QUEERNESS 101
Edited by Mohammad Taha Š RUSU Queer Collective 2015 The images contained in this publication are provided for use by RUSU Queer Collective for the Queer Zine publication and related promotion only. Reselling individual prints or original files of these images is not allowed without further written consent from the original artists and authors. The original work belongs to the artists and permission to use and publish these images is given to the Queer Zine publication exclusively.
CONTENTS About Us......................................................4 Queer Officers’ Welcome...............................6 The Colour Of Bruises....................................8 The Future Of Goats......................................10 The Amazing Queer Race................................12 Into The Parlour............................................14 The Most Powerful Force In The Universe.........15 Poems.........................................................16 Real Housewives of Gippsland........................18 Ai Vee‘s Story: Part One.................................24 I Am So Much More.......................................29 Resources....................................................30 Being Out In The Town..................................32 Staying Healthy............................................34 Notes On Services ........................................35
About us The Queer Department at RUSU was created to help establish a more visible and safe queer culture on campus. Whilst the Queer Officers facilitate its activities, the Department’s agenda is set by queer identifying students who form the Queer Collective. Anyone can share ideas, raise concerns and find out about services and social networks.
What does the Queer Department do? »» Provides support for people who are coming out, questioning or otherwise establishing their sexual / gender identity. It supports all students who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex and Asexual (LGBTQIA). »» Gets involved in community campaigns targeting homophobia, discrimination and LGBTQIA concerns, as well as campaigns about broader social issues. »» Runs regular social events and activities, including a fortnightly meeting group, for students to meet each other, hang out and get involved in a queer collective. »» Helps RMIT queers to get involved in cross-campus networks and community groups.
We welcome your involvement in any or all of these aspects. You can be involved and express yourself in any way you choose. In short, the Queer Department allows Queer students to collectively address issues that affect us, both on campus and in the wider community. We challenge the discrimination still prevalent in our society - not just the violence or aggression of overt homophobia, but the more subtle yet equally damaging pervasiveness of heterosexism, whenever and wherever it occurs. Hetero-normativity, or the assumption that everyone is straight, and that it is somehow more natural or normal to be so, is everywhere, from our mass media to our law system to all levels of our education system. The Queer Department’s very existence challenges this.
The Queer Lounge Make sure you check out the Queer Lounge, RMIT’s dedicated queer space and resource centre. It’s a great place to eat lunch, study, access information, play games, use the queer library and generally hang out. The Queer lounges are located at: »» Building 8, Level 3, Room 06 (City) »» Building 204, Level 1 (Bundoora) At RUSU we realise that with only City and Bundoora Queer Lounges, these safe space are not accessible to all RMIT students. Therefore we urge you to help us call on RMIT University to provide a queer space at each campus.
Who can use the Queer Lounges? The Queer Lounge and Queer Collective are open to Queer students from all ages, backgrounds and interests. The Queer Department seeks to include a variety of different students and straight students are welcome to join the collective and participate in our campaigns. However, the Queer lounges are generally only for Queer or questioning students. This is because on campus and in society today, heterosexism and gender conformity still exist and as such, many queer students still commonly feel ‘outside the norm’. By being just for queers, the Queer lounge becomes a place where queers feel normal and safe. The Queer Lounge also allows us to operate autonomously. However, heterosexual people are welcome to drop by the
Queer Office and assist and liaise with the department. Heterosexual people may also seek a Queer Officer’s assistance with issues affecting them, such as a friend or family member being queer. The Queer Officers can also refer you to helpful community groups and services. Although we always welcome allies and friends of queers I urge you to understand that not all people who are part of the collective feel safe or are out to society. THE SAFETY AND COMFORT OF THE COLLECTIVE COMES FIRST. If a queer individual from the collective displays discomfort EVEN UNWARRANTED discomfort allies and friends of queer will be asked to leave the rooms.
