2015)

A Fantastic Woman

Marina struggles for the right to be herself. She battles the very same forces that she has spent a lifetime fighting just to become the woman she is now - a complex, strong, forthright and fantastic woman.

Double Parked

Double Parked follows lesbian couple Steph and Nat who are ready to start a family. After a long and disappointing run of IVF, Steph and Nat decide to take matters into their own hands - quite literally.

Listen with Pride

Celebrating Pride with iconic tracks from Musical Theatre

The Musical Show is celebrating all things Pride & Mardi Gras this week, with an episode full of queer stories, anthems, composers and voices.
A silver bus travels along a dirt road, as a performer in a long flowing silver gown stands atop it.
Duration: 59 minutes 59 seconds

Drive-Away Dolls + Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person + The Taviani Brothers

Co-directors Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke on their road trip comedy Drive-Away Dolls, plus, a new vampire movie from Montreal, and Melbourne Cinematheque's tribute to The Taviani Brothers.
Duration: 53 minutes 29 seconds

Jazz Money's poetic ventures into music and Cameron Undy's ghostly rhythms

The Music Show is about the creation and enjoyment of music.
Jazz sits on a concrete floor and smiles up at the camera. They are wearing a yellow tulle dress, distressed jeans and trainers
Duration: 54 minutes 6 seconds

Remy Hii and Courtney Act gear up to Mardi Gras Parade

The world-famous Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade will be streaming into lounge rooms on the ABC on Saturday night. 
Duration: 6 minutes 18 seconds

Danielle Laidley and Stuart Aubrey | Courage on both sides  

In the hyper-masculine world of footy and politics, Danielle Laidley and Stuart Aubrey both harbored a secret. Danielle, a former footy champ, kept her gender dysphoria under wraps during her playing days.
Danielle Laidley with long blond hair looks at the camera
Duration: 45 minutes

Courtney Act + Alexander Leon | Voice notes for life

When Courtney Act lobbed on the steps of Australia House in London, life was crazy.
Courtney Act and Alexander Leon standing in a rainforest
Duration: 53 minutes

Josh Thomas + Courtney Smith | Love, friendship and terrible acting

He was a successful young stand-up comedian starring in his own TV show. She was a divorced mother of two. Despite her terrible acting, a friendship sparked between the pair.
Courtney Smith with Josh-Thomas laughing
Duration: 50 minutes

Katrina Gorry + Michelle Heyman | Football is just the start

In the intense world of professional football, fierce competition and relentless schedules often define relationships. But the bond between Matilda's players Katrina Gorry and Michelle Heyman stands as a testament to the enduring power of friendship.
Composite image of Matildas players Katrina Gorry and Michelle Heyman in play
Duration: 54 minutes

Stories of Pride

Captain Cook is marching at Mardi Gras and it's not the first time

Malcolm Cole was Indigenous and gay. He later died from HIV but in 1988 he created a "stirring" moment at Sydney's Mardi Gras and now his twin brother is determined to make sure his legacy lives on.
A composite image of Robert and Malcolm Cole
Duration: 7 minutes

Peter was 16 when he marched in the 1978 Sydney Mardi Gras. He's determined to march again today

Peter, who is now 62, remembers what it was like being gay and living with disability as a teenager in the 70s — and marching in the first Sydney Mardi Gras in 1978.
Peter (right) sits with Adrian (right) who plants a kiss on his head while Peter smiles wearing an LGBTQIA+ flag.

Sydney's first queer museum Qtopia opens at site of police brutality

Some of the 53 people arrested after the first Mardi Gras march in 1978 were locked up at Sydney's Darlinghurst Police Station. The building now tells the story of the LGBTQIA+ community.
A set of mannequins pose while people walk around

How a call-out for sexy nature selfies brought this couple together

Annaliese Shaw was recovering from an ACL injury when she saw an artist's call-out for sexy selfies taken in nature. It's how she first interacted with her now-partner, artist Kim Leutwyler. 
A couple rugged up in jackets take a selfie atop a rocky Italian mountains while on holiday.
Duration: 11 minutes 39 seconds

Coming up on Compass: The Love of My Life - Summer Series

The Love of My Life- Gail and Lisette are a transgender lesbian couple in their sixties and deeply in love.
Transgender lesbian couple in their sixties getting married with red and white colour theme
Duration: 1 minute 46 seconds

This lesbian road movie from Ethan Coen embraces debauchery and sex positivity — and it's hilarious

Margaret Qualley and Australian actor Geraldine Viswanathan star in Drive-Away Dolls as two queer women who are caught up with criminals after they find a strange suitcase in their trunk.
A film still of Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan. They're looking down into the boot of a car, with confused looks.

Ken Moala was the first Pacific Islander to become a hospital chaplain — but it also helped him regain his own faith

From championing marginalised groups including LGBTQI communities and the elderly to people living rough, Pastor Fia'ailetoa Ken Moala's chaplaincy has helped people facing all sorts of challenges.
Man wears white shirt with large brightly coloured flower lei around his neck. Looks to his left

Queer politics and activism should not reject the state, but try to make it queerer

Once we see the state less as a singular locus of violence directed at queer people and more as a shifting array of ideologies, individuals, and institutions, we can also begin to see how the state can be made queer.

Discover more Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras coverage on our apps

Find all the stories, festivities and coverage for Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras across ABC iview, ABC News, ABC listen and triple j

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