A pride to lift all boats
There’s been a creeping trend in our community for a while now to describe gay men as ‘privileged’, which left me uncomfortable before the recent streak of Grindr attacks in Canberra but seems positively insensitive now.
It’s raised a point: how can we foster a sense of community if we struggle to advance the rights of certain sections of our community without putting other ones down?
Pride season is a time for the whole LGBTQIA+ community to come together — with supportive allies — to celebrate our community and the incredible cultural events that we produce. It’s also a time to acknowledge the ongoing fight for all of us to live and love as openly queer. Despite what you see on instagram, no one lives a perfect life and we all have personal and historical struggles to bear. That is a shared fact.
Both Canberra and Newcastle (where queer people have also been subject to recent violence) are organising incredible pride festivals this year. They provide
an opportunity for locals and visitors alike to experience a regional rainbow festival, the breadth and quality of which was limited to the big cities, not so long ago. So come out, come up, come down to support them!
In this issue, our cover star Sexy Galexy (who’s performing in both cities) talks about being a proud, flamboyant drag king; original Heaven nightclub DJ Barrie Barton takes us back to the ‘90s, ahead of SpringOUT’s One Night in Heaven reunion party; Poof Doof take their wild party to Newcastle for the first time; Glenda Harvey explains how Berlin, not Stonewall, was the birthplace of queer rights; ACT Labor leader Andrew Barr lays down his case for reelection; Andrew Macdonald discusses ways to protect yourself from image-based abuse online; Tim Duggan tells us about his new book; Sean Cook looks back at Priscilla and much, much more. Happy Pride and stay safe online.
EDITOR
Police banned from SpringOUT Fair Day; Alex Greenwich wins, Grindr attacks
n Andrew Barr 11 In power for 25 years, will ACT Labor be returned?
n Reviews 12-17
DJ Raydar on the return of Kiesza, Madonna remixed; Hannah Head offers up her sapphic selections; Sean Cook discovers TV bliss; Ali Khan talks to Tim Duggan
Luke George on exploring trust and intimacy through sex and art n SpringOUT 20-28
Heaven returns plus Briefs, Questacon, Jackie Loeb and Botanic Garden events n Cover
Sexy Galexy on his sometimes challenging journey to becoming King
Newcastle Pride
Fair Day gets a new DJ stage while Poof Doof throws the official after-party n Sports & Wellbeing
Andrew Macdonald on image abuse; a sports carnival for SpringOUT; dragon boating in Newcastle; Meridian‘s new CEO
Peekaboo: Last issue’s cover star Brendan De La Hay. PHOTO: BRENDAN DE LA HAY
QUOTABLES Alex Greenwich wins court case
Former NSW One Nation party leader Mark Latham has been ordered to pay independent MP Alex Greenwich $140,000 by a Federal Court judge who found that a tweet made in March 2023 was defamatory and described a sex act in explicit terms. The tweet followed the violent protests that erupted outside a church in Belfield in Sydney’s south-west where Latham, who had indulged in anti-queer rhetoric, was giving a pre-election speech. A group of about 15 LGBTIQ+ protesters from the Community Action for Rainbow Rights were peacefully protesting opposite the church when they were set upon by a mob of approximately 250 attendees, who also attacked the police. Greenwich was subjected to an avalanche of homophobic abuse on social media after Latham’s tweet.
More Grindr attacks, no police at Fair Day
Canberra’s LGBTIQA+ community is divided over the decision to exclude the police from this year’s SpringOUT Fair Day, either in or out of uniform. The police were to introduce the new Gay and Lesbian Liaison Officer, a role that hasn’t existed in the ACT since the early 2000s.
Lead by Zev Aviv, pictured, the founder of No Cops at SpringOUT, the campaign to exclude the police has been met with surprise, including by many gay men who are reeling after yet another Grindr attack in September, the fourth known incident since July.
Responding to a question from STUN about the ongoing Grindr attacks, Chief Minister Andrew Barr said, “The recent attacks are
STUN Magazine
Issue NO 007 Spring 2024
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Danny Corvini
Art Director
Rob Duong
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shocking and sad. Significant investigative work is underway to bring the perpetrators to justice. These attacks reminded me that although we have made so much progress, our community can be a target based on our sexuality and gender identity, even in Canberra.”
SpringOUT and ACT Police are in discussions about options to introduce the LGBTIQA+ Liaison Officer at an alternative event.
ACT Policing has reported that it is working with Grindr directly to inform its investigations into the attacks.
Staff Writer
Hannah Head
Contributors
Barrie Barton
Sean Cook
Jo Falvey
Glenda Harvey
Holly Hazlewood
Ali Khan
Christos Linou
n “There are far too many people in our country who are not feeling safe. Look at Project 2025 and the Don’t Say Gay laws coming out of Florida. Members of the LGBTQ+ community don’t feel safe right now.”
Vice president Kamala Harris during a meeting with the National Association of Black Journalists in September
n “One by one, people had to remove all their clothing and bend over, basically.”
Former bar manager Gerard O’Connor on the 30th anniversary of Melbourne’s Tasty raids where 463 LGBT+ patrons and staff were strip searched by dozens of police
n “Political homophobia, biphobia and transphobia have become central to the government’s official discourse and ideology.”
Georgian human rights group the Social Justice Center after well-known transgender women, Kesaria Abramidze, was killed a day after a new anti-LGBT bill became law
n “It was traumatising, I’ve never been put through anything like that before.”
15-year-old British girl Caitlyn Disley who was forced to strip at an Egyptian airport to prove her gender
Andrew Macdonald
DJ Raydar
Stuart Ridley
Photographers
Tim Carrafa
Amy Cater
Victor Hawk
Juan Paculan
Zhang Yuan
Cover Sexy Galexy
Photo
Peter Hoyle
Printed by Spot Press, Marrickville, NSW
STUN Magazine acknowledges the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, the Traditional Custodians of the Kamberri/ Canberra region, and recognises their continuous connection to culture, community and Country.
Alex Greenwich was subjected to a torrent of abuse. PHOTO: UNSW PRESS
Support your local Pride
PRIDE
Stop shouting from behind a screen and contribute, writes
I’ve been involved in Fair Day since 2017, Meridian’s flagship event since the early 2000s (previously as the AIDS Action Council). I’ve watched it grow from 1200 to over 4000 people at Fair Day Fresh Out in 2022. This year, it returns into SpringOUT’s hands with Meridian as the presenting partner. It’s a significant moment for both organisations and one I’m proud to be part of.
I’ve worked directly with performers, stallholders, sponsors, contractors, partner organisations, and yes, ACT Police. I was there when the police issue erupted at Fair Day in 2019 and helped manage it—
Lee Caldwell.
not just on the day but in the months and years that followed. I deeply respect activists and the role of protests. Protests are vital for speaking up to power, especially when requests for discussion are ignored or break down due to bad faith. I also hold much love and respect for Canberra queers ready to engage in this tough conversation. Police involvement in community events is a contentious issue and it’s important our community is prepared to talk about it. However, we must have this conversation respectfully and in good faith. After many years in queer community work, I’m especially concerned about the
spread of misinformation. The No Cops at SpringOUT (NOPS) group hasn’t always provided a full or accurate story. If you genuinely want to understand how SpringOUT operates as a volunteer-run, communitylead organisation, I urge you to enquire directly. NOPS has controlled the narrative while leaving little room for productive dialogue. Voicing an opinion is one thing; spreading misinformation is another.
This is a charged issue and people have strong feelings. But before you publicly slam SpringOUT or declare you won’t attend the festival, take a moment. Instead of adding to the noise, offer your support.
If you are passionate about change, get off the sidelines
LGBTIQA+ pride festival organisations like SpringOUT only survive through community participation. So, if you’re asking, “Why isn’t this happening?” or “There’s nothing here for me”, get involved and help make it happen. Become a member, a volunteer or apply for a seat on the SpringOUT committee.
What surprises me most is that amidst the noise of the NOPS campaign, no one has publicly supported SpringOUT. I support SpringOUT. I support SpringOUT despite its imperfections. I support SpringOUT because I recognise the effort and dedication it takes to deliver a month-long pride festival, including a free, all-day event like Fair Day. It took 25 years to build this organisation and it could take just days to tear it down.
If you are passionate about change, get off the sidelines. Contribute. Help. Stop shouting from behind a screen and start making a difference. Because once SpringOUT is gone, it’s gone. And who will step up to rebuild it? Will it be you? Come out for SpringOUT!
Lee Caldwell was the manager of Community Engagement at Meridian from 2017 to 2024.
The presence of police at Fair Day was opposed by NOPS. PHOTO: ACT POLICING
Inner West Pride Centre opens
The beating heart of Sydney’s LGBTIQA+ community moved west in August with the opening of the Inner West Pride Centre opening in the Newtown Town Hall in Pride Square. The centre’s first tenant is the youth organisation Twenty10, which was selected to
manage the centre and to bring it to life through partnerships with other grassroots LGBTQIA+ organisations, groups and communities. The town hall is still undergoing internal remediation works though and is expected to be fully open to the public later this year.