Contacts You can get in touch with the RUSU Queer Department by emailing the Queer Officers at rusu.queer@rmit.edu.au Other useful RUSU Officer contacts
Additional RMIT contacts
Student rights student.rights@rmit.edu.au
RMIT Counselling Service (03) 9925 4365 (BH) (03) 9925 3999 (AH) www.rmit.edu.au/counselling
International students rusu.international@rmit.edu.au Womyns usu.womyns@rmit.edu.au Education rusu.education@rmit.edu.au Welfare rusu.welfare@rmit.edu.au
RMIT Health Service (03) 9925 2297 www.rmit.edu.au/students/health
Queer officers’
welcome Hello! Hello! Happy New Year! I hope life has been treating you well so far. My name is Empress Ai Vee (I may let you to simply address me as Ai Vee if I’m feeling somewhat nice) and I will be one of your Queer Officers in 2015. I identify as a cis-female lesbian. It’s been two and a half years since I’ve come out, I feel like I’ve achieved so much these couple of years on a personal level. It’s incredible to acknowledge how much my life had changed for the better, since accepting that I’m a rainbow person and coming out to my closest and dearest. The Queer Department has helped me along this confusing and difficult journey of mine. It’s a learning process, I’ve learnt so much in these short years than I have during my teenage years. The Queer Department gave me the courage to express and embrace myself for who I am, this led me to become a much stronger and braver person. I’ve met so many amazing queer people in the Queer Department that they’ve made my life easier and happier. Whoever you are, wherever you might be, whatever you do, always know this: the RMIT Queer Department loves you. We are your family. Whatever struggles you may face, we will continue to support, nurture and encourage you. It’s a new year, it’s a new beginning. Do good. By Ai Vee Goh
I am Mohammad Taha the supreme queer-lord and saviour of all. You can call me Momo though. I am a queer officer, a nano-electronics PhD candidate, a doctor who fan and above all a bow tie enthusiast. I started my journey in queer collectives 7 years ago at the UniMelb and it has been most fascinating. Universities have always been a place for self definition and self discovery. Throughout queer history the queer struggle started where we are today and we have come so far. All the rights and safety we have today are a product of our solidarity and union. Queer people figured out a long time ago that we are stronger together. I write to all new comers and old members of the collective to inform them that there is a place for you under our umbrella of beautiful queers. We will walk with you and be your friends. This Zine is represents self expression and love that we encourage. If you were not part of this issue you will be part of its future so don’t despair. Life is so hard and so beautiful. It also gets easier and more beautiful with friendship and companionship. By Mohammad Taha
Greetings and welcome to the Zine!
I don’t think it was coming out to my family that was so important for me To those who do not know me I am Romy, one of your three Queer Officers – I was afraid to come out to myself. I’ll admit that it wasn’t until I walked for 2015. And it’s really an honour to through the looking glass I was ready welcome you to the first ever edition to re-make myself over by letting go of of the Queer Department’s new ZINE. insecurity and the whole masquerade Since I walked through the doors of and see what people would think the Queer Lounge, those within have of the real crazy-bubbly person become a second family to me where underneath….and so far she’s been for the first time in my life I could pretty well liked. be who I was and not fear judgment. My own family hardly recognise me Since that moment I have almost completely dropped the façade I would now and those I used to know are taken aback. parade to the rest of the world – And for the first time I like who I am Acting like someone you are not completely and utterly. is exhausting and eventually you can forget the person through the I was so afraid to be myself – always mirror….One day you will be ready to looking through glass window and break the glass. seeing the person I didn’t want to be. It was so freeing to see beyond the image to the person I was, the person I had been and the person I was to become and love myself.
And we’ll be waiting to meet you! By Romy E Cecil
The Colour An ex lover
A euphemism
In the kebab shop says
for what he would do
my bra is too tight You missed the memo Because men know
I say
these sorts of things
You don’t understand
Pink // blue
He knows
Fresh bruise
what will “fix” me
He runs his finger over
You don’t need surgery, Fury
The point where the elastic
Because what is inside
cuts my flesh
is outside
Tells me it looks uncomfortable
Unwittingly he describes the butchery
After an evening of
of small things
trying to forget them
turning me
He makes them
inside out
Front and center Hey girly, smile for me I start talking He cuts me off
you missed the memo I say again
I am a news broadcast
referring to the last memo
on silent he admits he doesn’t understand He tells me to “LOVE MY BODY”
but keeps telling me i don’t need to cut into myself to feel whole
of Bruises Because men know
Pink // blue
these sorts of things
Fresh bruises
Presumably this violence
Sometimes
the kind that makes my skin
I am not angry
a wallpaper of my choosing I am just hollow makes him feel vulnerable If only I could shut my eyes Like he could have been wrong
and plug my ears
all these years Like these men do
By Fury
ThE Future of Goats
By Alex Kovalenko
The amazing
By Momo
