Articles
Dale Woodbridge-Brown is a queer Kamilaroi man from Mungindi, trained in acrobatics, flying trapeze, baton twirling, and dance. He joined Circus Oz in 2012, and is the MC for the currently touring Twentysixteen show. A: Being queer, being a Kamilaroi man, do you see your performance, your acrobatics and MCing as a way of giving …
Piper and Alex are fucking onscreen again. I’m lost in thought, wondering how many People of Colour the writers of the show had to ignore to focalise the love of two white women. My Father and I are in the living room of our family home in Virginia. I half-heartedly watch Orange is the New …
HERE WE ARE AGAIN. Here’s a spiney train that shudders on its slippery track. It moves from Sydney, taking me home on its back. Logically, the story of Aboriginal queerness and me begins here, although, more accurately, it started immemorially before I came into the picture. I’m close to running out of life experiences I can …
I have always been fascinated by lactation. By breasts, breastmilk, the art of feeding. As a queer person being raised in a fundamentalist Christian home, I’d gotten used to hiding such bizarre anomalies about myself. But in March 2008, the canopy concealing this unusual prepossession (even from myself), was blown wide open by a person …
An organiser from SlutWalk Melbourne offers 5 guidelines for being the best slut you can be.
Archer Asks: Cash Savage chats to her wife, Amy Middleton, editor of Archer Magazine
Cash Savage is a country-blues musician and a Melbourne institution. Her new album, One of Us, is currently at #1 on the Australian community radio charts. Here, she is interviewed by her wife Amy Middleton, founding editor of Archer Magazine, about her national tour, being a woman in music, politics and married life. Q: Hi …
“MUM, WHAT ARE BUTT-PLUGS FOR?” my 12-year-old son asks at the dinner table. I yelp at the question before admitting I’m curious myself. “Some of those things are huge,” says my 20-year-old stepdaughter, helping herself to another serving of Caesar salad and recounting her recent excursion to a sex-toy shop, to “satisfy her curiosity”. Later, as I clear …
I’LL ADMIT, I can be an impulsive person. That particular personality streak is likely the reason I came out to my parents over Thanksgiving dinner, back in 1998. I was 17, and although it may seem like a bold move to an outsider, for me it was simply a panic-induced, impulsive reveal – “Mom, Dad, I’m bisexual!” …
But I want it! I want it! I want it! He chanted like a prayer, even though his fear of the pain was enormous… The head of Fred’s cock pushed carefully into the sphincter. Slowly, lovingly, tenderly. And still Horst just couldn’t endure it. A wave of feelings swept through his body: fear, shame,anger… Since he couldn’t get a grip …
I needed to give myself a good pep talk before going to a sex store for the first time. I knew that buying my first sex toy wouldn’t be something I’d regret, I just needed to expel the image of what the stereotypical person who went into sex stores looked like. I didn’t feel like …
The following words were read by Asiel Adan Sanchez at a vigil held for the victims of Orlando in Melbourne, Australia this month. The writer kindly shared their words to be published here, including statements in both Spanish and English. My name is Asiel, I’m Mexican, I’m a non-binary person of colour, I’m Latinx I’d like to start by acknowledging the traditional custodians …
This piece is published in honour of the victims of the Orlando massacre in June 2016. In 1978 the San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker designed the LGBTQ rainbow flag, rising to the challenge set by his friend Harvey Milk to come up with a symbol of pride for the gay community. With the help of 30 volunteers, …
Jack* was late. I sat in a plywood booth off to the side of the small bar, worried that the dimly lit atmosphere was too romantic. Would he get the wrong impression? Should I move? I didn’t move. I pretended to write in my notebook, but my eyes were glued to the door. Finally, he …
Choosing to live: Family, sacrifice and domestic violence in a lesbian relationship
Trigger warning: story contains a personal and sometimes graphic recount of family violence. For 24/7 support, please contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800respect.org.au. Alternatively, see QLife for early intervention and counselling support specific to LGBTI people. I remember one night, the final night, I sat on our …
“We know what ‘she’ isn’t. ‘She’ is not a uterus. ‘She’ is not having a child, or being a daughter. ‘She’ is not always paid less, though she is more likely to be. ‘She’ may change her pronouns; perhaps many times.” Welcome to Archer Magazine #6. We’re thrilled to have come this far. Come help us …
On Tuesday, sitting in a room in Parliament House, among community members and advocates, I watched the Premier of Victoria deliver a public apology to men convicted under since-repealed laws criminalising homosexuality. In this state at least, the decriminalisation process ended in the early ‘80s (before I was born) but as the Premier’s speech eloquently acknowledged, …
We set up a photo booth at one of Sydney’s favourite queer nights, Unicorns, to spotlight the diversity of the Harbour City’s nightlife, and the need to keep Sydney free to party. Party-goers were asked how they would describe their sexuality. Check out some of their responses below. Unicorns is a monthly queer event held in …
On International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT), it’s important to consider how the representations of homophobia, biphobia, interphobia and transphobia in our news and fictional media are impacting how we view these issues, and how they affect queer youth. The way we position trans youth in relation to their families paints a …
The first time I tried amyl was not during sex. It was at a music festival west of Melbourne when I was about twenty-one. I’d lost my crew and during the search ran into my mate Dylan. He gave me a beer and dragged me to an experimental stage with a crazy light show and …
Photographer Leila Koren explores people’s relationships with their body hair.
Last week I flew back to Sydney to celebrate Pesach (Passover) with my family. If you think seeing your parents once a year is a lot, try an Orthodox family and at least six major Jewish festivals a year. The seder, which recalls the exodus from Egypt, is a night of experiential storytelling. As someone …
As an architecture student in the late 90s, I imagined an LGBTIQA Cultural Centre on a site next to Docklands Stadium. I was free then to idealise a city where my queer, underground musical and my mainstream sporting worlds merged – and naive enough to associate queer culture with prime real estate and government funding. …