The Ladies League is a game changer
Oxford Street is still in the game, though, and perhaps discovering that like the changing face of Mardi Gras parade participants and US politics, its future could well skew female.
Australia’s first dedicated women’s sports bar, The Ladies Lounge, opened at 245 Oxford Street at the start of the Paralympics with women’s games exclusively playing on its televisions and big screen. The two-storey bar is queerfriendly and welcoming of all genders. It’s open from 12pm until late, Wednesday to Sunday with an all-day kitchen.
Peter de Waal with Twenty10’s Jain Moralee and Mon Schafter. PHOTO: IWC
Grab the loot
Hard up for cash this cost-of-living crisis? Let STUN make your life fabulous for free.
CAMP book
Robyn Kennedy and Robyn Plaister, members of CAMP NSW in the 1970s, write of the origins of the Pride movement in Australia and the vital role that CAMP activists played. It includes stories of the lifechanging support their community offered at a time when lesbians and gay men were despised, recalling the excitement of protest and paying tribute to the individuals who pioneered change. We have a copy of Camp to giveaway thanks to the Bookshop Darlinghurst. Email hello@stunmagazine.com. au with the campest thing you’ve ever done.
One Night in Heaven tickets
Canberra’s mixed gay/dance club from 1993 to 2001, Heaven, is having a reunion, One Night in Heaven, on Saturday 31 November at The Vault. Expect the original DJs, drag queens and kings,
performance art, live acts, visuals and tributes to the carefree ‘90s and ’00s. To win a double pass, email hello@stunmagazine with the name of your favourite dance track of that period.
Grindr robberies on the increase everywhere
While Canberra’s Grindr attackers are still at large, police in Perth have caught four boys, aged between 15 and 17, for similarly opportunistic attacks.
Police alleged the four boys used fake profiles to lure two separate men in their 30s to vacant land in the suburbs where the group were waiting with crowbars, machetes, pepper spray and other weapons to attack the men while filming the assaults. Recordings of the assaults were found on phones at the offenders’ homes along with clothing belonging to the victims.
One victim was left with serious injuries, including a deep cut on his arm after the offenders stole his car while the other victim’s car was pelted with rocks when he managed to get away, smashing the windscreen and side of his car.
The prosecutor told the Perth Children’s Court on September 19 that these were “targeted,
premeditated hate crimes”.
Meanwhile, in the British city of Birmingham, an armed gang of five men, aged between 20 and 24, have been convicted of stealing £100,000 from gay men over a 10-month period.
Police alleged in court on September 17 that the men used Grindr to lure gay men
into meeting before violently assaulting them and stealing their belongings. The court heard that some of the victims were held for hours and feared for their lives while their accounts were being raided. Some had to be hospitalised afterwards.
The men are due to be sentenced in late November.
Arrest of a teen, part of a group who terrorised their victims. PHOTO: WA POLICE
The ACT’s rainbow vote
POLITICS Holly Hazlewood asks Andrew Barr what the queer community should expect if ACT Labor wins.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has taken aim at the Canberra Liberal’s lack of solid commitment to the national capital’s queer community in the lead up to October’s territory election. Responding to Liberal leader Elizabeth Lee’s comments that her party would work with all sectors of the community, Barr says that the vague commitment does not go far enough.
“The Canberra Liberals are a conservative party, the majority of whom voted against progressive social reforms like strengthening abortion rights and voluntary assisted dying in recent months,” he said. “ACT Labor has a proven track record of implementing nation-leading policy reforms to protect the LGBTIQA+ community, like protecting students and teachers from discrimination in our schools, banning conversion practices and protecting the rights and bodily integrity of people born with variations in sex characteristics.”
A continued Labor government in the territory would maintain Braddon’s iconic Rainbow Roundabout as a beacon of marriage equality and would
continue to work in partnership with IHRA and community stakeholders to recognise the intersex community and to promote awareness and protect the rights of people born with variations in sex characteristics, says the Chief Minister.
We’re helping Canberrans with their everyday costs
The intersex community has been in the spotlight in recent months after they were again excluded from the 2024 census after the federal government backflipped over questions on gender identity and sexuality. Barr, however, said he would not stop campaigning for the inclusion of all members of the queer community in the national data.
“ACT Labor supports including the entire LGBTIQA+ community in the census – including questions on variations in sex characteristics,” he said. “Capturing this data will help support better policy development and service delivery
by governments. We welcome the inclusion of questions relating to sexuality and gender in the census and will also continue to progress our own community survey to capture data on these communities as well as those born with variations in sex characteristics.”
Andrew Barr says his government, if re-elected, would continue to attempt to ease the cost of living crunch felt across all communities.
“Cost-of-living pressures are being felt across the country. This year’s budget continues to support Canberrans who are most impacted with targeted cost of living support,” he says. “Through the initiatives the government has put in place over a number of years, we’re helping tens of thousands of Canberrans with their everyday costs. This also includes free health services through our walk-in centres, energy rebates and fee-free TAFE places.”
The decision now is in the hands of ACT voters.
The ACT election takes place on Saturday 19 October.
Sounds of now
MUSIC DJ Raydar goes in search of a good time on the dancefloor and thinks he found it.
I Go Dance Kiesza
Canadian singer/ dancer Kiesza
Hideaway
the most sublime deep house tracks of the decade, along with its acclaimed single-shot music video of her dancing through the streets of Brooklyn. Then she was involved in a car accident in 2017 that resulted in a traumatic brain injury, had to get out of a shitty record
company contract and ended up moving to Norway; I Go
Prayer (Nu Disco Summer Mix)
Block & Crown STUN’s prayers have been answered: Block & Crown has remade Madonna’s 1989 classic Like a Prayer and it’s heavenly! The Mexican music maker is a prolific producer of nu disco / funky house updates to many well-known tracks including (but definitely not limited to) the Eurythmic’s Sweet Dreams, Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive, Dead or Alive’s Spin Me Around and even OMC’s Kiwi anthem How Bizarre. The Like a Prayer reinterpretation keeps all of the best elements of the original and turns up the bass to create a sweet, modern dancefloor anthem. Splash yourself in holy water and hit that dancefloor.
Kiesza has been largely out of sight since 2014’s Hideaway PHOTO: IG @KIESZA
HEAR BLOCK & CROWN’S PRAYER
Queer femme revolution
SAPPHIC In all areas of pop culture, strong queer-femme voices are not just participating, they’re dominating, writes Hannah Head.
Sexiest song
GUESS – Charli XCX featuring Billie Eilish Charli XCX’s latest album Brat is electrifying Gen Z with its fusion of hyperpop energy and Charli’s unfiltered emotional depth. The track Guess, featuring Billie Eilish, takes queerness to new heights. Billie’s sultry vocals and Charli’s bold lyrics create a magnetic combination that’s impossible to ignore. With its bold lyrics and constant talk of underwear, this song is bound to leave Sapphic hearts fluttering.
Featured artist
Beth McCarthy
Beth‘s voice is nothing short of mesmerizing—its ethereal
quality slices through the air, sending delightful shivers down your spine. This year marks her dazzling Sapphic ascent. With her track IDK
How To Talk To Girls capturing the essence of Sapphic longing and Good Bi offering a keen analysis of bisexuality, Beth is emerging as a true LGBTQIA+ superstar. Get your outfits ready, Sapphics!
Beth’s tour, IDK
How To Talk to Aussie Girls, is hitting our shores this October.
Ally alert Angel Of My Dreams - JADE
This track absolutely deserves a spot on this list and here’s why: it’s an undeniable bop. JADE, formerly of Little Mix, dedicated two years to perfecting this song. The LGBTQIA+ rights advocate masterfully blends genres, channelling the intense scrutiny and challenges she faced under the spotlight. The SAD version, also released by JADE, is perfect for an emotional car sing-along. Regardless of what version you fancy, this song is simply irresistible.
Podcast princesses
Girl Historians –
Blair MacMillan and Carley Thorne I’m absolutely hooked on this podcast and if you’re into quirky history, using random facts to win debates and correcting historical misconceptions, you’ll love it too. Hosted by Blair and Carley, two bisexual women, this show dives into pop culture history with a fresh perspective. They bring humor and insight to topics that spotlight women’s experiences and perceptions throughout history, making each episode both entertaining and enlightening.
Wholesome
WATCH DEAD END ON NETFLIX watch
Dead End: Paranormal Park It’s the perfect time to snuggle up with a heartwarming cartoon. This comic-inspired animated series follows a queer trans boy living in a haunted house, who battles demons alongside his best friend and a pug. It’s a vibrant celebration of diverse sexualities, gender identities, colors and neurodiversity. With its feel-good vibes and celebration of friendship, this series beautifully captures the LGBTQIA+ fascination with the horror genre. Prepare for a delightful mix of spooky thrills and inclusive representation!
Charli XCX leads the femininomenon. PHOTO: IG @CHARLI_XCX
Tonics for our times
STREAMING Sean Cook is inspired by a Japanese dating show and a film set in Turkey.
