With a deafening roar of engines, and a blinding kaleidoscope of colour, they were off.
The Dykes on Bikes led Brisbane's biggest LGBTI pride parade up Brunswick Street on Saturday morning, leading hundreds on their 1.7-kilometre march from Fortitude Valley to the Brisbane Pride Festival at New Farm Park.
But before the march – which attracted up to 700 people at its starting point – there were the rallying cries from the balcony of the Valley's Empire Hotel.
And few rallying cries would have as much street cred as former Railway Gin frontwoman Carol Lloyd, who amped up the crowd as only a bona fide rock legend could.
Seizing on the Pride Festival's theme – 'Define Me: More than a Label' – Lloyd said the LGBTI community's diversity made it impossible for stereotypical labels to be universally applied.
"We are the police that protect our kids and keep our streets safe," she said.
"We are the doctors and health care workers that deliver our babies and keep us healthy.
"We are the whole raft of people in creative pursuits that everyone plainly recognises, because everyone can pick a gay hairdresser – derr – and that's just the tip of the iceberg, as you all know.
"Blue collar, white collar, we are all the same for mine and we all have love and we all deserve respect for that love and our lives.
"This is our city. These are our streets. Let's take to these streets with pride, let's carry the banner high and tell the world we love our partners and we're very proud of who we are."
Not surprisingly, the issue of marriage equality was front and centre at the rally.
"I want to get married legally – we're already married illegally, but we'll be at the front of the line (when it's legal)," Lloyd said of her and her partner, Annie.
Pride Festival president Peter Black told the crowd he shared those desires.
"Today, my sister just happens to be getting married, unfortunately to a man, but I'm also very excited for her," he said.
"But, to be honest, while I'm proud and excited it also makes me a little angry, angry that I am not able to be married, angry that full equality before the law seems tantalisingly close but still elusive for so many in our community.
"But I'm also hopeful because we have come so far, because as a community we support and look out for one another and because days like this give us so much to look forward to."
It was that hope, rather than the anger, that Black spent most of his time focussing on.
"You have no idea how excited I am to be standing up here this morning," he said.
"…If I were to define myself today, more than anything else, I am proud. Proud of our community, proud of our diversity and proud of all the hard work that went into making this day possible."
