Events: Community

1000 to 1 Projects brings a very special late night Sunday Session. For your dancing pleasure, our DJs will be spinning those hot and deep dance tunes. Don’t miss this feast of beats and super fun queer party!

THIS IS A FREE EVENT!

DJ LINE UP:

SNOW WHITE
SEX
JAREZ
HOMO DEUS
BOWRANGER

1000 to 1 Projects are a crew of women and non-binary creatives who have come together to birth new innovative dance / DJ spaces for the queer community. Passionate about creating opportunity for emerging and established women and non-binary DJs we support and promoting cultural and gender diversity.

You can join us on Facebook or follow us on MIXCLOUD.

1000 to 1 Projects pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the first people of Australia. They have never ceded sovereignty, and remain strong in their enduring connection to land and culture.

Discover the Rainbow at the Library! is a celebration of the Northern Beaches LGBTQIA+ community following Warringah’s historic Yes vote in the Marriage Equality plebiscite in 2018.

It features LGBTQIA+ books, e-books, talking books, and films displayed throughout the six Northern Beaches Library branches, and the library website for the duration of Mardi Gras. Joining the library is free, enabling members of the public to browse and borrow from the collection.

Northern Beaches Libraries wishes everyone a happy Mardi Gras for 2020!

At this event, you’ll hear stories from LGBTQI scientists in Sydney who have successfully followed a career path in academia while being out in the lab and to their peers. Let’s provoke positive debate and help promote science and academia as an inclusive, forward-thinking, and viable career path for bright young queer minds!

The 500 Queer Scientists initiative launched in June 2018 and highlights the real need for increased visibility of LGBTQI scientists in academia. The issues are complex, but visibility and role models are part of the solution.

The evening’s discussion will be moderated by Dr Alice Motion, Associate Professor, Chemist and Science Communicator at the University of Sydney. Alice is the founder of the Breaking Good citizen science project, the co-host of ABC Science podcast Dear Science and has been the host of a weekly science slot on FBi Radio's breakfast show since 2015.

The panel includes the co-creator of 500 Queer Scientists: Dr Lauren Esposito, Assistant Curator and Schlinger Chair of Arachnology at the California Academy of Sciences. Other panel members cover a broad spectrum - from early to late-career scientists - in a range of fascinating research fields.

This event is organized by Dr Hervé Sauquet (RBG Sydney), with Perry Beasley-Hall (University of Sydney), Dr Hannah McPherson (RBG Sydney) and Prof. Marie Herberstein (Macquarie University).

Presented in partnership with 500 Queer Scientists and Queers in Science. Proudly sponsored by the Foundation & Friends of the Botanic Gardens, Inspiring Australia, University of Sydney Pride Network, Macquarie University, University of NSW and the Australian Entomological Society.

FLAGCOM's Variety Show is an Award Winning Entertainment Variety Show showcasing the talents of the Multicultural Community in songs and dances.

The highlight of the show is the coronation of the Miss Mardi Gras International Queen 2020 and her court. The winners serve as ambassador of Flagcom in the community in their charity works.

The objective of the variety show is to educate people from Sexually Transmitted Diseases and to promote Social Cohesion and Community Harmony. It has been a constant nominee for ZEST community award in partnership with ACON, WSCF, Department of Philippine Tourism and NARRA Co-op Ltd.

This year, the Green Park Hotel is throwing a WHOLE WEEK of Mardi Gras events in partnership with Pride Yak, and they’re all completely FREE.

Forget tickets, queues or cover charges.... your favourite local will be blacking out the windows, bringing out the disco balls and turning on the lasers parties the likes of which the Greeny has never seen before!

And we’ve got something for everyone...

Stuck for a date for Mardi Gras? Our 7 COLOURFUL DAYS OF FREE EVENTS kick off on Monday 24th Feb, with a very special edition of ‘Bachelor in the Park’, our very own speed dating night.

Once you’ve found your Mr Right (or Mr Right now), we roll into the rest of the week: Drag Trivia with the Liquor Sisters, The Ultimate Drag Bingo, hosted by Cassie Nova, before we leap into the serious business of being fearless and footloose, with 4 nights of parties until 2am from Thursday 27th Feb to Sunday 1st March!

SEE THE EVENT SCHEDULE HERE

LINE UP INCLUDES:

Kate Monroe
Special Guest Peyton
DJ FrenchKiss (FRA)
Corey Craig (USA)
Jason Conti (Melb)
Hamo Tevita
Wayne G (UK)
Colin Gaff
Rob Davis
James Turnbull
Kristy Jade
Deejay Chip
Alex Taylor
Baby Bear

See you on the dance floor!