The Boyfriend Netflix ★★★★ Crossing Mubi ★★★★★n
Having now watched four queer dating shows in a row for STUN, I consider myself somewhat of a genre aficionado. The format usually follows a familiar track: girl meets girl or boy meets boy, they kiss, try to get to know each other, maybe move on to someone else with the usual drama, rivalry and mandatory coming-out stories. We pick favourites, sometimes swap them, laugh, cry and enjoy the ride, knowing it’s not expanding our minds in any significant way but still a fun distraction. The Boyfriend, however, not only upends the format but kind of the whole genre.
Unlike most dating shows, The Boyfriend centres on contestants who are shy, nervous and genuinely themselves, avoiding the typical loud, drama-seeking personalities. There’s little rivalry, drama or tiffs and it’s hard to
pick favourites because they’re all decent, engaged and kindhearted people. The focus is less on romantic fireworks and more on real, emotional connections that unfold slowly and authentically. Their vulnerability and sincerity set the show apart from the highly manufactured, often exaggerated nature we’ve come to expect from reality TV. You feel like you’re watching real people, not contestants playing for the cameras.
“Boring!” you say? Not at all. The Boyfriend is some of the warmest, most human and emotional TV I’ve watched in ages. The genuine emotions on display are so touching that it draws you in, despite the show’s slower pace. I’ve never been to Japan but if these are the kind of humans that populate the country, sign me up for citizenship!
Another standout is how beautifully it showcases Japanese culture—its food, rituals, values and mannerisms. The men value attentiveness, collaboration and respect over romantic attraction, forming bonds rooted in mutual respect and understanding. It’s these cultural subtleties that add a deeper layer to the viewing experience, making it about more than just dating. Like I said, it’s nearly impossible to pick favorites but Dai and Shun’s journey is sure to melt even the hardest of hearts.
If there’s one jarring element, it’s the cutaways to the show’s five loud, camp judges. At first, their commentary feels out of place but even they eventually earn their spot. In these cynical, divided times, it’s refreshing
There’s little drama or riffs between the boys on Japanese dating show The Boyfriend PHOTO: NETFLIX
Georgian actress Mzia Arabuli plays Lia in The Crossing PHOTO: MUBI
to see a reality show where contestants are decent, caring and community spirited. The Boyfriend might just be essential viewing.
Back in the day I used to go to the local independent cinema weekly and watch a subtitled film from some far-flung place because… well, those films were being made and independent cinemas were showing them. Both seem rare nowadays.
Crossing is exactly the kind of film I used to see. The second feature by writer/director Levan Akin (if you haven’t seen his wonderful debut And Then We Danced, do check it out), is a remarkable story of a retired school teacher, Lia, who after the death of her sister, goes in search of her trans niece, crossing the border from Georgia to Turkey in order to do so. Along for the ride is Achi, a young man from an abusive home who claims to know Lia’s niece’s whereabouts but is really just trying to escape his awful circumstances. In Istanbul, we also meet a disparate group of other characters whose own stories join up with Lia and Achi’s to create a richly human story about identity, acceptance and the bonds that form between unlikely companions.
The performances are outstanding, especially the magnetic Mzia Arabuli as Lia, whose quiet strength and resilience anchor the film. Her nuanced performance captures the emotional complexities of a woman grappling with grief while navigating unfamiliar, often hostile environments. Equally compelling is the chemistry between Arabuli and Rati Tsiteladze, who plays Achi with raw vulnerability. Akin’s sensitive direction creates a deeply empathetic portrait of people in search of connection and understanding, and the film’s cinematography captures both the beauty and the isolation of their journey. Crossing is a powerful exploration of love, connection and survival across borders. This is a profound, human and wonderfully compassionate movie that will stay with you long after the credits roll.
Critic’s choice
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert 1994 Stan, Prime Video, Apple TV, Google TV and YouTube
It’s hard to believe The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is 30 years old. Not just because it feels like yesterday but because so few films have been as celebratory and unabashedly queer since. In 1994, LGBTQ+ representation in Australia was scarce. Molly Meldrum was still in the closet. Neighbours and Home and Away had no prominent gay characters. We couldn’t marry, had to get an HIV test for a mortgage, couldn’t donate blood and even had to tell the dentist that we’re gay. Homophobia was deeply ingrained in both culture and institutions with public figures like Pauline Hanson and Reverend Fred Nile amplifying anti-queer rhetoric.
Then came Priscilla, bursting onto the screen in all its flamboyance, joy and glitter. The film follows drag queens Mitzi and
Felicia and transgender woman Bernadette as they travel across the Australian outback in a bus called Priscilla.
Finally, queer people had a film that celebrated our own characters with depth, humanity and humour. The portrayal of drag culture and transgender identity was groundbreaking and joyful. The film wasn’t just a hit in Australia; it became a global success, launching the careers of Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving. For a moment, it seemed like queer culture had crossed into the mainstream.
But despite Priscilla’s success, the floodgates to more queer expression didn’t open. Queer cinema is still rare and globally successful queer films are even rarer.
With a sequel in the works, we can only hope it recaptures the joy and significance of the original. In today’s climate, with rising transphobia and drag queen bashing, we need that celebration and a cultural course-correction more than ever.
Priscilla was more than a film; it was a defining moment of Australiana that lead to acceptance. PHOTO: ELISE LOCKWOOD/WNSFA
GET KNOW TAKE SHOTS SIGNS STEPS
Moving forward
BOOKS
Tim Duggan wants us to re-think our approach to work,
writes Ali Khan
.
As a successful media entrepreneur and author, Tim Duggan seemed to have life sorted.
In 2005, he established queer online magazine SameSame. com.au and then co-founded the influential youth-oriented Junkee Media in 2014. Four years ago, he married the love of his life Ben and in recent years has published the critically acclaimed books Cult Status and Killer Thinking, which examined business practices, thinking and innovation.
However, in 2022, the death of his beloved father Phil floored him. Not only had he lost his parent, best mate and mentor, he realised he wasn’t living, he was just doing.
Tim started researching, reflecting and experimenting and realised he needed to start to Work Backwards and has written a book with the same title.
“While we spend the best hours of days and the best years of life at work, work doesn’t love us back,” he says.
“Too many of us go through life acting, without thinking, and one reason I really wanted to write this book is to ask everyone to take a moment and evaluate their lives. It’s time to reframe the discussion from work-life balance to life-work balance.”
To start on this journey, Tim wants us to ‘MAP’ out our life by understanding what our meaning, anchors and priorities are. He said that queer people have inherent strengths to help
It’s time to reframe the discussion from work-life to life-work balance
us achieve our life-work balance and that we must not be afraid to take action.
“We have had a lot of our values and anchors forged in the fire just through the process of having to come out and learn to live in a world where we are a minority,” he says. “I think that can be a real superpower to relatation to the concepts about working backwards.”
Tim outlined how he pushed the boundaries and by
PHOTO: CYBELE MALINOWSKI
experimenting and being true to his MAP, he achieved his lifework balance.
“I currently live in Spain and work Monday to Wednesday, predominantly during the Australian time-zone because my current clients work in Australia. While my husband and I adore living here now, this may change if I choose to come home or move to another country.
“I see the concept of experimenting as something we have to continually do to refine and better learn what is true to our values. It is something that can be done by anyone at any time in their lives.”
Work Backwards is out now on Pantera Press
Intimacy and consent
ARTS Luke George’s art explores trust and consensual communication in an age of scrolling and trolling, writes Christos Linou.
Many artists attempt to create mega fan bases and followers through the waves of TikTok, Instagram and Facebook notoriety. However, a virtual audience has a short attention span and within a few seconds of scrolling, there’s always another act to follow. I’m bored looking at glamour posts and images that derail the intelligence and essence of queer art. Some of these artists are superfluous, self-gratifying and hedonistic.
That said, there are artists who do investigate the depths
of being queer and Luke George is one: a multidisciplinary artist and professional gay sex worker, integrating a knowledge in art, sex and queer social politics as methods to develop trusting consent for performers and audiences. His career spans three decades and he has presented works in Australia, Asia, Europe, the Venice Biennale, Canada and the USA. George has created a range of art iterations based on his interest in the extremes of rope and bondage. His work STILL LIVES: MELBOURNE was exhibited in the Great Hall of the NGV for the 2022 RISING Festival, a re-enactment of a famous 2011 AFL sporting moment.
George and his co-creator and long-time collaborator, Berlin/ Singapore-based artist Daniel Kok, sculptured a team of footballers into a woven web of ropes that captured the ‘mark of the year’ by Andrew Krakouer, (a sporting legend and proud Noongar man). The work also examined issues
within the sporting culture, such as sexism, racism, homophobia and transphobia.
CL: Luke, you talk about mutual listening and creating ‘safe spaces’. How do you allow different body types and genders to develop trust through intimate physical consent, where untrained bodies can feel safe, such as the sporting figures?
