The SSO A-Z guide to queer Sydney
Z is for:
Zetland At a time when the inner west has been done to death, thank God for Zetland. This one suburb is leading the charge to make the inner south the new glamour area of town to live in.
Once something of a forgettable industrial strip that you raced through on the way to somewhere much better, Zetland has had a touch of the fabulous, and now the funky and fashionable are moving in.
It is also where real estate agents will tell you that a third of all new apartments are being sold to gay and lesbian home buyers. Adding to Zetland’s charge of being the city’s favourite new must live-in suburb is the Zetland Hotel, which has undergone a marvel of a makeover and emerged as a place where soap stars and musical theatre talents now rub shoulders with tables of gays and lesbian couples enjoying a night out.
Even Sydney’s favourite gay sporting team, the Convicts, is getting in on the Zetland act, now having training days at the Waterloo Park Oval. With the smart apartment developments, new caf? not to mention designer clothing at bargain prices at the endless array of fashion clearance centres, why would anyone want to live anywhere other than Zetland?
Zippers They are so much more than a handy fashion device. Many in our community have a zipper-related story to tell -“ and it sometimes involves more than just clothing.
Take drag queens. Which showgirl hasn’t prayed for Velcro while battling with a dodgy zipper between production numbers? Then there are the mischievous fashion designers who make zippers that draw attention to the crotch and win a whole new gay following in the process.
But the most memorable zipper experiences occur outside the public domain. Anyone fond of a quickie knows how quickly passions cool once a zipper stops cooperating.
And just about every man knows the agony of a zipper connecting with more than it’s meant to. Pity the person who has suffered this indignity in the company of trade -“ only the look on his partner’s face is more painful.