queer RACE They are familiar to all queers; the individuals that seem to be simply more queer than everyone. When I was younger I use to look at them and constantly think that I must adjust my behaviour because the queer leaders behave a certain way. I have succeeded in being the ultimate queer individual; I sounded as queer as they were, I dressed like them and I “enjoyed” all the things that I was suppose to enjoy. Perfection has never been easier. By the time I was done being the perfect queer I was not happy. It was a familiar unhappiness however. The journey towards one’s identity and / or sexual preference is one of life’s most amazing pleasures. When said the magic words in front of the mirror “I like men” it became a reality and I felt so happy. It was like I knew why I was unhappy. The box that society set up for me made me unhappy and when I said the those words the box was no more. The same happened once I started to be part of the queer community. The old hideous box was no more but I was confronted by so many pre-prepared beautiful boxes within the queer community. They were more elaborate boxes but boxes just the same. By trying to race my peers towards the ultimate queer destination I had to fit into the previous generations boxes. I was unhappy because a beautiful box is a box just the same. Don’t get me wrong if it fits then good for you. I have decided to break through all of the preprepared boxes and it was one of the hardest decisions that I had to
make. You see in the queer community their is this strange notion that you are only allowed to exist around your box. If you no longer in the box you are no longer supported or welcomed at times. If you are a “twink” you had to and all the “twink” properties that are set by others, If you are are nonbinary person you think that somehow you are have achieved a higher level of queer identity. You hear bears making fun of twinks and the other way around. Gender queer individuals don’t hang out with gay men because they are lesser queers maybe. Suddenly prejudices that existed in the metro-normative society were duplicated in the queer world. Once I broke free from the boxes because quite honestly it didn’t feel right to me I experienced all the level 99 bears, otters, daddies, twinks, gender queer, pansexuals who were so generous to tell me how I am not like them so I mustn’t hit on them or be their friend even. It was quite strange that people who experience prejudices and miss understanding wouldn’t hesitate to impose them on others. Finally, I have arrived at the conclusion that the boxes were always so little and the little boxes made me angry. So I stopped trying to attain level 99 anything because I am NOT. So my fellow queer stop engaging in the amazing queer race because the race has no significance. If we all just focussed on enjoying the journey of self discovery wouldn’t we all be a little kinder to one another and be simply happier?
Into the parlour
By Alexand Colosimo Anyone who falls in love with me has a saviour complex and needs to move very, very far away from me. No one could love this spirit and this vessel lest they are trying to prove something or are travelling a mutually destructive path. Only someone travelling into the same region of lustlessness and misdirection could possibly find companionship in me, and even still, out of their own introspective loneliness and greed for comfort, not of admiration or reasonlessness. These people are those who wish to witness and take part in mine and their own
entropy, they do not wish selflessly upon me, they wish for themselves. They project. I am an obsidian mirror, a tool, for the growth and challenging of humanity, not real, but an enigmatic concept. I am not a person, I am an idea, waiting to be utilised in a thousand ways, by a thousand different people, with a thousand things to prove to themselves. I am nothing. I never was. And if my current desires are correct and true, I never will be. Autonomy is a lie. I trust entirely in the hope that someone will meet me with a soft and caring presence. Everyone will fail.
The most powerful force in the universe University is full of delightful distractions. Fortunately many of these are people, but may come in the form of uni assignments, well mixed espresso martini’s and many more of your own design. I am in the process of writing a short story. It attempts to reconcile the various levels of queerness that constitute ‘me’ with my love of science fiction. In my study of film and media i find this important and not as incompatible as we might think. Note, for example the genre hallmark of tight leather outfits as they are more ‘spacey’ or ‘futuristic’. A clever ruse Hollywood, a clever ruse indeed. The scientific problem of faster than light travel is solved quite easily in my story. The engine is propelled by the most powerful force in the known universe. Something in abundant and plentiful existence today. Something
you may encounter when you catch the tram, open your mail or use your telephone communication device. My ship is powered by Parental denial. As you embark, re-embark, or flounder helplessly through your university life, never underestimate this anomaly’s boundless potential. It’s ability to persist in the face of compelling, unmistakable and forthcoming evidence means it is surely the subject of Stephen Hawking’s next book. Take care, it has exactly as much power as you give it. Of course, once we understand such power we can then control it, bend it to our whim and (as in the tight leather pants example) eventually demonstrate just how queer our planet really is. Set Phasers for fun. Have a great 2015.
By Matt (with “tt”, “never trust a matt with one t”)
Poems Within an already shattered heart lies a quiet desire. With a little encouragement this quiet desire becomes a flame, burning and yearning and hopeful. With the slightest wrong turn the fire consumes and turns shards of hope to ashes. Eventually the flame returns to its state of quiet desire, shut down with heavy bars and cold ice.