LG: I’ve found working with people who have played at an elite level of elite sport to be highly trained bodies who have an intimate experience around endurance, high performance, working under pressure, collaboration and working with degrees of discomfort. If anything, sportspeople have put their bodies on the line and have been pushed hard, often beyond their perceived limits. In relation to the practice itself, we take great care in things such as communication, in listening harder, both through words and
through the body, through the unspoken. In how we approach a body, in how we suggest or invite physical interaction, touch and tying.
George’s other work evokes sexual erotica that examines the sensitivities of the interaction of bodies traversing states of consent into provocative and playful queer art. This is seen in his exotic and colourful kaleidoscopic slings installation series Display of Affection. The slings are made from coloured rope, which is woven with a macramé technique. How do you bridge the gap between art and erotica?
My intentions are also not about making work about erotica. More so, I’m interested in risk and intimacy, where people examine themselves and their values through movement and interaction. Sometimes the mode or materials being engaged may involve rope, bondage, touch,
etc. It’s more about how these practices of consent can inform and support the artwork and the participants involved.
A work that struck a chord with me is George’s Public Actions piece, where the performance examines trust through invasion. A group of performers are planted in the seating. As the audience waits for the performance to begin, the performers roll off their chairs and push them slowly through the seating bank to disrupt the audience, to the extent that the audience steps onto the stage and watches the cascading performers collapse the seating bank.
Is this your statement saying that theatre is dead?
Not dead but I find the traditions, practices and rituals of a theatre quite confusing: a large congregation of people where everyone sits in seats that are very close together but all facing forward one direction,
his
of the year’.
in the dark, in behaved silence, looking at a bunch of other people on stage executing highly rehearsed movements and/or words, as if it will reveal a kind of truth about our weird and complicated experience of existing alongside each other. What I wanted to do with Public Actions was to reconsider the theatre as a social gathering space of potential, where an action instigated by the work would affect everyone in the room in some way and they’d have to respond to the situation, forming a temporary community that slowly reveals the social choreographies of how bodies relate and share public space.
Why is it essential to have physical interactions and a connection to the audience in your work?
When I was working as a professional dancer, performing and touring on stage with companies, I often found myself feeling alien in the experience, performing on stage, under lights, looking out into a darkened room, unable to sense or perceive the audience, who they were, where we were in the city/ country/world even. People often speak about feeling alienated by contemporary art and dance. So it became important to me to consider that the entire situation was a choreography and everyone, including the audience, are in it and part of its unfolding over time.
What are you working on at the moment?
I’m performing my work Fell in the Liveworks Festival at Carriageworks in October. Over summer I’ll be facilitating my huge Ropetimes workshops at the Midsumma Festival in Naarm, an introductory to rope bondage and navigating intimacy, pleasure and consent. I’ll also be artistin-residence at the Ace Hotel in Sydney!
See more of the artist’s work at www.lukegeorge.net
Luke George and
collaborator Daniel Kok sculptured a team of footballers into a woven web that captured the ‘mark
PHOTOS: ZHANG YUAN, TIM CARRAFA
SpringOUT turns 25
The ACT’s own LGBTQI festival has continued to grow and evolve, just like its home city, writes Jo Falvey.
culture. He asked Sam Edwards to help him project manage the brand new festival. Sam, who still lives in Canberra, says that the month-long Pride festival “gave a platform to the colour and movement of Canberra’s queer community that it didn’t have”.
A lifelong, passionate and practical organiser of community events, Lynne O’Brien, returned to the Canberra region in 20172018 and has been the president of SpringOUT since 2019. “When
I got back, I thought ‘I know I can help out here’ because I had been playing in the big gay worlds of Sydney and Melbourne,
Above: The community at Fair Day in 2019. Below: MadB is First Nations Canberra drag royalty. PHOTOS: WOLF SVERAK
A place on earth
PARTIES Former Heaven DJ Barrie Barton takes a trip back to a club that defined an era.
This article is a love letter to a particular time and place in the Canberra’s social memory. I used to DJ at Heaven Nightclub in Garema Place pretty much every weekend between 1997 and 2001. My sidekick Jono and I ran a regular night called Positive in the venue’s Back Bar, which by the standards of the times, had reached legendary status across the country.
To understand Heaven’s resonance, it’s helpful to imagine a much smaller Canberra in the mid-to-late ‘90s. Every Friday and
Saturday evening, in the smallest cracks of the city, people would be getting ready; a nervous boy would try on sequin shorts in their bedroom out of sight from their father, another might sneak off early from Mooseheads. Girls would gather at homes or in bars for a Stoli Ruski. Hospitality staff would start playing dance music towards the end of their shift and slowly, out of these cracks, they would all assemble and line up for the ritualistic torture of the Heaven door.
Imogen was the High Priestess of Judgement. She was
smarter than us, wiser than us and moodier than us all put together. Occasionally she’d call on Sylvie, the matriarch of the club, to help turn away groups of footballers trying to cause a ruckus. Sylvie would stand at the top of the steps with her badass New York attitude and hair piece lurching dangerously to one side. She would stare down any number and size of man, knowing that the greatest gift she could give her customers was safety and that a sharp tongue was much more powerful than big muscles at the door.
Past the door, we were all there together. No VIP rooms, no roped-off areas or anything vaguely resembling a hierarchy.
including producing Mardi Gras Fair Day in 2003 for 70,000 of my closest friends,” she says.
With O’Brien at the helm, SpringOUT has now reached a point where mainstream organisations are throwing events that showcase and celebrate inclusivity and
diversity. Some of the organisations holding events this year are Questacon, the Botanic Gardens, National Film and Sound Archive, Screen Canberra, Marion and the Canberra Theatre.
Lynne’s favourite yearly event is Fair Day, an event that’s been a mainstay since the earliest days of the queer colony. Think
stalls, food trucks, performers and pet parades. “I love Fair Day!” she beams. “SpringOUT’s Fair Day is a beautiful day in the sun where people catch up with one another face to face.”
But this year will feature a very special event for Lynne, One Night in Heaven, a celebration of the legendary Garema Place
Safe from any threats outside and before social media made our lives a performance, we could truly be free.
When Heaven was ‘on’, the dancefloor sat under a cloud of cigarette smoke and the walls sweated in the perspiration of the happy. We breathed it in deeply and willingly. We bumped into each other accidentally, rubbed across each other apologetically, hugged each other purposefully and practised the very opposite of social distancing. We gave massages to close friends and hippies, to strangers and even once to a bikie who said a polite ‘thanks’.
We bought drugs, sold drugs, lost drugs and found them. We broke every convention in the book on fire exits and turned the back stairwell into a tangled mess of limbs and fumbly pashing. We laughed so much but there were tears, too: a
nightclub that she opened with Kim Ware in 1993 and that closed on the first day of 2001. “When it first opened it was a LGBT+ club. 18 months later, Sylvie Stern (who passed away in 2015) took the reins. I named it
friend’s sister overdosed, another DJ fell off the roof, hearts were broken, some were honest with themselves or others for the first time and it hurt. By the next weekend, all wounds were bandaged, knives wrapped up and castles rebuilt.
Safe from any threats outside and before social media made our lives a performance, we could be truly free
We had a competition to see how close you could get to setting Sylvie’s hair piece on fire with a cigarette, without actually doing so. We stayed awake too long. We fell asleep on sticky couches. Our friend Mr Tim neatly folded his silver pants (which
Heaven but Sylvie was the driving force for the new kind of Heaven, which still had a queer and alternative crowd and also catered to an electronic dance music crowd.”
The party will be
he never did at home) and slept peacefully for hours while three metres away, the DJs stoked a nasty furnace of trance music.
We listened to music from around the world and made here in our own bedrooms. We overheated because the air conditioning never worked and we froze because it was always Canberra when we left in the morning into the ice cold air, a symphony of magpies and street sweepers. We called in sick for work from the payphone in the carpark as cars drove by playing loud dance music and blowing our excuses before we’d even hung up.
We actually had the time of our lives and all the while we dreamt of leaving.
One Night in Heaven is at the Vault, Dairy Rd, Fyshwick on Saturday 30 November from 8pm to 5am. Photos: Lynne O’Brien
a chance to bring the various tribes that loved Heaven together at the temporary Vault warehouse party space in Fyshwick and celebrate all of the music, culture and fashion of the ‘90s and early ‘00s.
Keep reading to find out what else is happening during SpringOUT.
“CELEBRATING 25 YEARS”
Join us for a program packed with events, performances, art, sport, discussions and workshops for the whole community, celebrating the vibrancy and diversity of people and culture here in the ACT.
