Gay Sydney

Contents:

• GAY VILLAGE WALKG TOUR - PLADWELLERS
• REVERG THE GAY VILLAGE: A COMPARATIVE HISTORIL GEOGRAPHY OF URBAN CHANGE AND PLANNG TORONTO AND SYDNEY
• SYDNEY: GAY VILLAGE
• DISVER THE 8 GAY VILLAG OM AROUND THE WORLD
• GAY VILLAGE
• SYDNEY GAY MAP
• GAY SYDNEY · MID-RANGE + BUDGET HOTELS
• SYDNEY GAY PAL BUT SOME ARE ONLY HOMOSEXUAL UPLE THE VILLAGE

GAY VILLAGE WALKG TOUR - PLADWELLERS

PlaDwellers had great selectns for me to get to know the Gayborhood via the walkg tour and to go to the Blue Mountas tour wh a 13-ish hour tour that clud eher the Jenolan Cav or Featherdale Wildlife Park. In dog so, we ntribute to the ongog bat about the nature, characteristics, and implitns of the shiftg fortun of some tradnal gay villag the Global beg by discsg geographil scholarship on the emergence of gay villag the Global North wh an emphasis on ntemporary lerature tailg the perceived “cle” of some longstandg gay villag, cludg those Toronto and Sydney. Throughout, the acronym LGBT (lbian, gay, bisexual, trans) refers to inti grouped together to reflect llective terts and muny as genred and sexual mori, while queer not a ntemporary moment when some dividuals reject a genred and sexual specificy but still posn themselv wh non-normative genr and sexual unrstandgs—a posng reflected recent urban chang.

2 Historil Geographi of Gay Villag: Segregatn and IntegratnA substantial body of scholarship exam the emergence and velopment of gay villag the Global North the perd followg World War II. This rearch highlights the domant role that gay men (maly whe and middle-class) played the velopment and growth of gay villag, ially through their appropriatn of plac for safety and support to their e of the neighborhoods for polil, social, and enomic secury and activism (Castells 1983; Chncey 1994; Doan and Higgs 2011; Gorman-Murray and Wat 2009; Knopp 1990; Lewis 2012; Nash 2006).

Simultaneoly, lbians and queer women also habed urban lotns and neighborhoods and utilized gay village spac, albe distctive and ls visible ways (Adler and Brenner 1992; Nast 2002; Podmore 2001, 2013; Rothenberg 1995; Valente 1993, 1996).

REVERG THE GAY VILLAGE: A COMPARATIVE HISTORIL GEOGRAPHY OF URBAN CHANGE AND PLANNG TORONTO AND SYDNEY

The HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s helped cement villag as hubs of LGBT life, and plac such as Toronto and Sydney they provid re servic cludg hospice re, outreach, health tn, and unselg servic (Ksman 1996; Warner 2002; Willett 2000a; Wotherspoon 1991) the 1980s, gay villag were creasgly ught up broar urban social and enomic procs that saw them rporated, through the neoliberal policy iativ of the entreprenrial cy, to creasgly modified and nsumable urban landsp (Bell and Bnie 2002; Bnie 2000; Bnie and Skeggs 2004; Visser 2008). This amg of a “homonormative polic” has prompted some to argue that we nnot unrstand this to be a universal or monolhic rult and that we need to attend to the “difference, unevenns and geographil specificy” of genred and sexual relatns the gay village and beyond (Brown 2009: 1498) recent scholarship suggts, ntemporary gay villag, cludg those Toronto and Sydney, are experiencg forms of “gayg” wh broar polil, social, and enomic procs at work many Global North ci (Colls 2004; Rutg 2008; Gorman-Murray and Wat 2009; Nash 2013a; Visser 2013).

Part of this procs is the modifitn of gay villag as tourist venu, as well as shoppg and entertament districts, which has attracted a wi variety of nsumers and bs not necsarily intifyg as LGBT. In both Canada and Atralia, legislative and social regnn of LGBT people has rulted their creasg visibily a broad range of lotns beyond the gay village plac unrstood to be “gay iendly.

SYDNEY: GAY VILLAGE

” While many argue this new visibily is only available to certa normatively genred and sexualized gays and lbians, others suggt the spatial chang reflect greater acceptance of sexual and genred difference, as well as a growg social hn across a wi variety of neighborhoods (Ghaziani 2021; Gorman-Murray and Wat 2009; Nash 2013a; Visser 2013).

