GAYinWA is Western Australia's most popular web site for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans Western Australians.
Launched in October 2006, we have quickly grown to have more than 14,000 unique readers, who visit our site regularly.
GAYinWA is put together by some of our community's most experienced journalists and community workers.
Our Mission
To build a stronger community for lesbian, gay, bisexual
and trans Western Australians, by providing support to local community
groups and businesses and providing a high quality and independent news
service.
Our Vision
To provide every lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans Western Australian with the information they need to get the support they need and live fulfilling and exciting lives... without having to leave Perth.
Giving Back to Our Community
GAYinWA believes that businesses should give something back and has
developed an innovative way of working with our local lesbian, gay,
bisexual and trans community groups to stage events and provide funding
for their activities.
The GAYinWA model involves us taking on the risk of staging
fundraising events that community groups might not otherwise be able to
stage themselves. We then provide our events management skills and
promote the event to our membership and readership.
This way, everybody wins. The community group gets additional
funding, without the risk of losing money. In addition, our community
gets new events and GAYinWA raises revenue to help us keep delivering
Western Australia' leading LGBT news and events web site.
Here are some of the projects we've been involved with so far.
GlamFest Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (April 2008)
GAYinWA staged the GlamFest Gay & Lesbian Film Festival at Mount
Lawley's Astor Cinemas in April 2008, bringing a great lineup of films
to Perth and raising $1,200 for Gay & Lesbian Community Services
(GLCS) at the same time.
Love All 2008 (March 2008)
GAYinWA worked with Lick Events to stage Love All 2008 at Loton Park
Tennis Club in March 2008, presenting four of Perth's best DJs to a fun
loving crowd and raising $1,000 for Australia's only dedicated gay and
lesbian tennis club.
Freedom Centre Pride Parade Float (October 2007)
GAYinWA sponsored the Freedom Center float in the 2007 Pride Parade,
providing funding of $300 to help Perth's gay and lesbian youth drop in
center build their float. We also provided them with a driver for
their truck.
The 2008 Pride Parade may have been among the smallest, and certainly
the fastest in Pride's 19 years, but it remains a relevant and
important event according to this year's convenor, Charles Denham.
Gay favourite Rachel Berger is among the headliners this year as the Wild West Comedy Fest returns
to Perth for 26 days of hilarity and hijinks. Other Australian comedy
stars on the bill include Bob Franklin, Tom Gleeson, Fiona O’Loughlin
and Scared Little Weird
Guys.
Rebuilding trust was the key to the success of this year's Pride events
according to festival convenor, Kieran Bycroft. While some events did
less well than expected, many attracted good crowds and some film and
theatre sessions were sold out.
African-American and Latino voters were a powerful force in electing Barack Obama and also in passing Proposition 8 to ban same-sex marriage. Exit polls
showed 70 percent of black voters, and a majority of Latino
voters, voted yes to the ban. More here.
Three US states ban marriage
Three US states passed amendments banning same-sex marriage in the historic vote that also saw the election of the nation's first black president. Voters in California, Arizona and Florida approved proposals to outlaw same-sex
marriage. More here (free registration retired)and here.
California's marriage war rages on
Having failed to save same-sex marriage, GLBT Californians are taking their fight to court. City attorneys from San Francisco, Los Angeles and Santa Clara will seek to invalidate Proposition 8 on the grounds that it conflicts with the equal
protection pillars of the state Constitution. More here, here, here and here.
Caught with their pants down in Malaysia
Malaysian police raided four gay "parties" on the weekend and arrested some 70 people after finding DVDs, gay magazines, lubricants and boxes of condom. A small reminder to be cautious in Malaysia and Singapore, where the aptly named Straits Times gleefully prints your photo. Details here.
Burning in hell on Earth
God Hates Fags! posters have become one of the symbols of the great divide in America. Now the son of
vile and crazy Rev Fred Phelps speaks out for the first time about the violent abuse he
suffered at the hands of his father. Read it here, along with
the response from his delightful sister, Shirley.
Circumcision HIV benefits in doubt
US analysis of data on 53,567 men who have sex with other men has
found that circumcision is ineffective in reducing HIV rates.
African trials have shown circumcision cuts the likelihood of male to female HIV transmission by up to 60 per cent. More here and here.
Only gay in the village proud but sad
Australian Olympic gold medalist, Matthew Mitcham, is proud but also sad to have been the only gay in the village at Beijing. The champion diver says his decision to come out before the games was a vital part of the gold medal performance that denied China a clean sweep. More here.
Lover cooked and served with herbs
A plague of gay cannibals threatens to overrun the planet, with the latest outbreak reported in Leeds, where a former Mr Gay UK is on trial for killing a former lover and attempting to eat part of his thigh. Anthony Morley, 36, is accused of murdering Damian Oldfield and cooking parts of his flesh. More here.
Big HIV rise among China's gay men
HIV infections have increased alarmingly among gay and bisexual men in parts of
China according to new data. There were an estimated 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases in China as of
October 2007, up 8 percent from 2006. Cases among gay and bisexual men jumped to 3.3 percent in 2007 from 0.4 percent in 2005. More here.
Dancing in a circle with your friends, it's quickly becoming the
perfect night out. However amid the fifth round of drinks and
renditions of I Kissed a Girl, you can't help but feel a rift over the
dance floor.
From the Pride theatre and film seasons through to the Great Gay &
Lesbian Debate, Parade and Party, I thoroughly enjoyed this year's
Pride Festival. View footage from the debate and Parade and read about my festival highlights and the challenges I think Pride faces next year.
In winning today’s Presidential election, Barack Obama has provided the
world with the opportunity for a new beginning and his country with the
opportunity to put the disastrous Bush years behind it.
For some time now it's been popular among members of Generation Y to
declare that something is "so gay" to indicate that it's dumb, silly,
bad, ugly, unattractive, geeky, embarrassing, gaudy or even just plain
dull. That’s so gay. That’s so gay.
That’s so gay. It's the dull that hurts the most.
While I may not be the first person to go out on a limb and declare
that Barack Obama will win this year's Presidential election, I may be
among the first to declare that Sarah Palin will win the Republican
nomination and challenge him in 2012. That is, if she hasn't
bankrupted the Republicans with her wardrobe expenses first.
The global financial meltdown and impending economic Armageddon may
have an unexpected upside. For the first time in half a generation,
there may finally be a pool of people with the time on their
hands necessary to build exciting Parade floats.