Hi Funksters
Thought I’d give you a bit of an update as to what some of Canberras most fabulous have been up to over the last few weeks.
So after a bit of a hiatus from the Gaycrash crew, we decided it was too long between drinks and organised our 5th Gaycrash last Friday 27 July. As always, our Facebook friends were invited to attend a bar in Civic at an undisclosed location. On the morning of the event, we revealed the location to be the popular UniPub on London Circuit.
Apart from the great venue that has multiple bars, pool tables, dancefloors, bistro and bar food and outdoor seating, we decided upon UniPub as the venue, because we unfortunately had received some feedback from two gay guys who had been there on a weekend previous, out dancing with girlfriends, and reported that after dancing together on the dancefloor and displaying affection toward each other, one of them was asked to leave, with security proffering the dubious excuse that the guys were “drunk and pushing people”. The guys involved are the least likely of all people we know to do either of those things.
We thought it would be great to show the venue how fabulous queer customers can be, how much fun we can bring to their venue (and how much money we can put behind the bar) So from 6pm, as the after work crowd at UniPub were beginning to thin out, over the next few hours, more and more of the fabulous Gaycrash crew began to arrive.
We ordered drinks, we checked in on Facebook, caught up with our friends and made new ones. We ordered more drinks, the lesbians dominated the pool tables, the gay boys hit the dancefloor, we ordered more food, more drinks, and generally just had a great night.
Big thanks to the staff who gave us lots of smiles and laughs, and of course the DJ who picked up on the more fabulous crowd, and dropped some classic “gay anthems” like It’s Raining Men, YMCA, as well as plenty of Madonna and Lady Gaga. Apologies for the guys making out on the dancefloor, and all the same sex PDA’s (public displays of affection). Well, actually not really.
For those of you who aren’t gay, bi sexual, transexual, intersex or just generally queer, you may not understand how and why we do what we do. It’s the old cliche about walking a mile in someone elses shoes. For example: If you are heterosexual, male or female, you can date pretty much whoever you want, express your love, attraction, and affection for them in almost any way, time, place or circumstance. Brushing an eyelash off your beloveds face, holding hands down the street, or sharing a goodbye kiss on the cheek- none of these things raise an eyebrow.
For those of us who are not heterosexual, or do not conform to visual gender stereotypes- (even for those of us who are out and proud), very often, we cannot do this. Every moment we have to be aware of our surroundings, what we are doing, how this can be interpreted, whether or not we will be vulnerable to harassment, violence, discrimination or harm.
To be honest, it gets pretty exhausting, and anecdotally we can say that it surely contributes to the increased rates of mental health problems that GLBTIQ people experience. Although Gaycrash is essentially “making comment” on these things, more importantly, we are doing it a relaxed and friendly way. We are showing that at the end of the day, apart from the gender of our choice of partner (or our gender identity) we just want to be treated fairly, and have a drink on a Friday night. We also want a place we can feel comfortable in, and although this is rarely a result of the venue or its staff, the fact is there are many place we do not.
So thank you UniPub for your hospitality, thanks DJ for the camp tunes, and the staff for putting up with us crazy kids.
For anyone who wants to say cheers to love and boo to hate, friend us on Facebook and come have a drink at our next fun event on August 31. You don’t have to be queer, you just have to love them. We promise it will be fun ;-)~
Kisses and big gay hugs
The Gaycrash crew
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