Tonight is the moment. I kiss you. I hold you, As if I never shall again. I look at you; memorize you, should you disappear from my life. I trust you, I have never feared you. So should you vanish – should I never see you after tonight, Let me have this small precious moment to love you, love you fondly.
By Romy
Real Housewives of Gippsland
How do you identify sex-wise? Gender-wise? sexual preference? Since birth I’ve identified as male totally, but I think my definition of masculinity is quite different to the mainstream butch definition and recently I’ve had to accept that I have a “motherly” nurturing side, so I guess you could say that I’m a Male person more towards the side of androgynous or genderqueer than traditionally macho male.
You say you weren’t going to do this shoot. May I wonder why? When Nikki first suggested this shoot to me I was pretty certain that I didn’t want to do it for three reasons. 1. I didn’t want to be asked to do more drag/ androgyny work for shoots since I view myself as a totally male model and 2. I didn’t want to open that door to ambiguity which would lead me to questioning my gender identity. 3. Drag itself had never appealed to me as I saw drag queens as loud, bawdy club entertainers, not savvy self-made artists. Eventually, by doing drag herself, she convinced me.
I looked through the photos and I couldn’t help but notice the notion of outdated gender roles. What was the concept of this shoot? I think we chose to display very rigid traditional gender roles and expressions in the shoot to give ourselves clear characters to portray. I’m not me in dress, I’m a housewife who does her best to take care of her husband.
Also what is it with the smoking and the tea cup? The scene we had in mind to shoot was what we would normally do on a morning, get up and have a tea/coffee and a chat before going about the day and I think we wanted it to be a very ordinary, everyday scene to contrast against the fantasy of drag. The cigarette for me represents a kind of tragic glamour but also desire and repulsion so that seemed an appropriate choice.
Was that your first time in less traditional/boring clothing? I model pretty regularly so it’s not uncommon for me to spend my Tuesday mornings painted Silver or wrapped in tinfoil or with antlers coming out of my head. So I guess this would be a more subtle look for me.
When make up was being applied to your face what was going through your mind? In makeup I usually take a bit of a nap but I do admit to being a bit nervous since I don’t usually have anything applied to my lips and I definitely got nervous when it was time for lashes. How anyone regularly glues something to their eyelids I have no idea.
Did you have to wax your legs or are your legs actually this smooth? Also how painful was it? My legs are naturally pretty hairless, though I believe I’m wearing stockings here.
Did you know the the Y chromosome doesn’t kick in for 6 weeks of pregnancy? meaning we were all females at some point how do you feel about that? Yes! I definitely remind myself of this fact at times. Occasionally I wonder what I would be like as a woman but there are so many variables to consider in that parallel universe.
What was the most enjoyable part of this shoot? I think the most enjoyable thing was bringing some glamour and fantasy to a quiet morning in the country.
Did this shoot shine a light on something within? if so care to elaborate? The thing that I learned about myself was that once I saw myself in the makeup and dress I instantly knew how to walk, stand and pose as a woman. So I think that through observation and intuition I knew just how to move as this female character. I was also reminded of what it was like to be a kid playing dressups and just doing what you think is fun without hesitating.
How does one look so fierce and sexy? I’m going to say a combination of a good makeup artist and a sense of confidence deeply rooted in your psyche. If you really believe that you’re a good person and you deserve to be loved other people will see that.
MUA: Nikki Harrison Models: Nikki & Pete Photography: MAD DAME
What is your message that you want everyone to take form this? I hope that we can all place a bit less focus on how other people present themselves and spend a bit more time getting to know who they are.
Ai Vee’s Story Part One
So. Who am I? My name’s Ai Vee, I’m a 20 year old Chinese based in Melbourne and I’m currently studying film and television production at RMIT University.
My history? I was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and was raised there until I was a wee little six year old, then I migrated over to Australia with my parents to live in Melbourne. My parents gave me the best present that I didn’t ask for when I was at the tender age of eleven and a half: a baby sister. I actually wanted a puppy like every other kid my age, but no, I got a sister instead. Back then, I thought everyone had a pet dog, all my Aussie friends had dogs. Why can’t Chinese people own dogs? It’s not like I wanna raise the damn dog so when it grows up big and strong I can to marinate it and grill it on the barbie when I’m older. One and a half year later, I was off to Hogwarts. No, I wish. High school was sweet and sour. Bitches come, bitches go. Bitches get knocked up, here’s me in the corner smirking. Three years on, doom and gloom begins to fade. I make new mates, real ones, no fakes. Three years more and I’m out of high school. Before I graduated, I began to realised what to do with my life. Nothing, nothing at all. So, I did the opposite of what other Asian chicks do, nothing cliché, oh no, no shit like that, get into a course that will guarantee employment at the end of Uni, no way in hell I’m gonna be a doctor or a dentist. First I don’t have the necessary IQ to study such things and second, I got better things to
do with my life than deal with sick people and morning breath all day and every day. I chose to do what other hopeless Asians do out there, become an Art Student.
