Fill your calendar with these LGBTQIA+ events in Brisbane

Just like the weather in the south-east, the LGBTQIA+ events scene in Brisbane is a warm and welcoming one. With many of the LGBTQIA+ friendly accommodation options and venue choices centred around Brisbane’s CBD and Fortitude Valley, it’s easy to feel part of the local queer community from the moment you arrive. Throughout the year a number of amazing queer events take place in the geographical bombshell that is Brisbane, acting as the perfect excuse for the community to gather together and celebrate.

Here are six of our absolute ‘must-do’ top picks!

Big Gay Day at The Wickham

Hosted each year by The Wickham (one of Brisbane’s most loved LGBTQIA+ pubs), Big Gay Day provides Brisbanites with the opportunity to support local and international superstars, experience the local drag culture, and feel just how welcoming and warm the queer community in Brisbane is.

Hidden behind a heritage-listed pub facade, The Wickham – on Alden Street – has welcomed the likes of Courtney Act, The Veronicas, Boy George, and even Sporty Spice to its stage over its impressive 22-year history. What’s more is that the festival invites local up-and-coming performers to entertain the masses in the many entertainment spaces carved out for the day.

Big Gay Day however, is more than just a day of fun and foolishness in Fortitude Valley. Each year, the festival raises funds for charity partners (like the Australian AIDS Council, Brisbane Pride, and the LGBTI Legal Service), making the event just that little bit more enticing to support.

Brisbane Queer Film Festival

Like the many queer film festivals on show in other major cities around Australia (and the world), the Brisbane Queer Film Festival is dedicated to showcasing the best in international LGBTQIA+ cinema. Each year, the BQFF features a rich program of bold, defiant and refreshingly authentic queer storytelling by and for the queer community.

Recently, the festival has relocated, now calling New Farm Cinemas home. Being hosted in such a central location, the queer community from all over Brisbane can gather to embrace the gamut of queer cinema on show.

Queens Ball

Believe it or not, Brisbane is home to the longest continuously running LGBTQIA+ event in the world – the Queens Ball. With a history spanning six decades, the Queen’s Ball originated on Tamborine Mountain (in the Gold Coast Hinterland) as a night of pure escapism at a time when being L, G, B, or T was illegal.

Over the years, it has evolved into what it is today; an event which provides the queer community with the opportunity to celebrate the people of diverse genders and sexualities living in Australia while also paying homage to queer peoples’ complicated history. Today, the Queens Ball calls the historic Brisbane City Hall home, attracting more than 500 guests to partake in the celebrations.

Brisbane Pride Festival

With dozens of events scattered throughout the month of September, Brisbane Pride Festival is a jam-packed, month-long celebration of Queensland’s LGBTQIA+ community. Since its origins in the 90s, it has become known as Queensland’s premier festival for people of diverse gender and sexualities.

The festival begins in early September with the Brisbane Pride Festival Launch day and finishes in the final week of the month with the annual Tennis Open Day. Between these two days, however, Brisbane Pride Festival is home to a host of events for everyone in the LGBTQIA+ community, like the Rainbow Families Arcade Fun Day, and the Leather Girl Comp.

The most well-known event during the month however is the Pride Fair Day. Hosted in Musgrave Park, the fair day is a day of fun-filled performances during which the community is urged to be as loud and as proud as possible. 

Trans Community Awards

Held annually in November, the Trans Community Awards are proudly backed by the trans, gender diverse & non-binary social and support group, Many Genders One Voice.

The Trans Community Awards is a night of celebration in which Queensland’s transgender, gender diverse, non-binary and sistergirl and brotherboy communities are applauded for all they do. Included in this appreciation and acknowledgement of these communities are awards presented to individuals who are making change in their respective fields.

It’s a night created by and for the trans community, but one that the entire community in Brisbane is urged to celebrate.

Trans Fair Day

Hosted at the West End Croquet Club in South Brisbane (on the grounds of Musgrave Park), Brisbane’s Trans Fair Day is an annual, community-focused event organised to support the mental and physical health of local trans, gender diverse and non-binary Brisbanites of all ages.

Each year, the event brings an energetic atmosphere to the city, with live music, community activations, and various stalls and – of course – food and drink options aplenty. It prides itself on being an event for all, regardless of their sexuality or gender identity, with all funds raised going back into charities which support the trans community.