Gay Pride Week was in many ways the high point of the first wave of Gay Liberation activism in Australia.

Initially proposed by Sydney Gay Liberation in 1973 as a way to break out of the widespread malaise that they were feeling, the idea was enthusiastically taken up by groups in Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane. The Week aimed to “change the mind of the prejudiced, the fearful, the conditioned, the sexually repressed, all those who in oppressing us oppress themselves.”

Drawing on established and recently developed activist formats, Gay Pride Week included demonstrations, speak-outs, zaps, poetry, films, graffiti paint ups, a talk to high school students, an evening for parents of gays, and a dance. About 250 people turned up for the Friday night demonstration.