Trikone Australia

Sydney WorldPride 2023

By: Kunal Mirchandani

Days of torrential rain across Australia’s east coast has resulted in thousands of homes in New South Wales and Queensland being submerged by record-breaking flood waters.

Anyone who’s been around the city these past few weeks would no doubt have noticed that everything has been awash in rainbow colours. That’s because Sydney is hosting this year’s WorldPride festival,

Celebrations

a celebration of LGBTQ pride occurring in a different country every two years.

As if that wasn’t enough, the festival coincides with the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, resulting in a double celebration that over half a million people attended over two weeks.

The festival’s centrepiece was the annual Mardi Gras Parade along Oxford Street on Saturday, 25 February. While the parade moved to the SCG over the last two years due to COVID restrictions, this year marked its triumphant return to its roots along Oxford Street. And it was quite the spectacle, with over 12,500 participants from 210 different floats marching for acceptance and equality.

Anthony Albanese also became the first sitting Prime Minister to join the parade. He was joined by Minister for the Environment Tanya Plibersek and NSW Labor Party leader (and likely future Premier) Chris Minns.

Indians (and, more broadly, South Asians) who identify as LGBTQ were well-represented in this year’s parade.

Trikone Australia, the country’s biggest support group for queer South Asians, marched with over 70 participants behind a colourful truck that featured two golden peacocks framing two same-sex couples.

In an atmosphere of doubt and hesitation, when young Indians in an immigrant country still struggle to find the right answers to domestic violence, abuse, dysfunctional marriages, sexual health and pleasurerelated questions, Dr Niveditha Manokaran is helping them unlearn and relearn. The Indianorigin dermatologist and venereologist is currently based out of Sydney. Her Instagram handle has close to 80,000 followers, and has transformed into a repository of authentic knowledge, shattering taboos and easy-toaccess support for youngsters and women.

Making a difference: