Protesters Australia-wide rallied against the Catholic Church’s policies on homosexuality, abortion and contraceptives on World Youth Day (WYD) last Saturday, as the Pope addressed over 200,000 pilgrims at Sydney’s Randwick Racecourse.

All protests were relatively peaceful, with only one violent incident reported in Sydney, where a 19-year-old pilgrim from Newcastle was arrested for attacking a protester. He was later released without charge.

In Sydney, 23 community groups, including sex worker organisation Scarlet Alliance and Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH) converged at Taylor Square, Darlinghurst, at midday.

They were addressed by speakers including Cameron Murphy of the NSW Council of Civil Liberties, Reverend Karl Hand of Metropolitan Community Church, and Chris MacIsaac of Broken Rites, a support group for victims of sexual assault within the church.

The crowds marched to Moore Park, flanked by police on foot, bicycles and horseback. Barricades prevented protesters from distributing condoms to, or speaking with pilgrims.

Protesters returned to Taylor Square for a kiss-in and t-shirt auction hosted by Pope Alice (aka Luke Roberts) and Vanessa Wagner.

“It was wonderful to see expressions of queer and diverse love, especially on the 30th anniversary year of Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras,” Roberts told MCV.

Melbourne group, Youth Against World Youth Day staged two protests. The first was held at Telstra Dome, where a commissioning mass took place with 50,000 pilgrims in attendance:

“We gave out 500 condoms which were donated by the Victorian AIDS Council,” said Jason Ball, a spokesperson for Youth Against World Youth Day.

“Some of the pilgrims said we were going to hell and that they would pray for us.”

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