The Pink Social and Academic Scene in Melbourne, Australia

There is much debate and rivalry as to which is really Australia’s premier city: Melbourne or Sydney, and while Melbourne may not have the brash media attention-grabbing Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, it has a large and active lesbian and gay community that flourishes amongst one of the most tolerant social attitudes in the world. This means that in Melbourne the “community” is relatively integrated across various sections of inner city suburbs with less of a clearly defined GLBT “ghetto” then many other cities of similar size.

GLBT Melbourne can be roughly divided into a north side and a south side – of Melbourne’s Yarra River that is. South side life is focused around the suburbs of Prahran and bay side St. Kudla – it is all a little bit of upscale glamour and a great deal of fashion conscious individuals. The north side attracts the bohemian, the alternative, a bit of the leather crowd, university students, and it can also be called Melbourne’s lesbian “heartland.”

The most recent Australian population census (2001) painted a fairly pink picture of Melbourne, reporting that we have a higher proportion of same-sex couples than either Sydney or San Francisco (8.8 per cent of metro. Melbourne couples were same-sex, compared to Sydney with 5.9 per cent and San Francisco with 5.4 per cent.) The state of Victoria (of which Melbourne is the capital) has Australia’s most progressive same-sex laws. The recently enacted Gay Relationships Bill puts Victoria ahead of all other Australian states in recognizing basic human rights of lesbians and gay men. The Act acknowledges lesbian and gay relationships as equal to that of de facto heterosexual couples in terms of property, superannuation, medical decision- making and stamp duty. (There are other issues relevant to GLBT people that are still pending, such as donor insemination, adoption and parenting rights, as well as Federal laws affecting relationship recognition, immigration and social security.)

Like all Australians, GLBT Melbourne embraces summer with our aptly named "Midsumma Festival," a three-week event where lesbians, gay men and their friends organize numerous activities that are inclusive and participatory for the entire community, and is less exclusive than its sister event of Mardi Gras in Sydney.

Melbourne, however, is more than sunshine and gay festivals: our elegant tree-lined boulevards and fine Victorian architecture are set against a backdrop of sweeping skyscrapers and challenging, innovative architectural styles. A perfect partner to this ambiance is art and culture and Melbourne is rich in both, from international stage performances and musicals to theatre in the Royal Botanic Gardens. Melbourne is the centre of Australian fashion, design, multimedia technology and the creative professions where new ideas are embraced and the old ones challenged.

Melbourne is also the intellectual hub of the nation, hosting eight major universities, and is arguably, the core of biotechnology in the southern hemisphere. This creative and innovative edge has lead to a bourgeoning renaissance in the GLBT and wider community - obvious around every corner and in every conversation. Within the academic community, Melbourne’s Monash University’s GLBT community, like that of Melbourne’s, is in a privileged position which allows it a Queer Department, with both Female and Male Queer Officers (and, of course, a committee), and a Queer lounge for students and faculty alike.

The Queer Department hosts weekly Queer Social Collective meetings and Queer Action Collective meetings which themselves facilitate a range of political and social events, including a Queer Week on campus. We would be keen to host any SIG member, their partner, friends and students at Monash and show them our celebrated city, so let me know if you/they are coming our way:greg.slatcher@monint.monash.edu.au

Additional GLBT Resources for Melbourne

Midsumma Festival: www.midsumma.org.au

Monash University’s Queer Department: http://msa.monash.edu.au/representation/queer.htm

Melbourne Architecture and Style: www.labyrinth.net.au/~lerma/