THE SSO A-Z guide to queer Sydney
L is for
Little Congwong For a slice of superlative Sydney beauty, La Perouse’s Little Congwong Beach has generated some pretty ugly tension of late.
Naturists want the strip of sand to be Sydney’s next official nudist beach, but claim gay men who come to the area for sex are undermining the campaign. It’s damaging the image of the beach, it’s damaging the naturism movement as such, Gerald Ganglbauer, convenor of naturist group Free Beach Action, told Sydney Star Observer in November.
The simmering has continued over summer on Free Beach Action’s email forum.Many subscribers have said Little Congwong should be open to all, not only sexual predators. But one message sent to forum members this month had a different view. Maybe all this discussion is more about people who are comfortable with gay men and those who are not, the email from a straight man read. I suggest to those who are not that this beach is not for them.
The sniping will continue for some time yet: Randwick City Council voted against making Little Congwong officially clothing-optional late last year, and there are no signs of a policy change.
Lycra Lycra is so hot right now. Not in the embarrassing lycra-shirt-regrettably-worn-to-Mardi-Gras-some-years-ago way, more in the hard-core bulging athletic muscles way.
Venture over to Channel Seven’s coverage of the Torino Winter Olympics for some examples of lycra used for good, instead of evil. There, hundreds of hot eastern Europeans pour themselves into seam-splitting sheath-like suits before throwing themselves down hills at 150 kph; bums out on skis, reclining fiercely on luge, or sashaying around the speed skating rink.
Surely there is no better televisual bridge between the horrors of summer programming and the wonders of winter than a major sporting event with lots of spunks. And if bulging muscles aren’t your thing, there’s plenty of camp. A couple of sessions of figure skating -“ complete with bedazzled shirts and Siegfried and Roy hair -“ should provide enough Broadway-like flair for the most demanding diva.