Neverthels, as scholars argue, while some gays and lbians are able to fully tegrate to the mastream, others ntue to be margalized as “queer, ” that is, as those livg outsi of the homonormative liftyl supported by legislative and social change (Bnie 2004; Ghaziani 2011; see also Duggan 2003; Richardson 2005) lerature also suggts that gay villag are cle bee of creased ter and social media e (Mil 2021), allowg LGBT and queer dividuals to fd other like-md dividuals whout the need for exprsly LGBT and queer spac such as gay villag (Mil 2021; Mowlaboc 2010; Nash and Gorman-Murray 2019a; Usher and Morrison 2010).

The lotns are arguably of ltle tert to newer generatns, who are able to experience a wir variety of lotns, inti, and subjectivi, and who are ls terted, perhaps, subscribg to sentialized gay and lbian inti associated wh gay Toronto and Sydney clu well-tablished gay villag, which over the last thirty years have been fully tegrated to the fabric of each cy’s downtown re. Given that both villag and related events, such as Pri and Mardi Gras, are ed to monstrate their cy’s smopolanism and petivens, mastream terts, cludg lol municipal uncils and LGBT anizatns, are ncerned about the potential fate of their gay neighborhoods.

DISVER THE 8 GAY VILLAG OM AROUND THE WORLD

While is beyond the spe of this chapter to lay out tail the siari between Toronto’s and Sydney’s gay village velopment, we would argue that our own work documents the notably siar polil, enomic, and social histori of the ongog velopment of gay villag Toronto and Sydney (Gorman-Murray and Nash 2014, 2017; Nash and Gorman-Murray 2014; Nash 2006, 2013a). LGBT and queer polil and social activism wh discrete natnal ntexts has been markedly siar but wh varyg and distctive differenc (Tremblay, Paternotte and Johnson 2011) the followg sectns, we nsir their rpective historil geographi through three specific them—post World War II planng polici, the emergence of “cy of neighborhoods” disurs, and the posng of gay villag wh neoliberal procs of modifitn and nsumerism. 3 Historil Geographi of Sexualy TorontoThis sectn exam the tertwed histori of Toronto’s shiftg urban planng polici and the changg fortun of what has bee Toronto’s “tradnal” gay village.

In keepg wh the histori of other North Amerin LGBT neighborhoods, Toronto’s post-war homosexual populatn cltered and around the ls sirable areas, able to live relatively open liv among other margalized groups the Bloor and Church Street district (Egan 1998) the post-World War II perd, Cy of Toronto planng polici were directed largely toward the ner suburbs surroundg the cy of Toronto.

GAY VILLAGE

Toronto’s gays and lbians were unlikely to live the newly velopg suburbs, thereby enuragg many to live and work the downtown re where their proclivi were more likely to be tolerated. Clash wh anti-gay activists, cludg Ana Bryant and lol pastor Ken Campbell, as well as anizg agast police harassment of bathho, fostered further polil activism geared toward fendg homosexual mercial tablishments.

By the end of the 1970s, gay and lbian activists fully regnized the Church and Wellley Street area as a gay neighborhood and lled for s fense, not only by gays and lbians but also by the lol municipal uncil. In 1980, Gee Hislop ran as the first openly gay ndidate for Cy the background, the electn of a Cy of Toronto “reform” uncil 1969 prompted lls to end major urban renewal projects and to protect and prerve ner-cy neighborhoods.

Taken together, the new urban social movements, the velopment of stable ethnic enclav, and the growg gay and lbian rights movement enuraged an unrstandg of the Church and Wellley Street neighborhood as one worth protectg as a legimate polil and social terrory for gays and lbians to participate cy life (Nash 2006). Scholars have documented the important role that gay men and lbians played as early gentrifiers margal lotns Toronto, cludg the impact of gay men the Cabbagetown neighborhood adjacent to the nascent gay village the early 1970s (Bouthillette 1994). 2 Neoliberalism and Toronto’s Gay VillageIn the 1990s, Canadian ci, cludg Toronto, experienced creasg fancial stra as the Ontar provcial and feral ernments began shiftg the sts of welfare and social programs, and astcture repair and management, to lol municipali.

