Melbourne is an inclusive and diverse city, and the LGBTQIA+ community here has a long history of visibility, engagement and activism. Most venues and social scenes across Melbourne are welcoming and tolerant. While there's no particular neighbourhood that forms a hub for LGBTQIA+ folk, it's fair to say South Yarra, Windsor, St Kilda and Fitzroy offer plenty of queer-friendly entertainment.
The Victorian Pride Centre
The Victorian Pride Centre provides a central home for LGBTQIA+ organisations and resources, including a branch of beloved queer bookshop Hares & Hyenas under its umbrella, as well as the Pride Gallery, a visual arts program displaying art by LGBTQIA+ artists and work that focuses on LGBTQIA+ issues.
The Victorian Pride Centre, Victoria
On top of bookshops, community resources and vibrant art spaces, the hub also hosts a number of community events, ranging from their Sunday Sizzle sessions on the first Sunday of each month (grab a snag on the roof or peruse LGBTQIA+ goodies at the Gay Stuff Markets downstairs), to regular health and wellness events like yoga, or bigger special functions.
Keep the good times rolling and tale a stroll down St Kilda's Jackson Street, which was painted as a Rainbow Road in celebration of marriage equality after same-sex union was legalised in 2017.
Annual events
Key events on the LGBTQIA+ calendar are the Midsumma Festival and the annual Pride March in February, which bring the queer community and its allies out to celebrate with much joy and spectacle. Held over 22 days each summer, the festival is centred around mainstream queer culture and includes up to 200 events taking place in Melbourne and across Victoria.
Midsumma 2022. Photo: Tan McCulloch
Each year the long-standing Melbourne Queer Film Festival hosts a top program for movie buffs in the city, while ChillOut Festival in Daylesford is four days of performances, music, theatre, drag and food over the Labour Day long weekend.
Key hangouts
Chill out at Beers for Queers nights at the Fox Hotel in Collingwood, and mingle at the Prince Public Bar in St Kilda, which first embraced Melbourne's gay and lesbian scene in 1937.
Keep up with Sundaylicious, a lesbian-specific party that pops up at various venues. Queer women can shake it out at Tomboy at the Carlton Club in the city, and 'Thursgay' Thursday-night queer parties at Yah Yah's in Fitzroy.
Sircuit in Fitzroy and The Laird in Abbotsford are the stalwarts for both cis and trans same-sex-attracted men. Look for gay-friendly Sunday sessions at The Railway Hotel in Windsor and The Emerson in South Yarra, and nights out at gay-specific nightclub The Peel in Collingwood.
Pop into Pride of Our Footscray Community Bar for friendly drag bingo and comedy shows, The 86 in Fitzroy for cocktails and burlesque, and South Yarra's Poof Doof for high-energy tunes and dance-floor action.
Poof Doof, South Yarra