Canberra Contemporary Art
CUBE Nightclub, Canberra City
8th NOVEMBER
MERIDIAN OPEN DAY
Havelock House, Turner 4pm - 6pm | Free
13th NOVEMBER
PERFORMANCE SKILLS: A WORKSHOP FOR LGBTQIA+ ADULTS AND ELDERS See SpringOUT website 7pm - 9pm | Free
16th NOVEMBER
PINK TENNIS BUSHDANCE SOLD OUT
CANBERRA FRONT RUNNERSCOMMUNITY FUN RUN
PRIDE STRIDE
Peace Park Lake Burley Griffin, Parkes | 9am | Free
PRIDE MATCH: ACT
VETERAN’S RUGBY MATCH WITH PRIDE BARBARIANS
Portsea Oval, Royal Military College, Duntroon | 2pm
PRIDE MATCH: ACT
VETERAN’S WOMENS
RUGBY MATCH WITH SYDNEY CONVICTS
Portsea Oval, Royal Military College, Duntroon | 3pm
SPECIAL EVENT: THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF DON’T LEAVE ME THIS WAY: ART IN THE AGE OF AIDS
National Gallery of Australia | 7pm
17th NOVEMBER
PERFORMANCE SKILLS: A WORKSHOP FOR LGBTQIA+ ADULTS AND ELDERS IMPROVISED
See SpringOUT website 7pm - 9pm | Free
20th NOVEMBER
INTERNATIONAL TRANSGENDER DAY OF REMEMBERANCE
See SpringOUT website
21th NOVEMBER
BRIEFS BITE CLUB
FEATURING SAHARA BECK
Playhouse, Canberra Theatre | 8pm
22th NOVEMBER
SCINIGHT: REFRACTION
– PROUD TO BE CURIOUS
Questacon, Parkes | 6.30pm9:30pm
BRIEFS BITE CLUB FEATURING SAHARA BECK
Playhouse, Canberra Theatre 8pm
PRIDE IN THE GARDENS
Australian National Botanic Gardens | 11.30am | Free
23th NOVEMBER
MARION COME & WRITE - QUEER EDITION
Marion & Walter Café, Parkes 11am - 2pm | Free
DIVERSITY ACT OUT & LOUD RAINBOW PICNIC
Diversity ACT Pride Hub 8 Laidlaw Place | 11am | Free
BRIEFS BITE CLUB & BOOZY BRUNCH
Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Brunch 12pm | Show 8pm
VELVET GOLDMINE (1998) + PRE-SHOW ‘GLAM ROCK’ SHOW
National Film and Sound Archive Arc Theatre | 6pm
PRIDE IN THE GARDENS
Australian National Botanic Gardens | 11.30am | Free
24th NOVEMBER
CANBERRA QWIRE: A CELEBRATION OF COMMUNITY IN SONG!
Llewellyn Hall, ANU, Acton | 3pm
PRIDE IN THE GARDENS
Australian National Botanic Gardens | 11.30am | Free
28th NOVEMBER
PERFORMANCE SKILLS: A WORKSHOP FOR LGBTQIA+ ADULTS AND ELDERS
See SpringOUT website 7.30pm - 9pm | Free
29th NOVEMBER
JACKIE LOEB COMEDY @ THE STREET *ONE NIGHT ONLY* THE STREET Theatre, Acton 7.30pm
30th NOVEMBER
COLLECTIVE ON ANTIRACISM (COAR) ‘FEAST OF THE SENSES’ Blank Creative Co., Canberra
COME & TRY SQUASH
South Canberra Squash Club 1pm - 3pm | Free
SPECIAL EVENT: ONE NIGHT IN HEAVEN The Vault | 8pm - 5am
1st DECEMBER
BIG GAY BREAKFAST
Tilley’s Café, Lyneham 9am - 12pm
INTERNATIONAL WORLD AIDS DAY
See SpringOUT website
FOR MORE INFO ON THE PROGRAM SCAN THE QR OR VISIT SPRINGOUT.COM.AU
Briefs: Bite Club
The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre November 21 to 23
Bite Club features Brisbane’s award-winning cult-cabaret mischief-makers, circus stars and heart-stopping hooligans, Briefs Factory, as they join forces with much-celebrated and sainted songbird Sahara Beck
In an event sautéed in a hedonistic haze, guests will be treated to a shotgun wedding and table settings of music, circus, drag, burlesque, theatre and comedy. Described as one of Australia’s most arresting performers, Sahara Beck’s soaring vocals will blast female pride power into the ferociously fierce displays of talent from the Briefs boys you know and love. Their slick tomfoolery and heartstopping hooliganism will be bathed in suave synth, heady hooks and swelling strings, all set to a glorious pop pulse. Inspired by circus, drag, dance, burlesque, music, comedy and the everchanging world around them, Briefs Factory are dedicated to developing and touring their brand of award-winning, genredefying, political party punk around the world.
SciNight: Refraction
Questacon
November 22
Dive into an unforgettable SpringOUT experience at Questacon, Canberra’s iconic science centre, where the excitement of the semi-annual Sci-Night transforms the space just for adults. This is your chance to explore Questacon’s thrilling exhibits—whether it’s the exhilarating two-storey drop or the mesmerising earthquake room—without the usual crowds of kids!
Sci-Night, themed around the science of refraction, will shine a spotlight on Canberra’s vibrant rainbow community with a dazzling display of prisms and rainbows. Enjoy full access to all galleries and celebrate with
live music as well as local drag sensation Guy Alias. Experience Questacon like never before with Meridian on site and the Dead Puppets Society adding a whimsical touch with roving skeletal flamingos.
Questacon is a fully accessible venue with activities spread
throughout the building. Relax in chill spaces, enjoy storytimes and crafts and indulge in drinks and nibbles as you explore the eight galleries. This adult-only event promises a unique and thrilling evening, so don your rainbow colours and revel in the dazzling world of science.
Pride in the Gardens
Australian National Botanic Gardens
November 22, 23, 24
Embrace the beauty of nature with a tranquil and eye-opening stroll through the Botanic Gardens this SpringOUT. The Australian National Botanic Gardens is celebrating the dazzling diversity of plant sexuality and their unique reproductive systems. Join a guided tour to delve into the fascinating world of pollination and plant evolution.
This volunteer-lead event is a fantastic opportunity to connect with fellow plant enthusiasts and gather intriguing plant facts to share with your friends. The main path of the gardens is fully accessible, though other walks include some stairs and slopes. The guides are trained to be adaptable and are committed to supporting everyone, including
those who are neurodiverse. With small groups of 10 or fewer, you’ll enjoy a personalised and inclusive experience.
Experience vibrant colours, stunning blooms and the
intricate processes that make plant reproduction so remarkable. Running from Friday to Sunday, this event is sure to be popular so make sure to book your spot online soon!
One night of Jackie
The Street Theatre
November 29
Get ready for a SpringOUT spectacular as Jackie takes the stage at the Street Theatre with her unmissable show, One . This multi-talented comedian, actor, singer, musician and newly-minted artist is set to bring down the house with a dazzling display of pride. Expect a whirlwind of hilarity from Jackie’s razor-sharp one-liners to a soulful musical serenade, and who knows, a spontaneous art auction might just add to the evening’s surprises!
After a long hiatus from Canberra since performing at a straight bar in the early 2000s, this beloved lesbian
icon is eager to reconnect with our vibrant community. Jackie’s performance promises to be a night of fun, inclusivity, nostalgia and playful irreverence, making for an event you won’t want to miss.
Audiences are in for a treat with Jackie at the helm—she’s a seasoned comedy pro with an impressive resume that includes TV appearances on Superstore, Better Things and The Comedy Channel. Jackie’s comedic chops have also graced stages at the Aspen Comedy Festival, Hollywood Fringe Festival and the legendary Dinah Shore Weekend.
So if you’re in the mood for a night of laughter, celebration and all-around fabulousness, Jackie Loeb’s One Night Only is your ticket to an unforgettable evening.
An Eastern Spinebill on Kangaroo Paw at the Botanic Gardens. PHOTO: PHIL GREEN
Putting on the glitz
COVER BOY Glam-masc-fem-disco-loving drag king Sexy Galexy Glamourboi is ruling spring, writes Stuart Ridley.
Spring came roaring in like a lion for Sydney drag king Sexy Galexy with a whirlwind for the (last ever) Broken Heel festival, DJ sets up and down the east coast and the world premiere of adults-only cabaret Ken’s Dream House at Sydney Fringe ... and that was just September!
On stage as Ken, Sexy Galexy makes the already dreamily handsome doll much butcher – and camper – with a well cut gym-bunny body and cheekbones to cry for. Curiously, for someone whose artistic expression involves a whole lot of exquisite makeup, wigs and other bits, Sexy Galexy’s
originator Lexi wasn’t into the whole getting-dolled-up-to-goout thing – at first.
“Lexi had no idea and was terrible at makeup for a long time,” she laughs. “Growing up in WA, I rebelled against makeup because it was a girly thing. I was trying to live in a man’s
Sexy Galexy is dragging up for both Canberra’s SpringOUT and Newcastle Pride festivals this year. PHOTO: JUAN PACULAN
world, fighting to show I can do whatever a man can do.”