"I would like, Your Highness, at the present moment, to feel as though I am only one thing."
"Poppycock! Don’t be a bore Orlando."

Based on Virginia Woolf’s novel-length love letter to Vita Sackville-West, Orlando follows its protagonist on a romp through five centuries, a gender transition, several great loves, angst™, and one very average poem about a very large tree. Join us on a journey where time is Orlando’s play-thing, and queerness, melodrama, and identity are celebrated in all their undefinable intricacies.

100% of ticket sales will be donated to Twenty10 - a Sydney-based support service for young LGBTQIA+ people.

A darkly funny and honest exploration into the power of the dance floor and the possibility to create magic when the world shuts you out. Inspired by Sydney’s historical queer lineage and those that came before us. Can you fall in love under the light of a bathroom stall?

The Flying Nun by Brand X
Created and Performed by Tommy Misa
Sound Design by Jonny Seymour
Supported by Dino Dimitriadis

Photo credit: Dean Tirkot

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Tommy Misa is an Australian multidisciplinary artist of Samoan, British, Chinese and German ancestry. Tommy often devises work with focus on the intersections of lived experience and with common themes of race, class, mental health, addiction and queerness, often using humour as an approach. Tommy has trained at the Atlantic Acting School in NYC and locally at NIDA, The Hub Studio and the Australian Theatre for Young People. Tommy has worked across film, theatre and extensively in the queer club/performance scene in Australia and has performed at the Sydney Opera House, Secret Garden Festival, Sydney Mardi Gras and for Gay Times Festival and the Sydney Biennale in 2020.

See plus size performers dance, strut, shimmy and strip in Australia’s first fat only burlesque show. Everything you thought you knew about fat bodies and who belongs on a stage is about to be shattered.

Created by Kelly Heylen

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Fat, femme and fabulous, Glamazon is new to burlesque but experienced in all the ways that count. She is on a mission to smash tired old stereotypes about who gets to be on stage and isn’t afraid of smashing the patriarchy along the way.

L to R: Mim Loftus, Pam Stein, Suzanne Hollis. Photo: Phillip Potter

Given the dominant patriarchal approach to history, it’s unsurprising that the role women played in the early lesbian and gay movement is often given minor consideration to that of men.

Yet lesbians played a pivotal role, despite being faced with misogyny and sexism, even from some homosexual men. The place of lesbians within the Women’s Liberation Movement was also initially contested by some of their sisters. Against these odds, gains in the areas of the status of women, lesbian mothers and opposition to the harmful practices of psychiatry were many.

To explore these issues and mark the 50^th anniversary of the founding of the Australasian Lesbian Movement, the Pride History Group and First Mardi Gras Inc. a community organisation for 78ers, are holding a joint forum – A Lavender Menace? Australia’s Early Lesbian Movement.

Speakers will include lesbians who were pioneer members of CAMP and other early lesbian and gay groups.
 

2 - 4pm Saturday 15 February
Beneledi House, 194 Glebe Point Road, Glebe
(next to the library on the corner of Wigram Road)
RSVP: info@78ers.org.au

This event is the first in a series planned to celebrate 50 Fabulous Years of Liberation.

Lifesavers with Pride have been saving lives and celebrating Surf Life Saving since their first parade entry in 2007. Now, as part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival, they are ready to welcome you down onto the beaches and into their surf clubs so you can get all up close and personal with the very handsome girls and fit fellas.

What better way to prepare for the Mardi Gras parade the following day, than to head down to Tamarama Beach for a late afternoon dip in the summer waters, then up to the Tamarama Clubhouse, where you can hang with the folk for a few drinks looking over the beach as the sun sets into the evening.

We'll have some tunes spinning by the ever popular DJ Dan Murphy (a lifesaver himself at one of our local beaches when he's not on the decks), plus we'll do the Aussie thing and throw some snags on the BBQ for you to soak up that alcohol. Enough of an early mark for either a good nights' sleep before the big parade day, or for you to head out to do some serious clubbing for those who just can't get enough of your time in Sydney.

So regardless whether you're a Sydney local looking for some fun, an 'out of town'er here for the weekend, or an interstate or international visitor here for a week or so, swing on by to say hi to the team in the red and yellow. Our sexy lifesavers are keen to welcome our travelling visitors the only way they know how. By teasing you with their six packs, cracking open a cold one and showing off their skills with the kiss of life.

Ticket gives entry to Tamarama Clubhouse and free BBQ. Drinks available for purchase at the Club Bar.

A new name on the Sydney fetish scene. A space to be yourself.

The EAGLE Sydney - a pop up fetish bar from Feb 22-28. Located in the Dugout Bar, Burdekin Hotel Darlinghurst - entrance Liverpool Street.

