Essay Archives - Star Observer /category/opinion/essay Setting Australia’s LGBTI agenda since 1979 Tue, 20 Jan 2026 05:30:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 /wp-content/uploads/2023/02/starobs.png Essay Archives - Star Observer /category/opinion/essay 32 32 An Ode To The Bookshop Darlinghurst /opinion/an-ode-to-the-bookshop-darlinghurst/240562 /opinion/an-ode-to-the-bookshop-darlinghurst/240562#respond Tue, 20 Jan 2026 05:28:50 +0000 /?p=240562 Long before gay hockey romance dramas were the world’s most popular shows on major streaming services, before queer books were stocked on mainstream shelves, there was The Bookshop Darlinghurst — ...

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IDPWD 2025: On Queer Disabled Visibility & Being Proud To Call Myself Disabled /opinion/idpwd-2025-on-queer-disabled-visibility-being-proud-to-call-myself-disabled/239893 Wed, 03 Dec 2025 01:50:24 +0000 /?p=239893 Every year, International Day of People with Disability lands with a small thud on the LGBTQIA+ calendar — a day we absolutely should be shouting about, but often don’t. We ...

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OPINION: This Bisexual Visibility Day, I Feel Visibility Won’t Save Us /opinion/opinion-this-bisexual-visibility-day-i-feel-visibility-wont-save-us/238862 Tue, 23 Sep 2025 02:19:45 +0000 /?p=238862 Note: This article discusses biphobia, including detailed examples. It also mentions suicidality, domestic, family, and sexual violence, genocide, deaths in custody, and attacks on trans rights. Please read with care.  ...

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Opinion: I’m In Year 12 — This Is What Wear It Purple Day Really Means To Us /news/opinion-im-in-year-12-this-is-what-wear-it-purple-day-really-means-to-us/238303 Thu, 28 Aug 2025 22:43:25 +0000 /?p=238303 Clair is a queer Australian Year 12 student, who has kindly shared with Star Observer what Wear It Purple Day means to her. Slurs adorn bathroom walls. Casual bigotry – ...

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Silence is Complicity: How LGBTQ+ Peak Bodies Are Pandering to Israel’s Pinkwashing /opinion/silence-is-complicity-how-lgbtq-peak-bodies-are-pandering-to-israels-pinkwashing/238157 Thu, 21 Aug 2025 05:39:17 +0000 /?p=238157 By Aisya A. Zaharin, in collaboration with Trans Sisters United and Queer Arabs Australia  Anti-LGBTQ laws in Palestine were imposed by British colonial rule, yet Israel weaponises them to pinkwash ...

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Is Vaping Queer? New Research Provides Insight Into LGBTQ Community’s Higher Rates of Vaping /news/is-vaping-queer-new-research-provides-insight-into-lgbtq-communitys-higher-rates-of-vaping/237022 Tue, 03 Jun 2025 02:45:10 +0000 /?p=237022 Is Vaping Queer? New Research Provides Insight Into LGBTQ Community’s Higher Rates of Vaping is a op-ed by Dr Ruby Grant, a Senior Research Fellow at La Trobe University. The ...

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OPINION: The LGBTQIA+ Community Preaches Love & Acceptance – But Needs More Respect /opinion/opinion-the-lgbtqia-community-preaches-love-acceptance-but-needs-more-respect/236919 Tue, 27 May 2025 05:38:01 +0000 /?p=236919 ‘The LGBTQIA+ Community Preaches Love & Acceptance – But Needs More Respect‘ is an opinion piece written by Robert Ristevski. As a 48-year-old gay man, I feel compelled to share ...

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Getting Bottom Surgery (Or Everything You Need To Know About Buying Your First Penis) /news/getting-bottom-surgery-or-everything-you-need-to-know-about-buying-your-first-penis/236275 Fri, 11 Apr 2025 07:42:07 +0000 /?p=236275 CONTENT NOTE: This article discusses different kinds of gender-affirming genital reconfiguration surgery (colloquially known as bottom surgery) trans men can choose, so describes major medical procedures in depth. When I ...

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Trump & Queensland: Our Trans Youth Need Us To Show Up For Them, Now /opinion/trump-queensland-our-trans-youth-need-us-to-show-up-for-them-now/235197 Thu, 06 Feb 2025 22:15:17 +0000 /?p=235197 ‘Trump & Queensland: Our Trans Youth Need Us To Show Up For Them, Now‘ is an opinion piece by Chloe Sargeant. In the mere weeks (it seems like much longer, ...

