Mardi Gras ECSTATICA, Sophie Hyde Jimpa, Winter Olympics Team Rainbow, Van Der Beek, Marina Summers | Rainbow Briefing — Daily LGBTQIA+ News Podcast Australia

Hi, I’m Louise Poole, and this is the Rainbow Briefing for Friday the thirteenth of February. Your daily LGBTQIA+ news catchup.

Recorded and produced on Yugambeh and Yuggera land.

In today’s briefing — ECSTATICA begins. A queer family story three generations in the making, Winter Olympic gold for Team Rainbow, and a Drag Race star shares the truth she’s been carrying for years.

It’s here.

The forty-eighth Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras kicks off today — and this year’s theme is ECSTATICA.

The Progress Pride Flag is being raised above Sydney Town Hall this evening, officially opening two and a half weeks of queer celebration across Sydney.

This is a festival that’s been through a lot recently. The Party was paused. There were calls from the NSW opposition to cut funding — calls the government firmly rejected.

But Mardi Gras has always been bigger than any one event. And this year, the program is packed.

More than a hundred and twenty events across February and March. With The Mardi Gras Film Festival already underway, featuring two weeks of LGBTQIA+ cinema from around the world.

Tonight, Ultra Violet takes over City Recital Hall — an unapologetically sapphic night of burlesque, drag kings, and performance art.

Tomorrow, Black Cherry makes its Mardi Gras debut — a trans-diverse night rooted in redemption and rebirth.

Then on Sunday — Fair Day. Victoria Park. The beating heart of the festival.

The day opens with the First Nations Circle — a Smoking Ceremony and the Buuja Buuja Butterfly Dancers honouring Country. Trans Camp is back for its second year. Doggywood returns with the campest canine pageant in the country. The Drag King Games bring muscle, mischief, and mayhem. And the Queer Fashion Runway showcases local designers redefining queer style.

Pool parties, gala balls, the Parade — it’s all coming.

If you’ve been waiting for Mardi Gras energy, it starts tonight.

Australian filmmaker Sophie Hyde is one of the country’s most acclaimed directors — and her latest film, Jimpa, is one of the most personal stories she’s ever told.

Hyde’s father, Jim, came out as gay when Sophie was just thirteen months old. Her parents made the unconventional decision to keep living together as a family for the next seven years.

Decades later, Sophie’s own child, Aud, came out as non-binary.

That multigenerational queer family story is the heartbeat of Jimpa — starring Olivia Colman as a version of Sophie and John Lithgow as her father.

Now, Monday night’s episode of Australian Story goes behind the lens — meeting the real family that inspired the film.

And Sophie says it hasn’t been easy. She told the program — “I can’t believe how vulnerable we’ve been. I can’t believe I let my family be in all of this.”

Jimpa premiered at the Mardi Gras Film Festival opening night, with preview screenings around the country this weekend. Australian Story airs Monday night on the ABC.

At the Winter Olympics in Milan, queer athletes aren’t just showing up — they’re dominating.

A record forty-seven out LGBTQIA+ athletes are competing at these Games — the biggest rainbow contingent ever at a Winter Olympics. And if they were a country, they’d be sitting fifth on the medal table.

American figure skater Amber Glenn helped the US win gold — and she’s using the opportunity to speak out on the current US administration’s attacks on LGBTQIA+ rights.

She said — quote — “I know a lot of people will say, stick to your job, shut up about politics. But politics affect us all.”

She received threats for speaking out. But she said she’s not backing down.

Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud defended her Olympic slopestyle skiing title — beating rival Eileen Gu by less than half a point. She celebrated with a kiss from her girlfriend.

France’s Guillaume Cizeron made history as the first ice dancer to win back-to-back Olympic golds with different partners — voguing his way to the top with a routine set to Madonna. Canada’s Paul Poirier took bronze in his fourth Games, skating to RuPaul’s “Supermodel (You Better Work).”

Bisexual American skier Breezy Johnson won downhill gold — the first rainbow medal of the entire Games.

Kevin Aymoz, the only out gay man in men’s singles skating, stunned with a program set to Lady Gaga’s “Judas.”

And American speedskater Conor McDermott-Mostowy became the first openly gay man in Olympic speedskating — wearing a Pride flag pendant as he raced.

These Games are making a statement.

The queer community is mourning the loss of an ally this week.

Actor James Van Der Beek has died from colon cancer at the age of forty-eight.

For a generation of Australian audiences, Van Der Beek was Dawson Leery — the lead of Dawson’s Creek, one of the biggest teen dramas of the late nineties, broadcast in more than fifty countries. The show broke new ground for queer representation on screen.

But Van Der Beek’s connection to queer storytelling went well beyond Dawson’s Creek. He starred in Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 — a comedy created by a lesbian showrunner, with a cast full of queer characters. He joined Ryan Murphy’s groundbreaking series Pose, which made history for having the largest cast of transgender women on a single TV series. And his last TV appearance was in queer college comedy Overcompensating.

Off screen, he was a vocal supporter of LGBTQIA+ rights — backing marriage equality before it was legalised in the US.

Van Der Beek had been living with stage three colorectal cancer since late 2024.

His final onscreen performance in Elle, the Legally Blonde prequel series, is released on Prime Video in July.

And some beautiful news to share.

Drag Race star Marina Summers has come out as a transgender woman.

Marina was runner-up on Drag Race Philippines season 1 and placed third on UK vs the World season 2.

In a message to her followers, Marina said she’s been sitting with this for a long time — trying to find the right moment and the right words.

She said she’s always felt feminine, but becoming the person she’d always seen herself as felt like something she’d get to ‘later,’ and pushed to the side while trying to catch every other dream first.

Last year, she finally gave herself permission to stop pausing.

She began socially transitioning in early 2025, and later started hormone replacement therapy — calling it one of the best things that’s ever happened to her.

And finally — if you needed a reason to get out this weekend, here’s about a dozen.

It’s not just Mardi Gras kicking off in Sydney. There is so much queer joy happening around the country right now.

In Melbourne, St Kilda Festival takes over the foreshore this weekend — and the POOF DOOF Pride Patrol is rolling in with a mobile queer dance floor, DJs, and drag shows. LGBTQIA+ and disability community advocate Magnets is performing, along with Selve, fronted by queer First Nations artist Loki Liddle.

In Far North Queensland, Heatwave Festival is bringing three days of LGBTQIA+ celebration to Port Douglas — DJs, drag, and performances from Coco Jumbo from Drag Race Down Under.

In Perth, Fringe World wraps up this weekend with a string of queer shows — including Hannah Conda, BarbieQ’s Dolly Parton Extravaganza, and The Pink List, a haunting one-person musical about queer men erased from history in post-war Germany.

In Brisbane, Gay Skate is hosting Emo Edition on Sunday evening — soft goths, skate punks, and the brokenhearted welcome.

And full disclosure — as one of the organisers of Loud and Proud Logan, I’m shamelessly plugging the Logan Lesbian Arts and Storytelling Collective, who are running a creative meetup tomorrow for lesbians, non-binary and trans lesbians, sapphics, and bisexual women. It’s about community connection and creativity — and newcomers are very welcome.

Whatever you’re into, wherever you are — there is something for you this weekend.

That’s the Rainbow Briefing for Friday the thirteenth of February.

I’m Louise Poole and this is independent queer community media. Your support is crucial to its success. Share the bulletin, tell your community, leave us a review, and find us on socials. And if you’ve got community news to share, submit a story at rainbowbriefing.com.au.