Throwback: When the Olympic Torch came to Sydney’s Oxford St
Image: Sydney Star Observer: Thursday, September 21, 2000 (Issue 526)
Sydney Star Observer; Thursday, September 21, 2000 (Issue 526)
EVEN if sport generally goes under your radar, in 2000 the chances of being caught up in the excitement around the Sydney Olympics would’ve been very high. The city’s LGBTI community certainly made the most of it, swamping Oxford St on the day the Olympic Torch made its way through the city, arriving at midday to celebrate and see the passing of the flame.
Barry Manilow’s Copacabana was played from the awnings of the Oxford Hotel as a tribute to the 81-year-old Olympian torchbearer, Lola Hardinge-Irma. Behind her, a glittering troupe of drag queens swept in with their own torch relay.
It was a festive and camp celebration, and as the torch reached its final destination at Sydney Town Hall, lesbian poet Dorothy Porter recited her poem Torch Song.
The Sydney Star Observer is what the Star Observer was known as in 2000.
**This article was first published in the November edition of the Star Observer, which is available to read in digital flip-book format. To obtain a physical copy, click here to find out where you can grab one in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra and select regional/coastal areas.
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PREVIOUS ‘THROWBACK’ STORIES:
WHEN PATRICK BROOKES WAS CROWNED MR LEATHER AUSTRALIA
SYDNEY STAR OBSERVER, FRIDAY JUNE 26, 1987
A HIGHLIGHT IN NSW’S DECRIMINALISATION OF HOMOSEXUALITY CAMPAIGN
ONE YEAR SINCE NEW ZEALAND ENACTED GAY MARRIAGE
AUSTRALIA MARKS GAY PRIDE WEEK
LAST BUT NOT LEAST: WHEN TASMANIA DECRIMINALISED HOMOSEXUALITY
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