My bi journey so far: Half a year wiser into Uni and I officially realised that I was half gay, half straight, shaping myself into a half-carse bi. Being half gay, gosh, is the weirdest thing yet. Being dragged into this world of LGBTIQQA+ was awful. The transition between previously identifying yourself as a straight chick then, later a bi was a rather lonely experience. I had no gay friends what-so-ever when I came out of the closet. I felt isolated and I hungered for company. My desperation to make new friends led me to join a meet up group on www.meetup.com/melbournelesbian called the ‘LesBiAn Social Fun Club’. Having a gut full of concrete, one day I stood in a room not so familiar, the Queer Lounge at RMIT. My feet, solid on the ground, cautiously stomped around the room, I found a space to sit, my eyes wandering around, later finding its way to the screen of my phone, ignoring and refraining from any eye contact from the other queers. I can feel the stares of people on my back, people are looking at me, why are they looking at me? Stop looking at me!! You’re a queer too, why are you staring at me like you’ve seen a bloody ghost? Can you sense my fear? Can your gaydar sense that I’m not completely gay? Can your gaydar sense that I’m only half gay and half straight? My blood began to boil, my face became tinted with a shade of watermelon, hairs on skin stiffly stood up, my jaws locked like it’s
sucking on a sour lolly, and my hands began to shake. A subtle earthquake of fingers swaying side by side. My eyes began to twitch spontaneously from the stress. I looked up from my phone; no one is looking at me. No one gives a rats arse that I’m in the room. The queers are busy eating, chatting, and working on their assignments on their laptops, too busy to notice me killing myself with stress. I left the Queer Lounge within twenty minutes. I’m lucky that I even managed to survive that long in there. I never went back that year. A new year begins. Armed with food and assignments to do, I found myself once again in the Queer Lounge, this time I met two great folks. We chatted and all, they were real friendly and my nerves were at ease. A week more come, the Wine and Whine event was on, it was a Friday night, I decided to join, try to meet other queers, make new friends. Sat down in the Lounge that night, a white plastic cup in my hand, made small chat to the Queer Officers, played a sex inspired drinking game. Had a pleasant night, not bad, not bad at all. I thought to myself, gays aren’t that all different from straights, sure they talk about sex here and there, but they seemed normal. Does that make me normal? Even though I wasn’t a pure blooded lesbian? It made me ponder… I spent the ride home on the train casually smiling to myself, I now know some gay people, I made progress, and this was a huge milestone in my life. When I first came out to a few of my closest and dearest mates and one relative, I felt a strange sense of happiness, a barrier that has been blocked previously has otherwise been cleared. Coming out meant that
I could talk freely about my sexuality, talk about my attraction to women, talk about how hot that chick is down the street. My sexuality became a subject to my every day conversation with these folks, I didn’t mind at all, like seriously, what’s there to hide? The people that I told didn’t treat me any different, sure, they were surprised that I was half a lezzo, they asked me questions about being bi, clearly, they’re curious about it. Coming out to my closest and dearest friends ultimately led me to have enough confidence to actually go to my first gay club event: Sundaylicious. Some girls from the RMIT Queer Department were going to attend Sundayliscious and asked me if I wanted to tag along, I said yes. After arriving in the city, I waited for quite some time for the girls to arrive, later on I realised that I got “stood up”. Nobody had contacted me that the girls were either too busy to attend the event or that they were sick. I was in a bit of a pickle, do I leave and go home now and watch a film, or do I stay in the city and have some fun? I chose fun over the movie, that is so unlike me. I realised that I had a back-up plan and that I had RSVP to go to Sundaylicious with the LesBiAn Social Fun Club. During dinner I struggled to convince myself to go to Sundaylicious alone, I struggled with the fact that it was very likely that I was going to be shy, quiet and lonely when I’m surrounded by a sea of people during the night and that I would not make any gay acquaintances. I built enough courage to enter the premises of the Wharf Hotel, the first Sundaylicious that I went to was during the Easter break, there were people everywhere, gay people.
