All of Sydney seemed filled with lovers on Friday night, as a 500-drone light display burst forth in the sky, morphing from a flower to a heart to a diversity shark to a progress pride flag, officially heralding the beginning of Sydney WorldPride.

The most rhetorical question overheard in Sydney’s Domain for the Live and Proud opening concert marking 17 days of some 350 events: are we allowed to stand and dance? For dance we did en masse as an essential queer communal act, almost 45 years after the city’s first Gay Mardi Gras ended in 53 arrests and some brutal police bashings.

Besides, who could resist spinning around in this bacchanal: a Priscilla drag spectacular, replete with thong dress and emu costumes; Casey Donovan nailing Make You Feel My Love to images of the fight for marriage equality; British singer Charli XCX grinding in her uninhibited sexuality, acknowledging this community’s support in keeping her career afloat.

Amid an audience abundance of tulle, massive heels, rainbow wings, spangled suits, see-through mesh tops, pink cowboy hats and sequined military caps, there was recognition of Australian gay icons from performer Bob Downe to Labor senator Penny Wong.

WorldPride was a big coup for Sydney, and a slew of international video messages were beamed in: Stephen Fry informed us that Kings Cross and Potts Point taught him to be gay; White Lotus star Jennifer Coolidge said something sassy, but in the deafening roar of audience adoration I have no idea what she uttered.

Drag queen Courtney Act’s flaunting of gold pants hinted at what was to tip us over the edge in the finale: Kylie Minogue, whose gay icon status was forged way back in 1994 when she first performed at the Mardi Gras parade after-party at the showgrounds at Moore Park – back then a transgressive world to embrace for a mainstream artist, as Act pointed out. Minogue would be a repeat guest over the years in the party’s packed, sweaty pavilions.

We were treated to a post-millennium setlist from Minogue, dressed in blue and black jumpsuit: Spinning Around, Get Outta My Way, Light Years, Supernova, Your Disco Needs You, Slow and Can’t Get You Out of My Head. The two men I saw earlier in the evening wearing black Dannii Minogue T-shirts clearly knew what the rest of us didn’t: Kylie brought her beloved sibling on to the stage for the anthemic last number, All the Lovers, these sisters doing it for themselves as they leaned into one another.

The political messages, meanwhile, did not go unheeded. Mardi Gras 78er Robyn Kennedy gave a powerful spoken-word performance as Sheldon Riley sang Rise (“I won’t just survive / Oh you will see me thrive”), accompanied by the huge Out and Loud Gay and Lesbian Choir. Their booming collective voice was thrilling.

Graham Simms, a “proud gay Koori man”, was radiant with flaming red hair, sparkling gold frock and long black gloves as “Gadigal gal” Nana Miss Koori, winning strong applause by welcoming sexuality and gender-diverse First Nations people. Indeed, the lineup of Indigenous artists was particularly strong: Donovan, Jessica Mauboy, Electric Fields’ Zaachariaha Fielding, soprano Deborah Cheetham and musician Mo’Ju.

The New South Wales arts minister, Ben Franklin, used his moment on stage to announce the Perrottet government would allow Sydney’s queer museum Qtopia to make the former Darlinghurst police station near Oxford Street its “permanent” home, after the state had earlier resisted lobbying to relocate NSW Health administration functions from the building.

Franklin told the crowd this was an “unprecedented time of freedom and diversity”, that the LGBTIQA+ community could “breathe a sigh of relief”.

But the Equality Australia chief executive, Anna Brown, reminded the crowd of the widespread discrimination against trans and other gender-diverse people.

A month out from the NSW state election and on the eve of Saturday’s Mardi Gras parade, Equality Australia, Mardi Gras and ACON launched Act for Equality, a campaign calling on all NSW parliamentarians “to commit to action on outstanding LGBTIQ+ human rights issues”.

The three groups argued NSW is “falling behind, failing to progress full equality”, with conversion practices remaining legal while religious schools and other organisations can still discriminate against LGBTQ+ students, teachers and people accessing services.

The groups called for the appointment of a minister for equality, reform to ensure all LGBTIQ+ people are protected under anti-discrimination laws, the ending of conversion practices and the removal of barriers to trans and gender-diverse people accessing ID that aligns with their gender.

They also called for an ending to unnecessary medical procedures on people born with variations of sex characteristics without their consent, and a whole-of-government strategy on LGBTIQ+ inclusion, health, and wellbeing.

With those fights still to come, the Sydney WorldPride CEO, Kate Wickett, arriving on stage on the back of a motorbike, called on partygoers to truly consider what pride means to us all in the days ahead.

The opening night of revelry however was an excellent starting point of collectively expressing our right to exist and openly love as we choose, beginning another season of wearing golden hot pants.

The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras will be held on Saturday 25 February