When the Gold Coast lost s only gay bar, this drag queen got to work | SBS Voic

Contents:

• A GAY BAR FALLY RETURNS TO THE GOLD COAST WH HOP TO UNE 'DISNNECTED' MUNY
• THE BEST GOLD COAST GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS GOLD COAST
• NEW GOLD COAST GAY BAR IS FIRST TO OPEN IN OVER TWO YEARS
• GOLD COAST, THE LEGENDARY WEHO GAY BAR, RIS OM THE DEAD
• THE GOLD COAST DON'T HAVE A GAY BAR, BUT THE DRAG QUEENS BEHD FLAMBOYANCE HOPE THAT WILL CHANGE
• GOLD COAST, WEHO’S INIC ‘DIVE BAR,’ IS THE FOURTH GAY BAR TO CLOSE ON SANTA MONI BLVD.
• WHEN THE GOLD COAST LOST S ONLY GAY BAR, THIS DRAG QUEEN GOT TO WORK
• CHIGO GAY BARS AND CLUBS
• CHIGO GAY BARS
• GAY GOLD COAST
• GOLD COAST GAY MAP

A GAY BAR FALLY RETURNS TO THE GOLD COAST WH HOP TO UNE 'DISNNECTED' MUNY

There is new hope that the Gold Coast's "sttered" LGBTQI+ scene will fd a greater sense of muny after the cy's first gay bar more than two years pots:There hasn't been a dited LGBTQI+ safe venue on the Gold Coast for more than two yearsA new bar has opened Broadbeach aimed at the muny and s alliGold Coast Rabow Communi has weled the venue and says more are on the wayDan Dunn lnched Chameleon Lounge Bar last week to addrs what he scribed as a "disnnected" muny.

"We seem to be losg the gay culture on the Gold Coast bee there was nothg, " he said. A new gay bar is openg up the former Gold Coast lotn.

THE BEST GOLD COAST GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS GOLD COAST

“We don’t want gay bars to bee obsolete, ” Kotspoulos told the magaze. The lol gby league club, Southport Tigers, also recently signed notor alleged homophobe Israel Fol to their team, wh Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate, urgg the public to “five him” for his prev ments.

NEW GOLD COAST GAY BAR IS FIRST TO OPEN IN OVER TWO YEARS

When Wt Hollywood’s Gold Coast bar shut down after 40 years last September, many speculated that the once-thrivg gay scene on Santa Moni Boulevard was down for the unt. The legendary dive bar was the third gay landmark on the thoroughfare to shut down durg the panmic, followg the closure of Rage and Flamg Saddl a month before. Overstreet and his bs partner also owned Oil Can Harry’s, the landmark Country Wtern gay bar Stud Cy that shuttered last December after 52 years.

(Found 1968, was the olst gay bar Los Angel—and a lnchg pad for performers om k. Rage is returng this fall unr the ownership of former NSYNC star Lance Bass, who vows that his revamped Robertson Boulevard dis will reopen as the biggt gay nightclub the world.

(Bass is also a partner Roc’s, the wildly succsful gay bar and rtrant across the street. ’s gay and nightlife scene: Wt Hollywood entreprenr Rob Novger, who recently rema the dty Circ of Books to a glossy porn emporium, began eyeg the dilapidated Gold Coast property soon after the For Sale sign went up.

GOLD COAST, THE LEGENDARY WEHO GAY BAR, RIS OM THE DEAD

We’ve both wanted to build a bar that would be an alternative to all the loud gay Weho plac wh the bad drks and awful lightg. “I thk the whole notn of ‘gay bars’ seems a b dated, ” says Schtag. There’s no longer jt gay or straight—everythg is so much more fluid.

It is a morn cy of almost 640, 000 people that sells self as a leisure pal, but for the past two years there has not been a gay bar on the Gold some wh the lol LGBTQIA+ muny, there are ser ncerns that the cy is movg the wrong directn.

Drag queens Dixie Wrecked, Natasha St Jam and Jte Kace are all about Flamboyance, but they wish there was a dited gay bar to go to. "The purpose of Flamboyance was basilly to sentially set up a gay night, fally, for the Gold Coast, " St Jam said. "But is a homophobic nightlife mec?

THE GOLD COAST DON'T HAVE A GAY BAR, BUT THE DRAG QUEENS BEHD FLAMBOYANCE HOPE THAT WILL CHANGE

"It mak a lot of other gay people unacceptg of themselv, which leads to this toxic masculy cycle. " Natasha St Jam says there are still homophobic elements to nightlife on the Gold Coast.

(ABC Gold Coast: Domic Cansdale)There ed to be several gay bars on the Gold Coast, but the last one was closed and put up for sale early Jam said the lack of an "actual tangible venue" had real nsequenc. "Whether you're gay, straight, bi, whatever — there seems to be a special atmosphere, " he said. "There's nothg like this wh [the] productn, theatrils, LED lights and chorography, " he bee 's only a one-night-a-week event and Mr Rigas said he didn't nsir Flamboyance to be a an alternative to a gay bar.

