Author » Phil Scott
And all that jazz

OK, back to basics. If you’re reading the Star, statistically you’re an unmarried male with a penchant for others like you. Now we’ve established your credentials, let’s talk about men. I ... Read more
Tue June 30th, 2009 - No Comments
The importance of having a little Pride

Gayguy 1: “Pride? I’m gay, but that is only a part of who I am. It’s nothing to be specially proud of, it’s just me.” Gayguy 2: “Pride’s so last century. ... Read more
Tue June 23rd, 2009 - 1 Comment
The show must go on

Monday I have a spare half hour, so I work out the gay:straight:unknown ratio of artists at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. It’s 21:23:23. Wow, cabaret festivals are just like real life. Tuesday One ... Read more
Tue June 16th, 2009 - No Comments
Adelaide diary 1

Thursday I arrive in “the city that always sleeps” to take part in the campest Adelaide Cabaret Festival ever. If the Mardi Gras Festival had this line-up, we’d say: “Isn’t it ... Read more
Tue June 9th, 2009 - 5 Comments
Schools of thought

School has been on my mind lately, due to a couple of stories in the Herald last week. Julia Gillard announced that the results of national literacy and numeracy tests would ... Read more
Tue June 2nd, 2009 - No Comments
Doing the split

Last night a regular reader told me my columns had gotten soft. They used to be more biting, he said. What can I say? My blood pressure became an issue. ... Read more
Tue May 26th, 2009 - No Comments
Adoptation

Last Friday I was invited to take part in a public debate about same-sex adoption rights. As luck would have it, I wasn’t available. Even so, the topic got me ... Read more
Tue May 19th, 2009 - No Comments
Fiscal rectitude

It has been a political week. First, Kevin Rudd announced his promised emissions trading scheme would not start next year after all. It will ease itself in — like an ... Read more
Thu May 14th, 2009 - No Comments
Got the flu yet, Babe?

A new enemy has been identified. Snuffling up to join Asian Birds and Mad Cows are today’s trendsetters, Rotten Swine. Bill Bowtell, one of the main architects of Australia’s swift ... Read more
Tue May 5th, 2009 - 2 Comments

Last week was the 12-month anniversary of Kevin Rudd’s 2020 Summit, and people are asking if anything has come out of all that back-patting and grandstanding. Apparently, nine hundred ideas ... Read more
Tue April 28th, 2009 - 1 Comment
Some couples are more equal than others

What do you think of the cutesy-poo Centrelink ad? The one that shows two identical shots of a pair of toothbrushes in a single glass tumbler, one pic labelled GAY ... Read more
Tue April 21st, 2009 - 4 Comments
Sorry, no offence meant

Offence has been in the news lately. Jerry Lewis, the superannuated comedian, called cricket “a fag’s game” and fags were duly offended. Quite right, too! How dare anyone associate us ... Read more
Tue April 14th, 2009 - 4 Comments
Easter greetings

It’s Easter, and a welcome break for everyone who hasn’t been retrenched. But we should think of it as more than just a long weekend with a chocolate binge. Easter has ... Read more
Wed April 8th, 2009 - 13 Comments
London is camper than Priscilla

Saturday. I’m in the campest restaurant I’ve ever seen: Les Trois Garçons in East London. It’s a refurbished pub, owned by three French queens, and it’s like eating in a ... Read more
Tue March 31st, 2009 - No Comments
Priscilla’s London adventures

Sunday. I head out early, nursing a hangover, to meet a friend for pre-lunch brunch. I wait in a churchyard just off High St, Kensington. The friend doesn’t show. When ... Read more
Wed March 25th, 2009 - No Comments
London diary - Part One

Saturday. I watch seven movies and two docos on the plane. Can’t sleep. But for once jet lag doesn’t ruin my first few days in London. As Tina Turner once ... Read more
Wed March 18th, 2009 - 1 Comment
Sissies and citizens

That compelling cultural collision Ladettes to Ladies has reappeared on the box, with an antipodean twist. In the original series, a slew of East End slags were transported to a ... Read more
Wed March 4th, 2009 - No Comments
Cultre city

You know who I feel sorry for? Jack Brown, a Melbourne entrepreneur who moved to Sydney to take advantage of our new attempt to look cool. Brown has applied to ... Read more
Wed February 25th, 2009 - No Comments
Same same, but how different?

Mardi Gras is in full swing, and the conflicting opinions are out in force. I have read that the institution has a new lease of life, with more young members ... Read more
Wed February 18th, 2009 - 1 Comment
Forget Homebush, let’s go to Mosman

Last week’s rumours of a move to Homebush for the Mardi Gras parade have been put to rest. It was all a mistake! People were misled by the silly coincidence ... Read more
Wed February 11th, 2009 - 3 Comments
If I had my hammers

Writers are always told: write about what you know. So I’m going to write about pianos. Don’t worry, there is a point to this. The piano as we know it has ... Read more
Wed February 4th, 2009 - No Comments
Diary notes from Midsumma

Midsumma all right: it was sweltering! Last week I took me to Melbourne to perform a cabaret show The Twink and the Showgirl at the Butterfly Club in South Melbourne. I ... Read more
Wed January 28th, 2009 - No Comments
The age of reason

In Sydney, following complaints, 20-year-old homophobic graffiti will be removed from Cockatoo Island. I don’t suppose many people saw it, but one fair-minded citizen finally decided to act. A sign ... Read more
Wed January 21st, 2009 - 1 Comment
How we’re killing the reef

I sit here as the new year revs up, sweltering and shirtless in my stifling office, a glass of red wine at my elbow, like Malcolm Lowry or Ernest Hemingway ... Read more
Wed January 14th, 2009 - 1 Comment
Later that same year…

My first six months as a columnist at the Star Observer have been great fun. What a lot there was to cover: the alien invasion known as World Youth Day, ... Read more
Wed December 17th, 2008 - No Comments
GAMMA
GAMMA, a support group for married men who have sex with men, meets in secure confidential and non-sexual surroundings at the ACON building, 9 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills, on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 8pm. There is also a support line, Monday-Friday 6-10 pm, on 9267 4000.
www.gamma.org.auGAY BUSINESS
The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Business Association hosts Lemons With a Twist on the first Friday of each month and Fruits in Suits on the third Thursday of each month, at Slide.
www.sglba.com.auCOME OUT AUSTRALIA
Come Out Australia is a social group for our community, with branches in Canterbury-Bankstown, Epping/ Northern Districts and Penrith. You're invited to "Come Out"; get involved with a branch, event, project, or to start something happening in your area.
www.comeout.org.auQUEERSCREEN
Lovers of gay cinema are encouraged to become a member of Queerscreen, Sydney’s premier gay and lesbian film festival body.
www.queerscreen.com.au
Current Issue
Hope for lock-out rethink

Oxford St publicans have called on the newly-formed Sydney Liquor Task Force to review the 2am lock-out system and come up with more effective measures for handling alcohol-related violence. The state Government, with the City ... Read more
Oxford now with receiver
Oxford Hotel management insists it will be business as usual despite the pub’s holding ... Read more
Same-sex marriage push
The Greens have made good on a promise to introduce a private member’s bill ... Read more
ACON’s three-year vision
ACON CEO Stevie Clayton has declared a drop in HIV rates as a key ... Read more
Back on the trax
DJ Rob will be back at Bears Den Night Flinders Hotel on Friday, July ... Read more
They could get away with murder
With a name like KillaQueenz, one would naturally assume Kween G and Belizean Bombshell ... Read more