SYDNEY GAY MAP

Cy thori unrstood the importance of “place-makg” creatg a posive cy image, makg them mags for employment, dtry, and the early 2000s, Toronto’s gay village (as wh other gay villag North Ameri, Europe and Atralia) was fully rporated to the fabric of the post-dtrial entreprenrial cy that knted together modified, nsumer-based neighborhoods wh downtown urban liftyl (Bnie and Skeggs 2004; Nash 2013a, b). In a manner siar to other lotns the Global North, the gay village’s rporatn to modified urban landsp is a reflectn part of the aspiratns of some gay men and lbians for cln a neoliberal polics that rults the privilegg of some gay men and lbians who sire to live wh middle class, genr-normative, monogamo upledom—a form of homonormalizatn (Duggan 2003).

Preparg for the events provid the lol LGBT bs muny wh an opportuny to unrtake more long-range planng around the future of the gay village and s role LGBT and queer Church and Wellley Village Bs Improvement Associatn (BIA) was created 2002. The BIA formed a close associatn wh the LGBT muny, and followg the succsful World Pri and PanAm bids, the BIA and LGBT activists, wh the support of Councilor Kristyn Wong-Tam, lnched a planng study to terme the future directn of the gay village. 4 Historil Geographi of Sexualy SydneyWe now discs historil geographi of sexualy Sydney, wh attentn to the emergence, velopment, and cle of the gay village around Oxford Street.

GAY SYDNEY · MID-RANGE + BUDGET HOTELS

In ntrast wh “faial” suburbia, nighttime ner-cy Sydney was imaged as a se of vice and immoraly, bt seen the clubs, prostutn, and crime associated wh the red-light district the ner east suburb of Kg’s Cross (Johnson 2000; Dunn 2011) was such limal ner-cy spac that Sydney’s gay and lbian subcultur emerged, which historians suggt were more ncentrated and visible than other Atralian ci (Wotherspoon 1991). However, the late 1960s brought public homosexual rights claims and murmurgs of social acceptance some liberal quarters, enablg enhanced visibily the name of social and legal change (Willett 2000b). Amidst the mobile, relatnal geographi of the post-war perd, the nfluence of rights, polics, cremental social change, and an cipient geographil anchor provid the material foundatn for a gay village Sydney, centered on Oxford Street, eventually known by that same moniker (Fig.

1 Consolidatn of a Gay Neighborhood: Sydney the 1970s to the 1990sThe nsolidatn of Oxford Street as a gay area occurred quickly, wh actns of the gay muny spired by gay neighborhoods emergg San Francis’s Castro and Los Angel’s Wt Hollywood (Wotherspoon 1991).

SYDNEY GAY PAL BUT SOME ARE ONLY HOMOSEXUAL UPLE THE VILLAGE

Of urse, gay men and lbians had lived the ner cy earlier, given the relatively cheap st of acmodatn the unsirable areas, but the late 1960s saw the begng of ner-cy hog gentrifitn.

Durg the s, gay prs offic proliferated; gay rights groups reloted to the neighborhood; health servic aimed at gay clientele moved (GPs, ntists, unselors, and HIV/AIDS servic); and servic for gay youth (Twenty10) or relig gays (Metropolan Communy Church) were tablished (Rutg 2008) Street’s velopment has entailed succs and failur. Wh gentrifitn, lbians, often wh ls fancial means than gay men, were priced out of the hog market, while servic aimed at lbians and other queer women were siarly affected by creasg mercial rents.

” However, this was also a loss to Oxford Street and s lol sexual and genr diversy, which remas largely associated wh gay nsolidatn of Oxford Street as “gay terrory” also yield distct benefs. The spatial ncentratn of gay merce, anizatns, and rints provid polil strength for securg rights claims—a “ncentrated voice” that impelled NSW anti-discrimatn laws (1982) and the crimalizatn of homosexualy (1984). Parallel wh such chang NSW parliament, a geographil hub for LGBT muny anizatns and learship (and mercial and sex venu, and rints) allowed for a ordated, jot rponse om the state and the gay muny to HIV/AIDS the early 1980s, generatg one of the most effective rpons globally, targetg safer sex msag at the gay muny, keepg fectn rat relatively low (c.