![fairfield gay sex club fairfield gay sex club](https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-HR749_NONTAR_P_20150401152012.jpg)
Ms Mudford says the combination of government policy, community activism and the support of employers had created an environment that differed to other places in Australia. "Even though what's happening up the road at Parliament House and around the country more broadly can be very divisive, Canberra itself is truly a great place to be."
![fairfield gay sex club fairfield gay sex club](https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/member/e/3/5/2/member_248638194.jpeg)
"It's a very hopeful time to be LGBTQI in Canberra," she said. Isabel Mudford, who chairs the ACT's LGBTQI+ ministerial advisory council. The 26-year-old believes LGBTQI people are attracted to the ACT at least partly because of the Government's widely publicised attempts to promote equality. "So if a job opportunity or some other life event gave you a choice about where to live, and an opportunity was in Canberra, then LGBTI people would have a sense that that wouldn't be a problem, it would in fact be a positive."Ĭanberra native Isabel Mudford came out in her home city and is now in a same-sex relationship. Mr Barr also says "word of mouth" is at work: people who move to Canberra increasingly spread the message that the city is safe and accepting. "If you go to the other end of the spectrum, areas that tend to have the greatest degree of intolerance - be that to LGBTI people or people who are in any way different from the majority - the greatest problems tend to be in areas with lower education." There is a very strong correlation between education levels, and tolerance, inclusion and willingness to embrace difference," he said. On the broader question of why Canberra attracts so many same-sex couples, Mr Barr has two answers.įirst, the ACT has the country's most-educated residents, by some margin. Same-sex couples by cityĪndrew Barr (right) and his partner Anthony Toms as the marriage survey results are announced in 2017. This leads to very conservative estimates of the same-sex-attracted population, but it does allow some comparisons. We know this because, although the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) doesn't ask Australians about their sexual orientation, it uses their answers to other census questions to work out whether they live with a partner of the same sex. The odds are even higher for lesbians: the proportion of lesbian couples in the ACT (relative to all couples) is 65 per cent higher than the nationwide average. ACT couples are 50 per cent more likely to be same-sex couples than couples elsewhere in the country. When naming the world's great "rainbow cities", New York, San Francisco and Rio de Janeiro come to mind.Īnd of course Sydney, home of the annual Mardi Gras, which began as a protest and has become one of the planet's great open parties.īut statistically speaking, Canberra is Australia's real gay and lesbian capital - yes, normcore Canberra, with its politicians and suited bureaucrats.Īnd not just by a little.