Having lesbians gaze me up and down intimidated me as I wiggled myself around the little space I had was really intimidating, I was lost, I managed to find Natski with the help of the Sundaylicious organiser, Julie, if it wasn’t for Julie, I probably would not have even bothered looking for Nat and just start making my way home. When I look back at it now, that night at Sundaylicious changed my life forever, it sounds like I’m exaggerating it but it’s true, in my life until that point, I have never felt so accepted upon meeting random strangers. I had an amazing night and danced the night away like a baboon on steroids. It was through this mutual acceptance and understanding that I continued on to RSVP to other meetup events for this group and I looked forward to attend each one. I now can say that I have lesbians as friends.
My self-confidence grew and no longer was I that shy, quite kid that prefers to stay in the corner, I was now that slightly more confident, gowith-the-flow sort of person. This self-confidence led me to become more and more involve in the RMIT Queer Department, as part of the collective, I’ve recently took part in a photo shoot for the International Day against Homophobia & Transphobia, that photo shoot was aimed to raise awareness of homophobia and transphobia. I missed a class of mine a week or so later after the photo shoot, I arrived late to Uni that day, and little did I know that nearly all my classmates now suspected or knew that I was (half) gay. Why? Because they have all seen all the posters for IDAHO plastered around the RMIT city campus and realised that I was in the posters as they strolled by it. Some of my male
classmates who I thought was straighter than a log jokingly began requesting for autographs and stated that I was ‘famous’ around the campus, that I was some sort of celebrity, funny that. They thought it was really cool of me to partake in the photo shoot. So now, the whole of RMIT knows that I’m bi and to tell you the truth, that means that I didn’t need to hide anymore, well at least when I’m in Uni.
To you: To those people out there, who aren’t sure about their sexuality or have had realised that they are a LGBTIQAA. To those people out there who are or were me. Who had no one, had no social support, no family support, no one to turn to, feeling like there’s no hope, feeling scared, alone, feel like your life is meaningless, feel that people are looking at you all the time. I want to tell you, there is hope. You will find joy, you will be happy. Have a positive outlook on life, life can be shit, I get it, try not to focus on the negatives. I want you to know that you are not alone. There are lots and lots and lots of people out there who are just as afraid as you, just as desperate as you are, just as beautiful as you are. Be patient with yourself, be kind to yourself, you will find your feet. I want to let you know that I am here for you. I know what it is like to have no one to relate to, feeling that nobody understands what you are going through, feel like the odd one out. I’m like you. You should be proud of who you are, be proud of what you’ve achieved, be proud of what you’ve become. Who gives two shits what your preference is? It’s no one’s business but yours. You are you, you are perfect.
Note: I wrote this on the 22nd of May 2013, during my first year of Uni (Part Two - 2014 is coming soon).
Of course this journey is tough, I’m still learning every day, making the most of it all. Truth is, life is too short, why care about others think, why care about the little things? Explore your sexuality, explore yourself, have no limits.
I am so much more By CHROMI
For use of these images in other publications, anthologies and/ or products, contact CHROMI at chromi.art@gmail.com
Resources BLOGS & Helpful sites on the interwebs againstequality.org
faggotz.org
Against Equality is an online archive, publishing, and arts collective focused on critiquing mainstream gay and lesbian politics.
Conrad is an outlaw artist, terrorist academic, and petty thief...Here you will find an archive of his radical queer cultural and activist work focusing on the queer political imagination.
alga.org.au The Archives are the only community group in Australia that actively collects and preserves lesbian and gay material from across the country, and makes it readily accessible.
archermagazine.com.au an independent journal founded to explore Australia’s current attitudes to sexual diversity.
asexuality.org AVEN hosts the world’s largest online asexual community as well as a large archive of resources on asexuality... strives to create open, honest discussion about asexuality among sexual and asexual people alike.
bdswain.com Smutty, smutty goodness.
dudemagazine.wordpress.com explores sex, sexual health, relationships, mental health, bodies and diversity between transguys and the wider community.
penerasespaper.com drawings by sam wallman
putarainbowonit.com PUT A RAINBOW ON IT is a playful way to reference and reflect on some of the (mis)uses of the rainbow pride flag
blackgirldangerous.org Black Girl Dangerous seeks to, in as many ways possible, amplify the voices, experiences and expressions of queer and trans* people of colour.
boycrazyboy.com Sina Sparrow. Comics artist and illustrator. Love, pop, power.
