THE SSO A-Z GUIDE TO QUEER SYDNEY

Y IS FOR

Y Generation Why, oh why, do I have to get up off the sofa and go to a bar, your typical Gen Y gay might ask, when I could just go online and get a one night stand delivered straight to my door? Defining Generation Y is no easy task -“ all we really know is they aren’t Generation X -“ and that term’s pretty vague in itself. Y-ers are a group deluged with information and saturated with technology who live in a multicultural, diverse world yet put self-image above social acceptance -“ possibly.

So, your typical Gen Y gay might be seen down at the Bank Hotel, wearing Industrie jeans, playing with his iPod, ordering a vodka while hanging out with the mates of all creeds he met on Facebook. The Gen X-er waiting to order a beer next to him, meanwhile, will be shuffling uncomfortably in his Levi’s jeans while looking with scorn at this younger homo who is hanging out not only with girls but, even worse, with straight men as well.

Gen Z, in the meantime, is too young to get into real bars but this doesn’t matter because in Second Life he has built himself a brewery.

Young Liberals Once upon a time the breeding ground for conservative politicians was teeming with gay members -“ though not so many lesbians. They may not all have been out, proud and rainbow flag-wearing, but they were supportive of equality as a keystone of the Liberal Party’s founding principles. They supported lowering the age of consent for gay men. They supported removing discrimination for same-sex de facto couples. They supported anti-homophobia campaigns. Rainbows magically appeared at caucus meetings.

Then in stepped president Alex Hawke stage right, far far right. As if to combat gaydars going off all around him, the decidedly preppy Hawke came out against lowering the homosexual age of consent and re-wrote the NSW branch policy to discuss the heightened concern about the risk of homosexual child abuse. Moderate members quit in protest, followed by ABC’s Lateline airing footage last year of YL members chanting: We’re racist, we’re sexist, we’re homophobic.

Following the tradition of former YL leaders moving on to become key players in Canberra, Hawke won preselection for the Bible belt seat of Mitchell last weekend. Perhaps in Canberra he’ll meet a nice prince, tone down the vitriol, and live happily ever after.