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Yes, I’m A Scene Gay, and You Are Too: Confessions From Inside Sydney’s Gay Scene /opinion/yes-im-a-scene-gay-confessions-from-inside-sydney-gay-scene/234871 /opinion/yes-im-a-scene-gay-confessions-from-inside-sydney-gay-scene/234871#comments Thu, 16 Jan 2025 05:43:50 +0000 /?p=234871 ‘Yes, I’m A Scene Gay, and You Are Too: Confessions From Inside Sydney’s Gay Scene’ is a personal essay written by Jacques Nieuwoudt. The theme for the upcoming Sydney Gay ...

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The Ladies League Is Closing, But It Wasn’t A Failure /news/the-ladies-league-is-closing-but-it-wasnt-a-failure/234731 Tue, 07 Jan 2025 04:11:04 +0000 /?p=234731 This week, Australia’s first and only women’s sports bar closed. The Ladies League was open for five months before the Christmas break, and have cancelled their plans to reopen in ...

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Why Is There Barely Any LGBTQ+ Representation In Spotify Wrapped Lists This Year? /news/why-is-there-barely-any-lgbtq-representation-in-spotify-wrapped-lists-this-year/234218 Thu, 05 Dec 2024 22:33:14 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=234218 Spotify Wrapped – the most wonderful time of the year for those who want to look back on what they listened to. For some it’s a day to cringe at ...

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Relationships With Family Can Often Be Complicated When You’re Trans – Here’s Why /opinion/relationships-with-family-can-often-be-complicated-when-youre-trans-heres-why/234116 Fri, 29 Nov 2024 01:07:10 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=234116 ‘Relationships With Family Can Often Be Complicated When You’re Trans – Here’s Why’ is a lived experience opinion piece by Dr Antimony Deor, where they explain a variety of elements ...

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Trans Lives Are Not A Conspiracy – Why Are ‘Transvestigations’ Even A Thing? /opinion/why-are-transvestigations-a-thing/234035 Thu, 28 Nov 2024 06:26:03 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=234035 Over the past year, anti-trans rhetoric has surged in both politics and culture, and the deeply unfortunate phenomenon of ‘transvestigations’ persists. From female athletes like Dakota Davidson and Ilona Maher ...

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As a Baby Queer, Australia’s Under-16 Social Media Ban 100% Would Have Harmed Me /news/as-a-baby-queer-australias-under-16-social-media-ban-100-would-have-harmed-me/234007 Thu, 21 Nov 2024 07:48:28 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=234007 ‘As a Baby Queer, Australia’s Social Media Ban 100% Would Have Harmed Me’ is an opinion piece by Star Observer Managing Editor Chloe Sargeant, about the social media ban for ...

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Life Never Arrived: What It’s Like Going Through Gender Transition When You’re Middle-Aged /news/life-never-arrived-what-its-like-going-through-gender-transition-when-youre-middle-aged/233872 Mon, 18 Nov 2024 04:37:34 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=233872 ‘Life Never Arrived: What It’s Like Going Through Gender Transition When You’re Middle-Aged’ is an opinion piece by Dr. Antimony Deor. When my 36-year-old friend casually called himself middle-aged, I ...

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Banned Book Week And The Dangers Of Censorship /news/banned-book-week-reflecting-on-the-dangers-of-censorship/233111 Fri, 27 Sep 2024 02:55:36 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=233111 This week is Banned Book Week, first celebrated in America in 1982 in response to a surge in calls to ban books in schools, libraries and bookshops. Held annually at ...

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Jacques Nieuwoudt: Gay Male Beauty Standards & Trying to Attain the Unattainable /news/jacques-nieuwoudt-gay-male-beauty-gym-standards/232058 Tue, 16 Jul 2024 06:11:51 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=232058 In this powerful essay, Jacques Nieuwoudt speaks about the unhealthy relationship gay male culture can have with the gym, toxic internalised male beauty standards, and muscle dysmorphia. Nieuwoudt asks if ...

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Exhilaration and Fear: Dennis Altman on the Global Gay Rights Divide /news/exhilaration-fear-dennis-altman-global-gay-rights/231947 Mon, 08 Jul 2024 01:58:48 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=231947 This story, ‘Friday essay: exhilaration and fear – Dennis Altman on the global gay rights divide’, was published via The Conversation AU. by Dennis Altman – Vice Chancellor’s Fellow and ...

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Straight Actors Playing Queer: Are We There Yet? /artsentertainment/straight-actors-playing-queer-are-we-there-yet/231917 /artsentertainment/straight-actors-playing-queer-are-we-there-yet/231917#comments Fri, 05 Jul 2024 04:41:32 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=231917 In a debate that has raged longer than Cher’s career, the LGBTQI+ community have long debated the legitimacy and appropriateness of ‘playing queer’, or straight actors being cast in LGBTQI+ ...

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