buttmagazine.com BUTT is still the place where gays can speak candidly about their ideas, work and sex lives...include[s] a blog, an archive... a series of Fag Map city guides, and a unique social networking component, CLUB BUTT. asexuality...strives to create open, honest discussion about asexuality among sexual and asexual people alike.
commons.wikimedia.org/w/ind ex.php?title=File:Destroy_the_ scene BROS_FALL_BACK.pdf A bro is someone who assumes that any space they enter is meant to cater to augmenting their personal experience.
glittertongue.wordpress.com Glitter Tongue is an online collection of love poems by thirty queer and trans poets
janetmock.com After publicly proclaiming her identity as a trans woman, Janet focused her efforts on speaking about the struggles, triumphs and portrayals of girls and women likeherself.
samesame.com.au The leading gay and lesbian community in Australia packed with news, features, forums, competitions, photos and more.
stayingnegative.net.au Men talk about all aspects of their life from coming out, relationships, sexuality and a broad range of other topics. While HIV and safe sex is an important part of all stories, it is not the exclusive focus.
textaqueen.com Australia’s felttip super hero... explores politics of sex, gender, race and identity in tangent with ideas of selfimage and interpersonal relationships.
totheexclusionofallothers.com We are wanting to create a space that allows questioning, critiquing and discussing of gay marriage and homonormativity, predominately in Australia.
transfagssexjournals.blogspot.com.au Trans Queers consist of two transfags of colour living in a big city, exploring safe anonymous play with bioboys.
facebook.com/RUSUQ The queer department page.
facebook.com/groups/ aekuhsdjkghou/ The queer collective page (you have to ask to join since it’s a closed group).
facebook.com/groups/197 952926992620 Queer Housing Melbourne!
facebook.com/HaresHyenas Hares and Hyenas Queer Bookshop MY MOST FAVOURITE PLACE ON EARTH
facebook.com/groups/443 073275713775 www.facebook.com/ groups/251 339868304161 Lost Gay Melbourne and Lost Gay Sydney Archives
fetlife.com BDSM and fetish community network.
okcupid.com Every queer in melbourne has it (and some muggles too, apparently).
Being
out In The
TOWN The queer scene in Melbourne is quite diverse and there is something for everyone. I can write about all the demographics and groups that make the rainbow so rainbow-y but I think it’s more fun to go on different adventures. However, when it’s adventure time make sure that you are safe at all times and that your well-being and safety are compromised. All those terrible things you hear about and you think don’t happen to people actually occur. Be alert and watch out for your drink and your friend’s drinks from being spiked. Also since queer people are most fabulous some rednecks have issue with beautiful things so be careful. Above all have the best time in the world because we all know that queer people party better than anyone. In the next page you will find a rundown with the different fun things you can do in our beloved city (when in doubt ask officers or members of the collective since we have been to most/all of them =P).
Events
Location
What’s it like
Time
Cost
Thursgay
Mr. Wow’s Emporium, Smith St.
Quite queer and no specific crowd really (Free popcorn)
Every Thursday
Free
Homo Fomo
Alia’s arthouse, Gertrude St.
Where some go after Thursgay.
Late Thursday
Free
Sircuit
Next to Mr. Wow’s, Smith St.
Young/Older crowd with a nice dance floor Women allowed on Thursday and Sundays.
Weekends and late in the week.
Free
Closet
First floor on Brunswick St.
Hard to explain but it’s quite rad. Good music, good juice, costumes and queens.
Last Friday of every Month
$5-$15
Flawless Queer Salon
Laundry bar on Johnston St.
It’s hot, messy and satisfying.
Depends
$10
The Peel
Peel st, just off Smith St.
It’s so gross like you wouldn’t believe it. It’s where you go when everyone is so drunk.
Weekends
Free
The Greyhound Hotel
The bottom of St. Kilda Road
A blue lit gay fortress where drag queens and Boylesque performances occur. Delicious! So delicious!
Low key weekdays and so big on Fridays and Saturdays
Free before 9.30 and $15 for students ;)
Kama
Commercial Road south yarra
Very night dependent. Lesbians, gays and some serious drag action.
Every night but Monday and Tuesday
Varies
Pandora’s box
The venue moves
Messy arty drag partie
Periodically
Varies
Homosocial
Normally in the City
Drags, bears, art and twinks
Periodically
$10
Grouse parties
Bendigo Hotel on Johnston St.
Generally more women go to such parties but with the music it really doesn’t matter it’s a blast.