Young Lexi was very good at making stuff from almost nothing and her self-taught handyperson skills got her into set design at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
“I was always standing on the side of the stage enviously looking at the performers and thinking that because I hadn’t had any training, I’d never be a performer,” she recalls. “Then when I started going to gay clubs in the early 1990s, I saw a drag queen and I was like, ‘I can do that’ and this massive burst of passion came over me – a feeling that this is what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Awakening the drag (on) king
The term ‘drag king’ had been bubbling around the globe for ages but hadn’t reached suburban Perth – yet – when Lexi gave drag a go. As a drag queen
“I thought I was being a drag queen by doing girl drag and boy drag. The whole idea was that I was a camp lesbian, which was unheard of back then. It wasn’t about being a man or anything like that. It was about being camp and performing and I found who I was by being camp.”
She admits she was freaking out before she stepped on stage with some friends to perform drag at a club night called Lipstique in Perth (“I was so anxious I thought I’d have a heart attack”). Then the music came on, she heard the crowd wooooo with excitement and all that anxiety melted away.
“It’s this amazing feeling of empowerment, this freedom to be whoever you want to be up on stage,” she says. “It became an obsession instantly. It wasn’t about gender for me, it was about ‘What crazy-arse character am I going to dress up as today?’”
Becoming Sexy
Neil Taylor, a longtime friend, was colouring Lexi’s hair sometime in 1998 when he declared that her performance
persona needed a permanent name: Sexy Galexy. Out of drag, Lexi never wore makeup but Sexy Galexy adores it.
“Sexy Galexy was created through my love of glamour and my love of doing whatever a man can do and doing it even better,” she laughs. “I decided I can be a fabulous man and I can do drag – all those things people said I can’t do. Makeup is just makeup. It isn’t necessarily feminine. Sexy Galexy loves makeup and he wears heaps of it.”
Still, Sexy wasn’t called a ‘drag king’ for another year, after Lexi saw the term in bold next to a photo on the cover of LOTL (Lesbians on the Loose) Magazine
of drag act D’vinyl and the Behinds
“Before then, we weren’t quite let into the drag scene. Some people were dismissive of women doing drag – even though there’s a very long history of it – so when ‘Drag King’ was featured on the cover of LOTL I was like, ‘Right, now I’m set’. I moved to Sydney in 2000 and started doing shows like Kingki Kingdom at the Sly Fox Hotel in Enmore. I also kicked open the doors and worked hard to get drag kings covered in the queer media because for a long while we were underrepresented.”
And by Ken, did Sexy’s name get out there in the 2000s!
Sexy Galexy recently performed at the last-ever Broken Heel Festival. PHOTOS: AMY CATER, SEXY GALEXY), VICTOR HAWK
Oxford and King Streets were fly-postered with his visage advertising his nights at Arq and the Newtown Hotel (where he performed with Porsche Turbo and Maxi Shield), as well as frequent frivolities with other drag kings at the Venus Room (Kings X), the Lewisham and at Stonewall. As Sexy’s buff profile grew, more bookings came for gigs across the country, from Tropical Fruits and Byron NYE parties up north to queer parties in Newcastle, Melbourne and some old stomping/strutting grounds in Perth. Sexy Galexy and friends like Pandora Box also brought a whole rainbow of LGBTQI+ talent to community station Channel 31 in the form of Queer TV
What crazy-arse character am I going to dress up as today?
One year, at the Queer Film Festival launch, a friend asked if she could pierce Sexy Galexy on stage with acupuncture needles. Sexy was like, ‘Yeah, OK’ but secretly, behind Sexy’s fierce five o’clock shadow, Lexi was super nervous and really scared.
“I’d read a book called Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway so I used to dare myself to do things as a way of breaking through anxiety. I found it worked: if you can face your fear and just do it anyway, it doesn’t matter how much of a heart attack you think you’re having in the moment, it dissipates. So that’s how I live my life. When you can get through it you realise you’re more powerful than any emotional issue. You can ride over it and you come out stronger. The thing about life is the only way not to fail is to not try anything. Life is full of more failures than successes but if I had stopped because I had failures, I’d never have done anything in my life.”
Sexy Galexy is DJing at Newcastle Pride Fair Day on October 19 and Bernie’s Bar in Newcastle on October 19 and 26 and performing at SpringOUT Fair Day and Freedom at Cube on November 2 in Canberra.
gorgeous
Pride in paradise
PRIDE Now in its fifth year, Newcastle Pride is bubbling up with new attractions this year, writes Danny Corvini.
In his first year in the role of marketing, Jack Bailey is excited about Newcastle Pride’s 16-day program and its offering not only for locals but for visitors as well.
One of their biggest wins this year is bringing the pride parade, which has previously been held in February, into the festival program. It will take place on one of the most spectacular routes in Australia: along the waterfront at Honeysuckle to Nobby’s Beach for a barbeque.
The festival also encompasses a history walk, the Sassy Kunst art exhibition, the Short N Curly queer short film festival, Drink N Draw with Wonder Mama, dragon boating and, of course, lots of parties, including at Bernie’s Bar.
“Newcastle’s definitely got a smaller, very supportive community and when we do activate something, there’s always a lot of people who take the opportunity,” says Jack. “We
Fair Day is a chance to pow-wow with gal pals. PHOTO: NEWCASTLE PRIDE
do get a lot of people visiting from outside Newcastle for the festival too, especially on the Fair Day weekend.”
Fair Day attractions will include the Doggywood Parade, a youth space, a handbag toss and stalls by Homegrown Markets, who run the best markets in town. It will also get a glow up in the form of a new Screamin’ Gay dance stage (Newcastle Pride’s monthly party) and it will be capped off with an after-party by Poof Doof, the first time the Sydney/Melbourne party
crew have ever held an event in Newcastle.
“There will be two stages throughout the day with live music and drag queens on the main stage and then we’ll also have the Screamin’ Gay stage for the first time, a dedicated DJ area with Sexy Galexy, Kate Monroe, Lisa Anita and Queerio, amongst others,” says Jack.
“On the main stage we’ve got Penelope Pettigrew, Denise Hanlon, Heather Lungs and Freddie Merkin; along with Danni Issues, a drag queen who is Sydney-based but grew up in Newcastle and Greg Gould, a singer who grew up on the Central Coast and lived in Newcastle for a little while. Apart from that, almost all of the performers and DJs are Newcastle-based as we really try to support local talent at Fair Day.”
WATCH GREG GOULD’S PRIDE ANTHEM, MARCHING ON
Fair Day Saturday 19 October, 11am to 6pm at Gregson Park in Hamilton followed by the Official After Party: Poof Doof + Dyke Doof from 7pm. 3.30am. See the full program at NewcastlePride.com.au
Newcastle’s
Pride Parade takes place along the water. PHOTO: NEWCASTLE PRIDE
The hot climax
PARTY Ruby Slippers tells Danny Corvini what Novocastrians can expect after Fair Day at the city’s first POOF DOOF.
What’s the history of POOF DOOF?
Founded in 2011, POOF DOOF is the premier queer party in Australia, raving every Saturday night in Sydney and Melbourne and monthly in Brisbane. Quality dance music, championing queer artistry and uplifting our community are at the heart of every one of the thousands of events we’ve held across Australia, Europe, Asia, and the USA.
This will be your first time throwing a POOF DOOF in Newcastle. What’s behind the decision to go there? (and when are you coming to STUN’s hometown, Canberra!?)
We’re so excited to bring POOF DOOF to Newy! So many amazing queer artists and members of the Doof family are originally from here and bringing a massive afterparty
to help everyone celebrate the incredible work of Newcastle Pride just felt right. As for Canberra, name a date and time and we’ll bring the party, baby!
For people that haven’t been to a POOF DOOF before, what can they expect?
POOF DOOF brings non-stop music to keep the dance floor heaving – and in Newcastle we’re activating four rooms so you can really see where the night takes you! Celebrating queer artistry is at the heart of what we do so of course we’re bringing you fierce drag shows and steamy go-go dancers to light up the night.
Who’s performing in Newcastle?
Newcastle deserves a chance to kick back and celebrate all their hard work so we are bringing in some of our phenomenal globe-trotting
faves to get the party started. We’ve got headline shows from Drag Race Down Under winner Isis Avis Loren, drag DJ superstar Jimi The Kween, shows from Sydney faves Karna Ford and Danni Issues plus I’m coming up from Melbourne to join the fun! We’ll also have saucy gogo sets from Canberra drag king Daddy Charles and burlesque booty manipulator
Demon Derriere. Spinning tunes in the Dyke Doof bar will be Richie LeStrange (BNE), Sveta, Estee Louder and Alex Dugan, and in the main DOOF room we’ll have Autone, Boycrzy and James Alexandr
Is there anything else our readers need to know?
Newcastle deserves a massive celebration of their incredible rainbow community and we are beyond proud to bring the party!
Poof Doof + Dyke Doof (Newcastle Pride Official After Party) Saturday 19 October from 7pm to 3.30am at the Newy Hotel, Islington (accessible). Tickets $45 at OzTix.
