Gay bars surfers paradise

Nelson Baker as Natasha St James. Photo: Jess at Key Witness. Source: Jess at Key Witness media.

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Natasha St James, a Gold Coast drag surfer, is leaning into the unshaven face of a man in his mids. He's wearing work boots and a navy singlet; she's wearing a long faux-fur coat and plastic stilettos. The man grins incredulously into his beer. For six nights of the week, you'd be hard pressed to find a drag queen within walking distance of The Avenue.

Surprisingly, The Avenue is not a gay bar. More often, it plays host to a steady stream of buck's nights, sport viewing events, and rowdy nights out - the stuff Surfers Paradise is infamous for. The razor sharp year-old has been a fixture of the Gold Coast queer nightlife for six years, back when the bar had two gay bars to choose from.

Those venues were The Meeting Place MPsthe longest standing, and Escape, which soon established itself as the place to be on a Friday or Saturday night. Baker getting up close and personal while hosting his monthly drag bingo event. It's all over the shop. We have no base, there's no home for the community. With the community withdrawing to online spaces, there has been a re-emergence of "noughties-era discretion and internalised homophobia".

They don't feel comfortable. They're all straight-acting and discreet. But here, everyone vocalises their problem with it. I get followed after gigs, heckled by strangers. Baker at his Southport home. Source: Samuel Leighton-Dore. He adds: "The Gold Coast hinges itself on Surfers Paradise, but it gay let itself find an identity beyond that.