Queering the City: Melbourne

The Sydney vs Melbourne war was rekindled once again in November 2022, when the list of world’s most LGBTQI friendly cities was published.

Melbourne Named Friendliest City For LGBT

In a surprise upset, Melbourne, dethroned Sydney to be named Australia’s most queer friendly city and the fourth most LGBTQI friendly city in the world. 

As the mob on Smith Street in Melbourne’s north moved on to the next new bar, the claws were being sharpened down Oxford Street, Australia’s first and currently only gaybourhood. 

“One of the things Melbourne has done so well is, it stopped worrying about what everyone else was doing and it got itself a mighty fine personality,” says drag performer Dolly Diamond.

“It was tired of living in the shadow of the Opera House and it got itself a mighty fabulous queer friendly personality.”

Dolly first arrived in Melbourne in 2004 from the UK for a show, and soon moved here in 2009. Melbourne responded with love and crowned her ‘Australia’s reigning queen of cabaret’. After a brief two year “hiatus” in the UK, she is back to take her place as one of Melbourne’s iconic entertainers. 

“I think Melbourne is a welcoming city to everyone, it certainly was to me.  The queer community has adapted to the pronoun world pretty quickly as well.  So we don’t get hung up on they/them and there’s certainly a place for everyone in Melbourne, as long as your wardrobe has a suitable amount of black attire to compliment the rainbow,” says Dolly. 

Trans activist Miss Katalyna moved to Naarm from Sydney around 20 years ago. In Sydney, her regular haunt was the trans friendly bar Taxi Club. She initially found it daunting when her friends would go bar hopping to non-queer bars in Naarm.

“I remember seeing this one particular trans person who really stood out. They were on their own at a few bars that we were at and they were having a good time. Everyone was really respectful towards them. That was a real cultural shock for me because in Sydney it was usually the complete opposite. That alone spoke volumes to me about Naarm,” says Katalyna.

‘Communities Supremely Protected and Supported in the Law’

Big 7 Travel website, which prepared the list of queer friendly cities, hailed Melbourne’s  score – a high 98 – on the Equality Index. “LGBTQ+ communities are supremely protected and supported in the law” in the state of Victoria,” the study said. 

Melbourne-based gay author, historian and ‘arch-tivist’ Graham Willett says that over the last 50 years LGBTQI people and their friends have “transformed cities and towns and the entire social, political and cultural life of Australia.”

“Sydney got a head start with its scene in the 1960s because the cops were more corrupt there, willing to tolerate the existence of pubs and clubs in return for brown paper bags full of cash. But as Victoria became more liberal politically, the Liberal Party  enacted, in 1980-81 what was called at the time the most progressive decriminalisation laws in the English-speaking world – with full legal equality and a liberal age of consent laws,” explains Willett. 

Over the past decade, Victoria has issued an apology to the LGBTQI community for past convictions based on laws that criminalised them, banned so-called conversion therapy and enacted laws to protect LGBTQI people from discrimination in religious organisations. 

While queer venues have become more diverse, Katalyna says there is still work to be done to make these spaces inclusive, especially when it comes to those living with a disability, young people with disadvantages and queer people of colour. 

“I see that a lot with First Nations communities and Trans people of colour, especially trans women of colour,” says Katalyna, adding, “Stop using us as tokens and allow us to lead because we have the leadership skills and the qualifications”.

Expansive Queer Neighbourhoods

Queer neighbourhoods in Melbourne are spread out on both sides of the river, though Northside in particular  is currently having one of those glorious rainbow renaissance. A day in Melbourne could start at the two-year-old Victorian Pride Centre in St Kilda and end at the bars on Smith Street. 

“It’s a queer melting pot and Melbourne runs the gamut on ages as well. So many different bars to choose from, each giving you a little of what you fancy. DT’s, The Laird, Pride Of Our Footscray, Rainbow House Club the list goes on,” says Dolly listing her favourite places to hang out. 

But it’s not just the bars and nightclubs. “The list of queer sporting groups is enormous…You can queer swim, badminton, rugby, so many groups I’m not equipped to join,” adds Dolly. 

For Katalyna, her favourite time of the year is the Midsumma Carnival – ‘I love dancing to all the DJs from 5 pm till midnight’ – but is also looking forward to Victoria’s Pride in February 2023. 

The re-branding of Melbourne Pride will see state-wide celebrations culminate in a massive one-day street party in the Northside at Gertrude and Smith Streets. 

“We are in a very queer moment,” says Willet. “Almost all institutions are keen to be seen to be LGBTQI-friendly, even in places that would have been unimaginable even a decade ago, such as the current Serving With Pride exhibition at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne.”