Sharing you
TDATING Image-based abuse is on the rise on hook up apps, writes Andrew
Macdonald.
he digital landscape has seen significant advancements in connectivity and communication, helping create a sense of community and belonging, especially among marginalised groups such as the queer communities. Alongside these positive developments, there has been a disturbing rise in image-based abuse, particularly targeting individuals on various hook-up apps. This phenomenon not only threatens personal privacy but also perpetuates discrimination and mental health challenges. Whilst the perpetrator of image-based abuse is often queer, there’s a recent rise in catfishing and abuse from those deliberately creating fake profiles
in order to take advantage of us. Image-based abuse, also known as ‘revenge porn’ or ‘nonconsensual pornography’, involves the distribution of private, often explicit, images or videos without your consent. This form of abuse is particularly insidious as it violates our privacy, autonomy and dignity. For queer folks, it can also heighten risk around being outed.
Apps like Grindr, Tinder and Scruff have become popular parts of queer life, providing platforms for connection and random hook-ups. However, these apps have also become fertile grounds for image-based abuse. The relative anonymity provided by these platforms can enable perpetrators who exploit the
trust and openness often found in these digital spaces.
With sharing intimate images, the expectation of privacy and mutual respect exists. Unfortunately, these images can be misused, leading to devastating consequences. Offenders sharing these images without consent to humiliate, blackmail or ‘out’ their victims, causing emotional distress, anxiety and even leading to selfharm or suicide in extreme cases.
In Australia, to pursue violations of your privacy via imaged-based abuse, head to esafety.org.au for the esafety Commissioner’s website. On the home page you will quickly see a button labelled ‘Has someone shared an intimate image or video of you online?’
Socially, the unfortunate
Be sexy, be you and be careful with who you share that with.
stigma surrounding rainbow communities can exacerbate the trauma of image-based abuse. Victims may be reluctant to seek help due to fear of being judged, not believed, or further marginalised. If this has happened to you, report it to the eSafety Commissioner and seek out someone to share how you are feeling. This might include support lines like QLife.
This abuse runs the risk of negatively impacting our body autonomy, sense of sensuality and sexual beauty.
Be sexy, be you and be careful with who you share that with. One final word, it’s okay to question the validity of images you have been sent. With AI and the ease of stealing images, you never know. lens.google.com is a tool worth checking out that searches the origins of images. That hot image you just received might be a French footballer and not someone from around the corner, after all.
Stay safe folks.
Andrew Macdonald is a clinical psychotherapist at www. jeffersonplace.com.au
Sadly, the innocent days of the internet are over. PHOTO: ALEX SIMPLIFIER/PEXELS
Women’s rugby is the fastest growing cohort of
Give it a try
SPORTS Tries, touchdowns and goals will all be happening at SpringOUT Pride Festival’s Sporting Day, writers Ali Khan.
Headlined by the Rugby Pride Cup, Sporting Day is being coordinated by the ACT Veterans Rugby Union Club. In 2024, rugby will be joined by touch football, gridiron, water polo and soccer.
ACT Veterans Rugby Union Club President Andrew Henderson said it was an easy decision for the club to support SpringOUT.
“The Vets are passionate about our sport with the benefits of camaraderie, physical and mental health, overall well-being and gaining some life lessons that can be attained through our endeavours.
“The event encourages conversations about diversity in rugby – age, gender and sexuality.”
He said last year’s Rugby Pride Cup, which was the first ever held, received amazing support from the Canberra community and he is proud that in 2024 a
women’s team is also competing.
“We will kick off with the Pride Cup, ACT Veterans Rugby vs a Barbarians Pride team, consisting of players from the Sydney Convicts, Australia Defence Force and local players,” he says.
“Women’s ACT v Barbarians Pride teams will then play to celebrate women’s rugby as the fastest growing cohort of community rugby.”
ACT Veterans Rugby Union player Bob Lees, a ten year veteran of the club and formerly part of Australia’s first gay rugby club, the Sydney Convicts, said sport had the power to promote inclusion within and outside LGBTQIA+ communities.
“Gay and inclusive sports contribute to breaking down stereotypes, builds confidence and can help people find their tribe and place in our community.
“Sport brings people together and I am proud to be a Vets member and of their commitment to inclusion.”
Bob encouraged everyone to give rugby a go at the Pride Cup.
“While the Vets are a 35 years and over club, the Pride Cup is an open age event. We all get to wear rainbow socks, too!”
Rugby Australia’s Community Rugby Director Michael Procajlo highlighted the ACT Veterans’ Rugby Club contribution to the local community over the past 30 years.
“In that time, the club has raised over $750,000 for local charities as well as supported local events like the SpringOUT Pride Festival, which signifies how prominent this club is.
“They are an example of our commitment to enabling equal and fair opportunities for everyone in the community to be involved and respected in rugby,” he said.
Keep an eye out on the SpringOUT website – springout.com.au – with the event schedule for the Pride Cup and Sporting Day activities to be released during October.
To learn more about the ACT Veterans Rugby Union Club, visit www.actvetsrugby.org.au
the ACT rugby community PHOTO: SPRINGOUT
Community values
WELLBEING Ali Khan quizzes Joshua Anlezark, the new CEO of Canberra’s peak queer health organisation, about his motivation.
Family and community provide the values that guide Joshua Anlezark, who started his new role as the Meridian CEO in late August following his departure from Hepatitis ACT.
“I am the eldest of six, so growing up was noisy and busy but lots of fun. While I feel incredibly lucky to have had such a loving and supportive family, I am mindful that for many people in the community that isn’t the case,” Joshua says. “This is why organisations like Meridian are so critical to fostering and supporting community connection.”
Meridian has its roots in raising awareness of the needs of vulnerable populations, having been established in 1983 by a group of gay men in response to the AIDS epidemic. Known as the AIDS Action Council of the ACT until 2020, Joshua says that
Meridian will continue to grow and evolve as it responds to—and meets the needs of—Canberra’s LGBTIQA+ community.
Joshua has had a diverse career including stints in the private sector and public service but he says that there is no doubt his heart belongs in the community,
which is what gives him his drive.
“Experiencing first-hand the impact community organisations can have on people’s lives has lead me to where I am today,” he says. “The thing I really love is being part of a team that delivers tangible and meaningful outcomes for people every day and provides opportunities for community connection and celebration.”
He says that he is looking forward to working alongside the staff at Meridian who each draw upon their professional skills, passion, talent and lived experiences to further understand their client’s needs.
“This can help strengthen the delivery of services and programs that empower individuals to live their best lives.”
As Joshua embarks on his new role, he will have loving support along the way from his favourite person.
“My husband Shaun is my rock. Some may even say he’s the best thing about me!” he laughs. “I wouldn’t be where I am or have been able to grow so much as a person without him.”
For more information about Meridian and their services, visit www.meridianact.org.au or phone (02) 6257 2855.
Newcastle Pride’s Come & Try Dragon Boat Day
Apopular Newcastle Pride morning event, this is your chance to get your toes wet and try dragon boating, a fast and furious, paddle-driven watersport that originated in China over 2000 years ago. The boats are approx. 40-foot long and hold up to 20 paddlers. Dragon boating combines teamwork, strength and endurance and is a fantastic way to challenge yourself and meet new people. The free, family inclusive event is open to everyone, regardless of fitness levels. Come and unleash your inner dragon!
Sunday 27 October from 10am to 12pm at Newcastle Hunter Dragon Boat Club, Carrington. www. newcastlepride.com.au
Joshua Anlezark will some big support from his husband.
A lesson from the past
HISTORY Long before Stonewall, queer freedom flowered in Germany but was destroyed by the Nazis, writes Glenda Harvey.
With the growing political tension and divide heating up in the US ahead of its presidential election in November, the usual suspects are being used as a proverbial football in the battle between ‘woke’ progressives and conservatives. Like many other minorities, the rights and freedoms of LGBTQIA+ communities have always been a political football to be tossed about to show the bona fides of the champions of political or social divides. With the benefit of hindsight, it is imperative that we learn the lessons that history has to offer about how we got here and how to continue to promote basic human values of acceptance, tolerance and inclusion.
The backlash that is framing a lot of gay and trans issues at the moment is disturbing. It flies in
the face of those brave, battlehardened gay and trans activists and warriors who fought so hard for the sorts of rights that we can easily take for granted in Western countries today. There’s far more ground to be made, especially but not exclusively, in the more conservative, dogmatic, religiously dominated societies and countries around the world where human rights are often appalling. Throughout the last century, fights occurred to increase the rights and visibility of LGBTQIA+ people. One of the most famous of these battles occurred in New York in 1969. Early in the morning of June 28, the Stonewall Inn, a gay club owned by the mafia, was raided by an arm of the New York police called the Public Morals Squad. After infiltrating the club with undercover officers earlier in the evening, the police
raided the club and started to arrest drag queens, transvestites and transgender male-to-female individuals in particular and checked out everyone else’s ID. Gay women were frisked inappropriately and anyone suspected of cross-dressing was taken to the toilets for a body search. That harassment was considered an ‘enough is enough’ moment for the patrons. The late 1960s were a battlefront for many minorities and the growing call for equality for the gay and trans community of New York resulted in a stand finally being taken. Any perceived male dressed as female refused to go with the police and men refused to show ID.
