Sydney WorldPride - Pride March

5 March 2023 was indeed a very busy and eventful day.

It was essential to rise before dawn, as the day started early.

The journey by bus and trains to where I was going was over an hour.

The train ended up being packed with others going to the same event.

The event was the Pride March.

Let's be very clear. This is a distinctly separate event from the Parade.

The Parade is an annual event, with limited participation by application and payable fee, whereas the Pride March was a one-off event for Sydney WorldPride.

The Parade has had up to 12,000 participants, is held on a Saturday night, has thousands of street spectators along the entire route and broadcast on live television.

The Pride March had a limit of 50,000 participants, was held early on a Sunday morning, with limited spectators.

There were limited spectators since a large part of the route was across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a highly iconic and historical landmark.

Entry into the Pride March was open to anyone, from any country but was allocated by ballot.

I was lucky enough to have automatic entry and didn't need to enter the ballot, though I still had to and choose a starting time slot.

Starting at around 07:00 in the morning was too early as there was no way I could get there before then, so I chose a later time slot.

When I arrived at the destination train station, there were thousands of people and I was much earlier than my start time.

Nevertheless, we were all directed towards the start point of the march, even if it wasn't yet one's time slot.

It was this way that I started the march earlier than anticipated.

I believe it's because the streets around North Sydney couldn't cope with the vast numbers of people so they thought it easier to simply get people into the march as they arrived, keeping it flowing.

There were of course some spectators and it did feel special to be part of it, even though there were lots marching.

From North Sydney train station, we were directed towards the Pacific Highway, which is where security checked for participant wristbands and bags for those that had them.

Along the last stretch of the Pacific Highway the march went and on to the Bradfield Highway.

The Bradfield Highway leads on to the approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Bridge itself.

It was incredibly special to march across the Bridge in this manner, for such an event.

You need to be a local to truly understand.

For context, imagine a Pride March across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Tower Bridge over the River Thames in London or along the top of the Great Wall of China.

If you are familiar with any of those landmarks, hopefully you'll understand what I mean.

After crossing the Bridge, the march turned left on to the Cahill Expressway. (Cahill is pronounced like 'Carl', not 'Kay-hill'.)

Along the Cahill Expressway, the route ed Circular Quay.

(For trivia buffs, that section of road was used for filming 'Mad Max : Fury Road'.)

To see the many thousands that were already marching ahead was a sight indeed and then there were many more thousands of people following behind.

The 2.5km mark was along this stretch of the Cahill.

The last part of the Cahill Expressway turns right past east of Circular Quay.

The march went on into Macquarie Street where it eventually ended.

Participants had the choice to go ahead to public transport or left to The Domain, where one could get a drink or food.

Upon the concert stage already set up (where the Live and Proud Opening Concert had been over a week earlier) was messaging on continuous play, thanking participants from taking part in the Pride March.

There was a sausage sizzle which required a donation.

It wasn't much; a lousy sausage on a slice of bread, a tiny cake or muffin and a thin can of Coca-Cola (a sponsor).

It was still relatively early and I considered going home but I didn't, for there were other reasons why I had to stay around the City.

That's a story for the next two blogs, so you'll need to stay tuned to find out what happened next.

Before ending, let's talk about costuming.

A Pride March across the Sydney Harbour Bridge is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

I doubt it will ever happen again before I'm turned into ashes.

It's a chance to make a statement upon a very famous landmark.

This was an opportunity to promote the advocacy of PHANTOM.

The majority in any Pride march, parade or festival are gay or lesbian, which is what the general public and media mainly know of and gets publicised over and over.

Bisexuality gets a mention occasionally and Transgender does as well but only in the binary mtF/ftM context (even though it's actually more broader than that).

How often does any other Orientation get mentioned or put in the spotlight? Rarely or never is the truth.

This wasn't only a Pride March, it was also during WorldPride, when eyes from all over are watching.

It's the world stage at home and how I appeared on the march mattered.

I'd considered wearing a costume from the Parade, since I have a few.

I wanted to have signage and flags as well, to get messages out there but the Pride March was riddled with strict and conditions.

The list of what you couldn't bring was extensive and large flags or signs weren't permitted.

(This condition was upsetting, as there was a highly publicised part of the Pride March that was filmed and put out on media, of a large group of people carrying a massive Progress Pride Flag. I also saw an individual waving a Pansexual flag and wondered how they were able to enter with that, when it meant I should have been able to as well.)

There's no way a tiny sign the size of a novel was going to stand out or be noticed.

Even taking a bag wasn't an option, though I did in a way but not an obvious one.

In the end, I wore a plain skirt with a T-shirt and a cape. Upon my hat (sun safety is important) I tied a long strip like a ribbon. It was actually a strip cut from a pansexual flag and sewn, so the colours were all there.

Doesn't sound exciting?

The cape is the one I made and wore for the 2022 Parade, which features flags I painted of a number of lesser known/discussed Orientations and Gender Identities.

There's no rainbow, lesbian or transgender flags on it. They already get plenty of publicity.

This cape had flags representing Pansexual, Omnisexual, Multigender, Autosexual, Abrosexual, Polysexual, Demisexual and Aromantic identities, amongst several others.

It was highly probable that I was the only one wearing the flag of many of those identities, in the March. Someone had to represent those people and it was done through PHANTOM.

The unique manner in which the cape was worn required that a backpack of my original design and manufacture had to also be worn.

The backpack is in Pansexual colours and the cape attaches to it, unlike the crude method that most people use to attach a flag to themselves by tying it around their neck.

The cape was cut and sewn as a cape, not a rectangular piece of fabric like a flag is, which allows for a better fit.

The flag hides the backpack and many don't even notice it.

Multiple identities covered. :white_check_mark:

The T-shirt took it further.

For those who had read the Parade blog, you'd know about the disappointment about the artworks not being given full intended exposure.

I came upon the idea that the Pride March was another opportunity to use the artworks in a similar manner.

I already had my signage from the Parade but I couldn't take those, so creating a T-shirt meant I could wear my messaging.

I designed an image which features the PHANTOM logo at the top.

Below that, the words, 'SYDNEY WORLDPRIDE PRIDE MARCH' and the date, '5 MARCH 2023'.

At the bottom, the words, 'Marching in advocacy for global disability/Pansexual+ rights, visibility, acceptance, validity, understanding & recognition.' followed underneath by thirty minority identity flags, with my Minority Pride flag in the centre as an addition.

In the centre of all that, the world map featuring all the artworks that appeared on the Globe used in the Parade.

It certainly wasn't a huge sign but I did catch people reading it, which did the job of getting the message out there, plus the artworks got to shine in all their glory.

It's a one of a kind item. I wonder if anyone wants it. Probably not.

Catch you next blog.