Cairns loses sole gay venue
Cairns’ only LGBT venue has suddenly and permanently ceased business after ongoing licensing issues, leaving many community groups in the area without a meeting place.
Out Front Bar closed temporarily last August, but reopened in November after resolving the licensing issues that led to its temporary closure.
A spokeswoman for the accompanying backpacker hostel that makes up the venue told the Star Observer new management was starting next week and the bar was likely to be closed for three months before reopening. She said there was no word on whether it would still be targeted at the LGBT community.
Out Front Bar’s website was abruptly taken down shortly after news of its closure.
It’s been a short life for the bar which transformed into a new venue catering for the LGBT community just over a year ago. There had been questions about whether Cairns could sustain such an establishment with its population after failed attempts to open a similarly targeted venue, Sapphire Bar, which closed in 2009.
There was also plenty of controversy during its brief life. A local transgender woman allegedly deliberately crashed her car into the venue, destroying a veranda pole and injuring a woman on the footpath.
Cairns gay and lesbian business networking group, Fruitloops, which held its monthly meetings at the bar, cancelled this month’s event and is looking for a new home.
Organiser Molly Quick said she’d been told the bar had been in receivership for some time.
“It’s very sad to lose the venue, but we’ll find somewhere new to have the meetings,” she said.
INFO: For more information on Fruitloops, visit www.fruitloops.net.au