It all escalated from there and patrons got arrested and locals convened on the area. Violence perpetrated by the police enraged the situation and a riot ensued. For the next few days, crowds of people came to see the wreck of the Stonewall Inn (which closed not long after), guarded by police, and the violence continued.
Police force people back outside New York’s Stonewall Inn as the riots start to kick off on 28
In the aftermath, these sorts of raids continued on other establishments. Even though there were activists and groups already doing their best, this lead to the formation of more organised gay activism across the USA, especially in the lead up to the first Gay Pride march on the first anniversary of the Stonewall riot. The whole antigay discrimination movement got its legs and we have been living in a far more tolerant world ever since.
This was not the first time during the 20th century that there was a flourishing of gay pride, though. Between the late 1800s and 1933, a pro-gay movement developed in Germany as a reaction to the gay male criminalisation of the late 1890s. There, during the Weimar Republic after World War 1, censorship decreased and a number of gay, lesbian and trans publications were allowed to flourish.
The German Friendship Society became the first mass gay organisation during this period and there was a halcyon period of unprecedented freedoms and
relative tolerance for the gay, lesbian and trans communities unlike ever seen before. The movement went hand-in-hand with a broader movement of sexuality and equality reformations in general, which were trying to use rational, scientific and compassionate means for understanding and
Can we see any comparisons to our present times here?
tolerance to oppose the closeminded, overly-conservative, narrow view from a religious stand that had pervaded society up until that point. This came crashing down in 1933 when the Nazi party came to power. The worst persecution of gay and trans individuals that has ever occurred followed, based on ignorance, scapegoating and religious conservatism.
Can we see any comparisons to our present times here? The rise of the anti-WOKE movement
is based on the old fears of non-acceptance of difference and change. When this occurs, large fluctuations occur between extremes of thought and action until a new balance is found. Socio-economic and political upheaval occurs in symbiosis with this change. When this occurs, there is an inclination for some people to blame the most vulnerable and easiest targets in a society for all of the problems that it’s experiencing.
With a US election being held this year, the worrying similarities between the late Weimar Republic and the postStonewall era of today is a major concern, given the repealing of trans rights and anti-abortion policies in Donald Trump’s Project 2025 manifesto. This far-right Christian nationalism is, of course, not limited to the US of A.
The whole world can learn from the past, for gay, trans and other minority rights and for our broader societal health.
Glenda Harvey is a Canberra-based trans musician and advocate.
Diverse gender expression was par for the course for this 1890 play staged in Berlin. PHOTO: ALAMY
What’s left behind?
The play explores what we owe to those that came before us and leave for those that come after.
Critic’s choice
THEATRE
One of the most important queer plays is showing in Canberra, writes Danny Corvini
.
Director Jarrad West moved from Perth to the ACT in 2006 and formed Everyman Theatre, which is now in its 16th year and has subsequently become the premier queer theatre company in Canberra. Everyman has been part of ACT Hub for nearly three years and has produced Laramie Project, The Normal Heart, Company, History Boys, Beautiful Thing, Holding the Man and Queers
Up next, Everyman/ACT Hub are set to present The Inheritance, which was described as “perhaps the most important American play of this century” and has only been performed once in Australia, in Melbourne in earlier this year.
“It’s a continuation of that thread of queer epic storytelling and ensuring our people and stories are never forgotten,” says Jarrad. “We have to fight for visibility (census questions anyone?), and weirdly, whenever we do turn around and tell our stories, everyone realises just how universal our struggles and successes are. The Inheritance is raw, it’s human, it’s funny and
it’s so exciting that we get to have it here in Canberra for the first time.”
So what’s it about? “The title itself is a giveaway,” he says. “What do we give to the generation after us? What do we leave behind for them? And what do we owe to those who came before? I think as a gay man who grew up in the shadow of the AIDS epidemic, I always feel a debt for those who came before and fought for visibility and acceptance – allowing me to forge a career in theatre telling queer stories.
“I look at the young people coming up now and seeing the cultural visibility and acceptance grow with each passing year (with some caveats of course), and think, OK, maybe what I do does mean something to those who come after me. If some kid gets dragged to the theatre by their parents and then recognises themselves on the stage and doesn’t feel so alone, then I’ve done my job.”
The Inheritance at ACT Hub Causeway Hall, October 12 to November 2.
Art & about
n Sassy Kunst exhibition
Newcastle Pride presents a joint exhibition by artists Lisa Hughes and Randa Magdi. Opening on Friday 18 October from 6pm to 9pm and open all weekend at at The Owens Collective, Islington.
n Let’s Queer Up a Few Things
Venus Mantrap hosts a Canberra Writers Festival event with Noah Riseman, Sam Elkin, Leigh Boucher and Michelle Arrow reflecting on the ongoing journey towards equality and inclusion. NSFA Theatrette, Saturday 26 October from 12.30pm.
n Queer Pavilion
The Canberra Art Biennial is proud to present the Queer Pavilion, an inclusive festival hub curated by Christian Sirois. The pavilion will house the Cruel Optimism exhibition, as well as a program of workshops and symposiums by and for the queer community and allies. The Vault on Dairy Rd, Fyshwick from October 17 to 31.
n Kaleidoscope III
An exhibition featuring works by LGBTIQA+ artists from Canberra and around Australia. Belco Arts from Friday 18 October to December 1.
PHOTO: EVA SCHROEDER
Food with a community spirit
Queer Food is a social enterprise established in the Canberra region that’s proudly run by trans* and queer* individuals. Each dish on their menu celebrates a piece of queer history or honours influential queer figures, blending storytelling with flavour. Their mission is to uplift the queer community through memorable events, employment opportunities and crucial support for trans* health care and ventures.
Committed to sustainability and inclusivity, Queer Food cater to all dietary needs. Check out their popular monthly Queer Food night hosted at Cafe Stepping Stone, Dickson. Connect with them now and make your next event unforgettable!
Discover more at www.queerfood. com.au
The Noosh | Fun Time Pony, Canberra | September 11 |
Heaps Gay | The Vault, Fyshwick | August 10 |
PHOTOS: BENJAMIN ARNEDO
Screamin’ Gay | The Lass, Newcastle | August 24
PHOTOS: BENJAMIN FRASER
Block rockin’ beats
The Disco is taking its aces to the races.
SLIP SLOP SLAY because The Disco and Harry K of Fluffy fame are joining forces for The OUTRAGEOUS Block Party – the wildest party in Newcastle. Expect killer beats, jaw-dropping drag, and enough glitter to cover the town twice over. This isn’t just a
block party—it’s the block party where living loud and proud is the only rule.
Newcastle Racecourse, Saturday 23 November from 12pm. Tickets from $50-$99 plus booking fee on Humanitix.
The Cross revival is real
House of Mince organiser Peter Shopovski has opened the 21st century cabaret Mirage KX with Maurice Terzini of Bondi Icebergs fame in Kings Cross. “You can expect a mix of provocative, boundary-pushing acts, sexy decor and an inclusive atmosphere,” said Shopovski. The venue offers dinner-andshow entertainment in its Venus Lounge from Wednesday to Saturday, 5pm to midnight, with the Chelsea and Gold Rooms to open soon.
Mirage KX is at 36 Bayswater Road, Potts Point or @mirage.kx
Mirage KX is bringing sexy back to the Cross. PHOTO: CHLOE PAUL
Coming up
n The Noosh
Icky’s mid-week game show. Fun Time Pony, Canberra, Wednesdays October 9 and November 13. $10
n Cabaret Voltaire
Venus Mantrap and guests celebrate Alfred Hitchcock. Smith’s Alternative, Canberra, Friday 18 October from 9.30pm. $25
n Labyrinth Beats
A fetish and BDSM dance party with dark and sexy vibes. Bernie’s Bar, Newcastle, Friday 18 October from 7pm-1am. $25+bf
n Drag Takeover Halloween
Featuring Aries Khaos, Lola Lust, Toni Kola and more. Blackbird, Canberra, Saturday 19 October from 10pm. $20
n Queer Variety Show
MC Mena Paws joined by Nexus Pye, Alibi/Aliboi, Honey Boom, Garry O’Connor, Jem, Sunny Sinclair, Desire Cartes and Lasciel. Smith’s Alternative, Canberra, Tuesday 29 October, 7pm-9.30pm. $25/$20
n Drag Cabaret - The Big One!
Guy Alias takes the show to Belco Arts, Canberra on Saturday 2 November from 7pm-9.30pm. $40/$30
n Deep in Drag - Hoe Down
DJs, drag artists, food and drink from 6.30pm to midnight, Saturday 2 November at Bemboka Hall on the deep South Coast. @deep.in.drag
n Let’s Go Crazy
Venus Mantrap hosts a Prince tribute. Smith’s Alternative, Canberra on Saturday 9 November from 9pm-11pm. $30/$25
n Rainbow on the Plains Hay Mardi Gras, November 14 to 17. rainbowontheplains.com.au
n Spilt Milk House Party
OMG! It’s Troye Sivan and G Flip! Newcastle Entertainment Centre, Sunday 24 November. $158.75+bf from Ticketek
PHOTO: THE DISCO
