Australia’s third-largest metropolitan area, Brisbane is experiencing a coming-of-age with a booming restaurant, bar and cultural scene that gives travelers an alternative to the more mainstream Melbourne and Sydney. With very rich gay culture and scene with many annual events.
Today in this modern version of gay Brisbane, you can enjoy voguish architecture, designer shopping, refreshing beaches, extraordinary arts events, wild nightlife, multi-cultural gastronomy, and some of Australia’s best cafés.
Wondering where are all the queens in Queensland are? In Gay Brisbane of course!
Gay Popular Annual Events in Brisbane
Wonderland Festival
As the days warm up and dusk playfully turns into evening, this LGBT-popular festival at the Brisbane Powerhouse Arts Centre turns up the intensity with a unique carnival of burlesque, circus, music, theatre, comedy and more. Purveyors of all things weird and wonderful, let Wonderland tantalize you with shows explicitly curated to surprise and delight in this debaucherously end-of-year spectacular held over two weeks at the end of November.
Big Gay Day
One of Australia’s most treasured and welcoming queers festivals held annually in March. For one day, the inner-city street outside the Wickham Hotel is closed for an epic street festival of carnival acts, exclusive performances, booths, fun, and 50,000 + rainbow people.
There is also a mega-main stage with local, national and international acts that draw large crowds – so if you have specific artists or acts you want to watch, arrive early or risk being stuck at the back. Involving main charities and local community partners, this fully-inclusive day in the sun is exactly the kind of queer event we think the world needs more of! There is actually another Big Gay Out in Auckland, but as far as we can tell there is no relation…
Brisbane Queer Film Festival
A highlight of the Brisbane queer community calendar. Since becoming independent in 2017, the festival returns annually to present, indulge and empower LGBTIQA and gender diverse film, filmmakers and screen content. Held at the New Farm Cinema, Brisbane’s premier location for all things cinema, from festivals, independent, cult and non-mainstream work to blockbuster cinema.
There is no better place to create this connection for the Brisbane queer community than New Farm Cinema who has a special history to queer culture with the original site, The Village Twin, cited as a gay beat in 70s/80s Brisbane. A more high-brow alternative to the traditional gay party scene, for those who prefer who value reflection, representation, and the queer film experience.
Glamatron NYE Festival
An annually festival on New Year’s Eve organized by the Tropical Fruits LGBTIQ community group with an opening street parade and soiree, party and fireworks, art exhibition, café, pool party, recovery party and more! Held in Lismore, one of the gayest towns in Australia, around 2 hours drive south of Brisbane.
Melt: Festival Of Queer Arts And Culture
Presented by the Brisbane Powerhouse annually in June, Melt is an invitation to celebrate Brisbane’s wonderfully diverse queer communities. Brisbane’s LGBTIQ+ voice is loud and clear, bursting with pride, humor, humanity, and rebellion.
The community is bounding towards equality in many vital aspects of life and MELT is a vehicle for these leaps. The invitation is extended to citizens of all genders, sexual orientations, ages, ethnicities, abilities and artistic interests. The celebration is one of love is love yo!
Fruitopia Fairday
Another major annual event in August held by the Tropical Fruits LGBTIQ community group in Lismore. Fruitopia Fair day is a family fun day that sees everyone gather their families, friends, pooches and picnic rugs for an outdoor extravaganza. With dog shows, kids games, great food, stalls galore, live music and a cake bake-off, Fruitopia welcomes spring with gay abandon at the Lismore Showground.
Brisbane Pride Festival
An annual celebration of love, diversity, and inclusion, the Brisbane Pride Festival is a community event for all LGBTIQ+ persons and their allies. Brisbane Pride’s Mission is to encourage the cultural expression, celebration and human rights of lesbian, gays, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and all people of diverse sexuality and gender living in Queensland – and this event is the perfect way to come out, celebrate queerness and support a good cause.
Australia’s third-largest LGBTIQA+ event, attracting more than 10,000 festival-goers over a four week period in the month of September each year., there is plenty of club nights and fun quirky events to go along to including fairs, dog shows, talks, cinema, shows and more. Check out their Facebook event page for more info, and look out for the other events and committee meetings held regularly throughout the year if you want to be involved more.