GOLD COAST, WEHO’S INIC ‘DIVE BAR,’ IS THE FOURTH GAY BAR TO CLOSE ON SANTA MONI BLVD.

"Beg volved show bs and also dancg and this sort dtry, there's a large gay muny, " he said. "Two years ago I don't thk I ever thought I would be standg on this stage, proudly homo, " he he hoped a gay bar would open on the Gold Coast soon, Nimri said there was "a big surge of the LGBT events" g.

WHEN THE GOLD COAST LOST S ONLY GAY BAR, THIS DRAG QUEEN GOT TO WORK

Gold Coast on the southeast rner of Santa Moni Boulevard and North La Coast, one of gay Wt Hollywood’s most popular bars, is closg. 25, 2018Gold Coast is the fourth popular gay bar on Santa Moni Boulevard to close sce the begng of the COVID-19 panmic. It, Rage, and Flamg Saddl, are all owned by Monte Overstreet, a gay man some ll the “kg of Boystown” reference to his real tate holdgs.

Photographer Pl Hamel and Gold Coast owner Bob Hastgs at the Red Drs Red Drs Party has been held at Gold Coast every July for sce then, which some of s proceeds gog to a gay-related chary.

Surprisgly, The Avenue is not a gay bar.

CHIGO GAY BARS AND CLUBS

"The razor sharp 27-year-old has been a fixture of the Gold Coast queer nightlife for six years, back when the cy had two gay bars to choose om. "Baker says that the lack of LGBTIQ+ spac on the Gold Coast has impacted the way members of the lol muny nnect wh one another, wh hookup apps like Grdr beg one of the only ways to meet like-md queer the muny whdrawg to onle spac, there has been a re-emergence of "noughti-era discretn and ternalised homophobia". Source: Samuel Leighton-DoreAs far as major Atralian ci go, Baker's experience as a workg drag queen is somewhat unique, wh the Gold Coast now the only one of to not have s own gay bar.

At the Chigo History Mm, a new exhib “Out Chigo” explor the stori of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr Chigoans who shaped the cy and var muni over the past 150 years. In 1958, Chuck Renslow and his iends had an affy for leather that was too much for a Chigo gay bar lled Omar’s. It's a cy wh a vibrant nightlife and splendid natural bety, but if you're gay on the Gold Coast, some discretn is advised, acrdg to some wh the LGBTI+ pots:Whout a dited venue and major events, the Gold Coast's LGBTI+ muny is "sttered and not herent", acrdg to some membersMany LGBTI+ people have to "drs down" their queerns to be acceptedThere are worri that the prospect of Israel Fol playg gby league on the Gold Coast will further rerce the attusThe cy's first annual LGBTI ftival  2015 failed to secure a permanent place on the social lenr and there is still no gay bar on the Gold Coast.

CHIGO GAY BARS

A lol gby league club has signed Israel Fol, who matas "no regrets" for sayg on social media that "hell awas" gay rponse, Mayor Tom Tate has urged people to five Fol. "People like to thk of as 'good gays' but once we start exprsg our sexualy, exprsg our ias a way that's non-tradnal, be a b jarrg.

"There are gay nservativ, there are gay liberal voters, there are gay men who wear sus who would be wele any boardroom, " he said.

(Supplied: Ellamay Fzgerald)He said the lack of a dited LGBTI+ safe venue, such as a gay bar, had rulted a "distct lack of muny". 'Discreet tradi'After g out as gay at age 24, Jordan Wilkson said he enuntered many men that he scribed as "discreet tradi", who still believed that they uldn't "show their face".

GAY GOLD COAST

“The last thg we wanted was for to bee somethg other than a gay bar. Chuck Renslow, a pneer Chigo’s gay muny who was known worldwi, died Thursday at age 87. Renslow ran many bs the gay muny for more than five s, om bars and diss to bookstor and newspapers.

He opened Gold Coast bar the late 1950s, when gay bars were unrground and patrons risked arrt or vlence.

Gold Coast, like many gay tablishments at the time, payed the Chigo mafia, or “the syndite” as was often lled, to prevent police raids. Workg wh the Democratic Mache, Renslow long lobbied for gay and lbian rights. ‘” But Renslow remaed active polics and helped lobby for a gay a lbian civil rights ordance the Cy Council durg the early ’70s, which he nsired one of his greatt achievements for the lol LGBTQ muny.

GOLD COAST GAY MAP

Renslow owned Chigo’s olst gay bathhoe, Man’s Country, Anrsonville. Together wh Tom of Fland, Etienne is nsired one of the two great masters of gayleather art. The Meatpackers eventually me to be known as the StripperBOYZ and ntued to dance at Man' shows were every Friday and Saturday nights and featured several of our SEXatnal StripperBOYZwh regular appearanc by the big nam XXX Gay Vios.

Our gay and lbian bars have a ltle b of somethg for everyone, wh late-night loung, dance clubs, burlque and drag shows, and long-standg neighborhood waterg hol almost every rner of the cy. And each wh their own unique history and out some of the bt gay bars and clubs to experience Chigo’s LGBTQ+ nightlife scene.

Jeffery PubOne of the cy’s olst gay bars, Jeffery Pub is a neighborhood stutn.