Pride Festival

The rainbow flag will be flying high this month as Darwin pride festival kicks off and the Pride March relaunches itself after a hiatus of more than 10 years.

Music, forums, beauty pageants, drag, book launches and boats will all be part of this year’s festival, which starts with a launch party in Austin Lane, off Knuckey St.

With changes to the Marriage Act to allow same-sex couples to marry now being put out to a postal survey, the issue of marriage equality will be a strong one for the Pride March.

“We haven’t had one in a number of years but I think this year it’s important, to show the community is strong, and it will have a political bent,” says festival co-chair Daniel Alderman.

The re-vamped 2017 march will include “a few floats,” including a vehicle from the Northern Territory Police, Fire and Rescue and a giant stiletto previously seen in the Mindil Beach Sunset Market’s anniversary celebrations earlier this year.

Politicians, including Chief Minister Michael Gunner, whose sister Lucy is a Pride Festival organiser, will be at the march says Alderman, where rainbow colours will replace the stripes at the Knuckey St zebra crossing.

“Darwin City Council has supported the march and have come out in support of marriage equality,” he says, “yet our government still won’t allow a percentage of the community to have equal rights. We will be calling for that.”

Alongside the political will, of course, be the party, including music at Happy Yess after the march, a party at Throb and a Miss First Nations pageant.

For young LGBTQI, The Quarter at Casuarina Square will again be putting on a youth event, and the big week will finish up with a lazy dazy boat cruise hosted by pop-up party starters Departure Lounge. 

Read the whole program on the website: http://www.darwinpride.com.au/