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With a glassy blue sea as a backdrop, a group of drag performers, community activists, speakers and artists have gathered at Bondi Beach to announce Sydney's 2024 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival lineup.
It's the first glimpse at next year's program, and event organisers are calling it the biggest and boldest in years.
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras' newly appointed CEO Gil Beckwith says Pride is at the centre of the festival's philosophy.
"Pride is a word that is used a lot. But perhaps we don't very often stop and consider actually what it really means. I am so proud of the organisation- an organisation that is entirely dedicated to the celebration, visibility and championing of the LGBTQIA+ community."
She says the theme for the 2024 festival - "Our Future" - is about possibility, imagination and hope for an ever-stronger and more inclusive future.
"It is a call for us all to imagine our futures together, the myriad of possibilities of all that means about the world being a better and a kinder place for our community and all communities."
Five new events have been added to the lineup for the next edition of the festival.
The festival will open with 'First Nations First Light', an event to be held in the early dawn light across a number of culturally significant Sydney locations.
'Ultra Violet' will be a celebration focusing on LGBTIQ+ women and their families.
'Queer Futures' is also new, providing a platform for ideas and conversation through public talks and discussions.
Drag performer Sexy Galexy says the new events and initiatives spotlight the diversity of identities represented by the festival.
"It feels fantastic. What I love about it is the diversity of the people that I hear in the group, acknowledging women, older women, trans, queer, just that whole spectrum of colour that makes up our community."
Sydney's Oxford street will once again be filled with crowds, colour and music for the famous Mardi Gras Parade on 2 March.
2024 marks the 46th anniversary of the parade, building on a long history of protest and celebration of LGBTIQ+ lives and Pride.
The parade's iconic Oxford Street location holds historical significance as the site of the first Sydney Mardi Gras Parade in 1978, which ended in police violence and 53 arrests.
Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore says the city has come a long way since then, but there's still more to do.
"There have been so many wins and advances for the LGBTQIA+ community since the brutal arrests, the bashings and institutional criminalisation that followed the first Mardi Gras in 1978. But despite the wins, the threats and violence and intimidation, targeting LGBTQIA+ people and events this year are a stark reminder that there is still more to do to achieve true equality and acceptance."
The legacy of the 78ers - the name given to the marchers in the original Sydney Mardi Gras - and the long history of LGBTIQ+ activism is to be celebrated and remembered in the 2024 edition of the festival.
A 'Sunset Service of Reflection' will be held to commemorate those who have struggled with prejudice and oppression, and to reflect on progress made toward equality.
New South Wales Minister for the Arts John Graham says the long history of Sydney Mardi Gras is something to be proud of.
"That Mardi Gras began as a radical community protest and grew into a parade, a party, but above all, a celebration of Pride renowned around the world. That's been incredibly important to Sydney over the years."