Monthly
$10
The outpost
Boney at the top of Little Collins St.
Quite gay disco night and hustle.
Periodically
$10
Swagger
The bottom end on Little Collins St.
RnB and Hiphop. So diverse and so many drags it’s always fun.
Periodically
$10-$15
Hell
The liberty social on Flinders Ln.
Underground and above all else. I’d say Extremely queer and artsy.
Every Saturday
Free
Staying Healthy Drummond Street Services Walking distance to uni, this is an occupied terrace house that provides support to queers, young ppl and families. Notably they have counselling that depending on your financial situation is free or cheap, albeit with a long waitinglist.
www.ds.org.au/
Family Planning Action Centre On Elizabeth Street close to Flinders (you walk up stairs). This place is pretty good and has lots of queer doctors and free condom and lube parcels in brown paper. If you have Medicare it’ll cost $10 to use the clinic for the year, including full STI checks and consultations. They give reproductive and sexual health support to people under 25.
www.fpv.org.au/
Melbourne Sexual Health Centre This is really close to uni (on Swanston Street opposite Lincoln Square you can go between classes) and free if you have Medicare. They have support for queer and indigenous ppl, plus a service called the Green Room that has testing, counselling and other cool stuff for HIV positive or atrisk ppl. For men who have sex with men (MSM) they have a special clinic with free STI checks every Wednesday and Thursday. Bring a book for the wait, and make sure you don’t go around lunch because they close!
www.mshc.org.au/
Northside Clinic Offers a range of health services including psychological and sexual health care. It’s run by a team of queer doctors that are pretty cool. However at the time of writing it’s not taking any additional patients. It exists though, in Fitzroy North.
www.northsideclinic.net.au/
Victorian AIDS Council This is the grand bureau of HIV in South Yarra. They have heaps of services for HIV positive and atrisk people, including testing, education, living positively support, legal and financial assistance, community outreach, and a counselling service that is reputedly good and cheap.
www.vicaids.asn.au/
Notes On Services 1.
Bulk billing Some clinics do bulk billing, which means that if you see a doctor you won’t have to pay anything at all if you have Medicare. Not every clinic does it though, so make sure you find out before you fork out $60 to have someone take one look at your mole and tell you that it’s nothing to worry about.
2.
Safer sex supplies The Queer Space has free condoms, lube and dams, as does the Wom*n’s Room. So unless you use only the DELUXE sex implements, take them! Lots of clinics will have them too, especially if you’re a MSM.
3.
Referrals In Australia you have 10 free counselling sessions that the government will pay for. You need to get a referral from a doctor first though, which sometimes isn’t easy. You need to find a cool person who will understand and give you the referral, and once you have it make sure you don’t waste your sessions on a shitty psych you don’t like. After those are up, seeing someone decent can be quite expensive.
4.
Rapid HIV testing Some places do rapid HIV testing, among which are the Prahran Market Clinic on Chapel Street, PRONTO in Fitzroy and Era Health in the CBD. The test uses a single pin prick of blood from your finger and the results take around half an hour, but normally you have to book an appointment rather than just walking in. Even though this is more convenient than the old test (which take a couple of phials of blood and a week to process) it’s not free usually and it’s also slightly less reliable. So if you have an inconclusive result you have to get the old test anyway.
5.
PEP Post Exposure Prophylaxis or PEP is a course of medication you can take after being (potentially) exposed to HIV. So, regardless of your gender, if you A) haven’t used a condom, or B) it’s broken, or C) you’ve shared needles, or D) you’ve been sexually assaulted by someone who’s HIV positive, or at serious risk of being HIV positive (MSM, intravenous drug users), then you need to go on PEP. But it only works if you start it within 72 hours of potential exposure.
It’s free if you have Medicare, and you can get it during business hours at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Prahran Market Clinic, Northside and other places around town. If it’s a weekend or late at night (the sooner you go on it the more effective it will be) then you have to go to the Emergency Room either at the Royal Melbourne Hospital next to Melbourne university, or the Alfred Hospital on Commercial Road.
The PEP hotline is 1800 889 887.
More info is here: www.getpep.info/
Acknowledgment RUSU Queer collective acknowledges all the the people who made this publication possible via their submissions, editing and support. Your work is valued and appreciated. In no specific order: UMSU Queer, Chromi, Ai Vee, Nikki, Pete, Mad dame, Matt, Alexand, Romy, Fury, Mohammad, Kovalenko Special thanks to Shana for making this zine so pretty.