Over the last week or so, you may have noticed that winter has finally arrived.
It’s hard to be a gay in winter – especially if all you think we do is wear spangly hot pants and dance down Oxford Street (note: that’s definitely not all we do). But if you’ve lived in Sydney most of your life, you might be mistaken in thinking the world ends when we hit June: it’s like everyone goes into hibernation. But never fear! There are plenty of things to do when winter strikes.
Deal with it, it’s not that cold
That’s the attitude of some party promoters particularly. With this Sunday June 12 seeing Heaps Gay hit the Factory Theatre (including headliners Collarbones), and Bad Dog at St George Sailing Club, you’d be forgiven for believing it’s summer with all the glittery outfits you can expect to see on the outdoor dancefloor. The trick here is to dance so much you work up a sweat and forget how cold it really is (because really, it’s not that cold).
Nail your winter queer fashion
Harnesses over shirts are a thing, latex exists to keep you warm, as does leather and full body spandex. Brightly coloured, glittery, shiny puffer jackets are fantastic, and once I saw a faux fur pink jacket with built-in fairy lights. Despite it not showing off as much as your skin (sorry twinks), winter fashion still has you covered.
Curl up in bed with a partner (or several) or a sex toy (or several)
The best thing about hook-up apps is the convenience of being able to find someone to have sex with, without having to leave the house – the perfect antidote for the horny guy or gal on a rainy day! If you’re currently not into people, why not try a sex toy instead? Some vibrators are so loud they need to be used under heavy covers in order to muffle the sound (if you don’t want to disturb people), so basically you have to be cosy to get off.
Hit the gym
I know some people hit the gym all year round (who are you?!), but the gym is the perfect place to pick up without needing a dating app or a bar. While I personally haven’t witnessed this, I’ve heard that the showers in Darlinghurst gyms are a great place to be. I guess you can also get fit there, but, meh.
Try a sauna
Again, this is a guy thing I haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing. The severe lack of women-only saunas in this city means a lot of us L, B and (particularly) T folk don’t get to try this one so often. That said, if you’re lucky enough to be able to frequent one, it’s probably going to pretty warm (by definition, really).
Get politically active
With the election coming up, and a whole bunch of shit going down (Safe Schools, Roz Ward getting sacked, Cory Bernardi being Cory Bernardi, the plebiscite), now has never been a better time to start caring. While I’m not exactly sure how this will help get you through the winter, I suppose caring is something you can do in front of a heater, so that’s a win.
Get out of Sydney
Do what I do and head to Europe for their summer. Or what Girlthing did last weekend, and head to Brisbane.
But stay in Sydney at least for this weekend, because there’s plenty on. It’s the Queen’s birthday, after all.
[Main photo courtesy Flickr/L.C. Nøttaasen]
This Week:
This Wednesday June 8, celebrate the launch of the new lesbian night at Newtown Hotel. Called Homo Loco, there’ll be free beer and pizza from 7-8pm, and music from Tol & Smol, Astrix Little, Megan Bones, TCB, Amsen and more.
Then on Thursday June 9, head to the Vic On The Park to see Scabz (the shittest band in Newtown) launch their new single, a homage to the greatest beer of all time, Victoria Bitter. Free entry, and a bunch of lesbians in shorts (or topless, if you’re the drummer) – who wouldn’t?
Also opening on Thursday June 9 is the annual Sydney University Queer Revue at the Seymour Centre. Tickets start at $15, and if it’s anything like last year’s show, expect a bunch of utterly ridiculous, fun and nonsensical gay jokes.
On Friday June 10, head along to Pop Culture, Migration & Revolution, a Vivid Ideas panel at ATYP, featuring a bunch of amazing speakers, performers including Candy Royalle and DJing from Tracksuit Pants and Adonis. Then afterwards, head to Girlthing at the Imperial Hotel to hear the best of 2007-2012, featuring Ben Lucid, Cunningpants, NatNoiz, Astrix Little, Catlyf, Smithers, Alex Pye, Wyldstylez and others.
Then on Sunday June 12, hit up Heaps Gay or Bad Dog, before Pink Bubbleat The Red Rattler, featuring Rohan Willard, Justin Shoulder, Meta Etcetera and more.
