NSW
‘Genuine concerns’: NSW LGBTIQ advocates react to new Premier
New South Wales LGBTIQ advocates have reacted to new state Premier Dominic Perrottet, a staunch conservative Catholic, taking the top job. Perrottet become the 46th Premier of New South Wales on Tuesday after a landslide win of the party room ballot for NSW Liberal leadership. The vote came after the shock resignation of former leader …
Sydney’s big beach rainbow is officially being made permanent
A Sydney council will make Coogee Beach’s giant rainbow walkway permanent but some councillors want community consultation because the installation “is a political statement”. The 47 metre curved walkway was installed at the steps of Coogee’s lower promenade ahead of Mardi Gras season in February this year. Since then, the walkway has become a Instagram-ready …
New true crime podcast investigates Sydney gay hate murders
The true story of how the scenic clifftops at Bondi, Sydney became the epicentre of a series of gay hate murders is the focus of new true crime podcast Bondi Badlands. The podcast investigates the series of violent murders and disappearances in Sydney in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The victims of the crimes …
NSW MPs blast Mark Latham’s ‘dangerous’ anti-trans schools bill
A cross-party group of New South Wales MPs have called on the state Education Minister to reject anti-transgender education legislation from One Nation’s Mark Latham. Mark Latham (above left) introduced the draft Education Legislation Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill last year, causing outrage. Latham wants New South Wales to ban any “promotion” of diverse gender identities …
Hunter Valley man jailed for shooting man with cattle gun during hookup
A man who shot his male lover with a bolt gun during a casual hookup turned terrifying attack in regional New South Wales has been jailed for nine years. Wrists bound, blindfolded and wearing only a dog collar, the 68-year-old victim was shot in the neck with the cattle gun by attacker Stephen Orr (pictured). …
Sydney gay venue ARQ Nightclub goes up for sale
The building housing iconic Sydney gay venue ARQ Nightclub and its neighbours is up for sale for the first time in three decades. Owner Shadd Danesi has owned the inner-city Darlinghurst property for 30 years. He opened ARQ Nightclub in August 1999. In 2019, the nightclub celebrated its 20th anniversary. Last year, ARQ sadly had …
Man charged with murder over 1987 suspected ‘gay hate’ killing
Police have arrested and charged a man with murder for the fatal 1987 bashing of Sydney man Raymond Keam in a cold case breakthrough. A member of the public found Raymond Keam’s body in grass at Alison Park in Randwick on January 13, 1987. A post mortem examination and 1988 coronial inquest found the father-of-four …
Lesbian teacher speaks out after sacking from Christian school
A teacher at a Christian school who came out as gay and was sacked has spoken out as the government prepares a new draft of the controversial Religious Discrimination Bill. Steph Lentz said she began teaching at Covenant Christian School in the Sydney suburb of Belrose in 2017. She said it was her first job out …
Sydney man convicted for attack on Mardi Gras night gets bail
A 29-year-old man who assaulted two teenage girls in March on the night of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is appealing his prison sentence and was granted bail. This week a judge sentenced Double Bay man Jesse Mackenzie (pictured left) to 20 months in prison for his role in the violence in the …
Outrage at church as gay couple driven out for ‘unbiblical’ marriage
Congregants at a regional New South Wales church have rallied to support a gay couple who are leaving the church over a dispute with clergy over their “unbiblical” same-sex marriage. Peter Sanders was the church organist at St Mary’s Anglican Church in West Armidale in northern New South Wales. He and his husband, who is …