The SSO A-Z guide to queer Sydney

U is for:

Urine There’s nothing quite like the relief one feels after emptying one’s bladder of urine. Some people find it really quite enjoyable. Some also like to drink their own wee -“ quite good for the immune system, apparently.

Some also get quite a bit of a thrill out of weeing on themselves, on someone else or having someone wee on them. That flush of warmth down the leg (or other body part) can really be quite comforting -¦ so we’ve heard.

Weeing on someone or being weed on is commonly known as water sports, golden showers or urophilia. If you believe everything you read on Gaydar (and why wouldn’t you?) a lot of gay men in Sydney are quite fond of it. Local sex-on-premises venue Headquarters holds regular Piss Pigs’ Piss Parties for those who like the yellow sprinkle.

But are golden showers safe? According to Wikipedia, being weed on by a healthy person is quite okay as their urine will be sterile. So choose your wee-buddies wisely.

University For so many gay students, university means more than greater academic freedom and dirt-cheap uni bar drinks. In a time-honoured tradition, queer students take advantage of the more liberated campus environment to explore their sexuality -“ then tell the world they’re gay.

Invariably, many then sign up to campus pressure groups. After all, university is the natural habitat of the earnest activist, a persistent type who is a pest for authorities but a blessing for the community press.

Colourful by themselves, student activists come into their own in packs, and have handed the Star some of its best stories over the years. The arrest of three queer student protesters at a sit-in at Wollongong University a couple of years back made headlines, as did a pro-civil unions march in Canberra featuring uni activists earlier this month.

But the juiciest copy often comes when campus radicals turn on each other, as a Star cover story last July showed. When some organisers of a national relationships rally withdrew citing a lack of consensus, their former student allies hit back with claims they were stonewalled. It did little for solidarity, but -“ yet again -“ the students got their name in print.