THE SSO A-Z GUIDE TO QUEER SYDNEY

K IS FOR

Katoomba It is only two hours up the road, and it holds a special place in the hearts of so many in our city. Katoomba is the biggest town of the Blue Mountains and remains the focal point of the entire World Heritage-listed national park area, particularly for the way that camp old trio, The Three Sisters, sit there in all their glory, being adored by millions of visitors every year.

Katoomba in its heyday was a spa town refuge from the hectic pace of the city, and it still maintains that role today as the perfect romantic weekend getaway with a new love. Across the Queen’s Birthday long weekend it’s the scene for some very high-camp partying as hundreds of queers kick up their heels at the annual Three Sisters social group festivities.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Katoomba became a particularly important place for many people living with HIV/AIDS as they opted for a quieter, cleaner mountain life away from the city in order to improve their health. As a result, a vibrant gay and lesbian community emerged over the past decades, with many choosing to stay there rather than return to the big smoke.

And one of the best things about Katoomba is that it is only one suburb away from Leura, with its scones, hot chocolates, high teas and the high camp of Bygone Beauties Antiques shop, complete with its 4,600 teapots.

Kebabs It’s four in the morning, you’ve just stepped out of a smoky and seedy gay bar, and you’ve got a craving you wish you could quit. Your stomach is calling you to the Yeeros joint for its own brand of hot beef injection.

Gaggles of gay boys can be seen loitering at all hours of the morning at the local ethnic fast food eatery, waiting as much for their kebab as for the opportunity for one last perve before going home. Many an attempted hook-up has been ruined by a quick stop for a bite that instead resulted in one partner wearing the stomach contents of the other, with food poisoning probably not the only cause.

The drunken stumble towards this unhealthiest of early-morning snacks has become ingrained in our culture largely because no other food outlet could afford to stay open until gay bars close -“ and they remain open largely because nobody else but drunken revellers could eat that food.

This symbiotic display of minority groups supporting each other shows how multiculturalism has triumphed in the gay havens of Oxford Street and Newtown, all on the back of the humble kebab.