Each night a different fetish theme - come in the fetish of the night and receive a free drink. Leather, Rubber, Pups, Sports Gear+Sneakers and more. All fetishes welcome every night. GEAR is encouraged, not enforced - come explore yourself.

Free Entry every night. DJs most nights
All sexes and sexualities welcome.

Sat 22 - BLUF Social and OPENING NIGHT
Sun 23 - RUBBEr
Mon 24 - BIKEr
Tues 25 - MAXIMUM FETISH
Wed 26 - KICKr
Thu 27 - WROOF
Fri 28 - UN:RUL:LE

Details and information on facebook or the website!
 

Join us for SPARK’s Youth History Walk this Mardi Gras season!

Well before Oxford Street became the Gay Golden Mile, King’s Cross was the centre of Sydney’s gay nightlife. How did the community grow and why was there a later move to Oxford Street? Along the walk down King’s Cross and Oxford Street, we will be revisiting Sydney’s LGBTQ history with stories about important bars and venues that carved out spaces for members of the community in those early days, and the legacy of the first Mardi Gras in 1978.

Commentary will be by former gay activist and community historian, Robert French, who has been leading history tours for over 30 years, often in conjunction with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. He has also published on homosexuality in Colonial and mid-20th Century Sydney.

The walk will take roughly 90 minutes. We encourage you to bring a water bottle and wear some sun screen on the day.

This event is for people of diverse sexualities and genders aged 26 years and under.

Sydney's small gay bar for Bears and their friends has supersized for Mardi Gras and pops up in the main bar of the Burdekin Hotel on Oxford street for a week of fun and games. Expect comedy & drag, pool & pizza plus great party nights with some of the best Australian and International DJs.

Appearing at Bear Bar for Mardi Gras 2020 are comedian Dean Arcuri, popular London DJ LCB and Sydney based DJ Hamo who'll also be spinning at the Mardi Gras Party.

Join the friendly crowd at Bear Bar for eight action packed days including a special Mardi Gras Parade Viewing Party on Feb 29th. This will be the place to be this Mardi Gras, everyone welcome ...not just Bears!

Open Saturday, February 22nd to Saturday February 29th. Visit BearBar.com.au for all the event details!

Understanding drugs in social and sexual lives

Substance use has long played a role in the social and sexual lives of gay, bisexual and queer men. Dr Max Hopwood and Dr Kerryn Drysdale from the Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW will present the fourth annual Sex Lecture, drawing on insights from the Crystal, Pleasures and Sex between Men research project on gay, bisexual and queer men who use crystal methamphetamine for sex. The lecture will be followed by an expert panel who will discuss how we can better encourage practices of safety and care for people who use drugs for sex or socialising in our communities.

This is a free public lecture, delivered by the Centre for Social Research in Health at UNSW. Tickets are $0 to attend, but attendees must register via our Eventbrite page here.

Introduction: Emeritus Professor Gary W. Dowsett
Gary Dowsett, PhD, FASSA, is Emeritus Professor at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University, Melbourne, and Adjunct Professor in the Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW

Event MC: Scientia Professor Carla Treloar

Panellists include Leon Fernandes, Joël Murray and Suzie Hudson.

Leon Fernandes is a harm reduction and adult educator for over 20 years, with intimate knowledge of illicit and injecting drug use and its relationship with sex.

Joël Murray is a queer person living with HIV. Their experience is both professional, having worked as a Senior Policy Advisor on the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Drug ‘Ice’, and personal, having the lived experience of substance use and supporting people who use substances in the context of sex.

Dr Suzie Hudson is an accredited mental health Social Worker, with over 20 years’ clinical experience, and is the Clinical Director at NADA as well as maintaining a private counselling and clinical supervision practice.

Join Sydney's Super-Hero Diva and Glambassador of Love and Equality as she takes you on an exploration of Oxford Street - Sydney's LGBT Hub!

From Hyde Park we will go on foot to visit a series of fabulous LGBT entertainment venues, shops and landmarks in the gay hub of Sydney! Slide Bar, House of Priscilla, The Oxford, and much more! We'll discuss facts and tidbits of each place as well as a brief history of venues new and old! We'll do some shopping pitstops and even stop at Swiss Bakers if you want a coffee or snack! Lots to do darlings!

During the tour Wonder Mama will also give a run down of the world renowned Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade which she herself has participated in numerous times! The tour will end near Taylor Square at the delightful Sydney Rainbow Crossing where you can stay to take photos and then depart the tour to grab dinner or enjoy a drink at a number of the bars open for happy hour!!

$5 from every individual booking during Mardi Gras Season will be donated to The Bobby Goldsmith Foundation.