Sydney’s Oxford Street in identity crisis as crowd changes and cost of living bites

WorldPride was supposed to give the city’s LGBTQ epicenter a new lease on life. Instead, it’s suffering an identity crisis

[Australia] WAtoday reports that “Oxford Street is suffering from an identity crisis caused by an influx of heterosexual clubbers creating tension with the queer community, as well as changing nightlife trends and behaviors – especially among Generation Z.”

The story adds that there has been a rise in “homophobic, transphobic and dragphobic” incidents. Many blame patrons of Noir, a straight-oriented nightclub that opened a year ago in the district

“We’re doing everything that we can to try to mitigate these issues that inherently happen when a venue attracts a heterosexual crowd into an LGBTQ dominated precinct,” the owner of Noir states.

Others in the LGBTQ point to costs of going out.

WAtoday adds, “Then there is a more existential question: are nightclubs just out of vogue?”

The rise of violence and hate toward LGBTQ communities. Costs of partying. Clubs as a thing of the past. All are global issues that make this article interesting reading.