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ertarnly, Lachlan Macquar e was responsib e for 657 acr:_of parks and nice shrubberies that define the city's centr.and inner East areas but records don't revea if tite ea.nineteenth century Governor was gay, or whether hts tas._for large decorative hats and colourful breeches s mp

came w th the job, More than 160 years later, however. this area borcere_

by Macquar e's parks has become the p nk neart of what is often crarme,to be the rnost gay city in the world. A big call? We,re talking about a cso entranced by fashlon and rts 'senstive side' that ts two biggest icc .are a bridge known as The Coathanger and an opera house shapeo xe .g ant Danish swan. There's no doubt, though, that Sydney and its malorneterosexual popu ation have benefted from the queer crusade.

A study in the Journal of Urban Economrcs (US) argued that rf you rr"ra.-

to know which cty has the best amentes, just iook at the size of the g.population. The logic was simple. Gay men don,t have chilclren, so rr=have more money to spend on the finer things n fe and tend to congreg:. -rn cities where the living s good - hip locations, nrce weather. dfT rr :entertanment, The hgher the'gay lndex,, the more famlles wth chr c.:.

benef t from a group who pay their taxes, but don't crowcl the schools.sydney's high gay ndex has rifesty e influences that set it aparl f rom ot'=

Aussie cties. There's a sophisticated and varied clubbing culture. wlth sc---venues open daytme or all night. others offerrng mid bondage. Hairdress: -

are used to taking appo ntments after hours, shops are open later and t: .fashion capltal that lnciudes bespoke shoe-makers and lesbrans wrth soec -businesses n custom-made /eathers (you don't want to know what the,, ,

n their spare t me). lt's a food e's paradise where you can order off the r'.:and demand a coffee that has four adjectives ("Make mine a skim organ c : _

decaf macchiato"). There are sorne nterest ng crossovers, too, A former K - - ,

Cross gay haunt, the Ginseng Bathhouse, where baths were segregateo : .

nudrty was required. are havng a makeover and are tpped to re_open

some unisex nude baths as well as clothed baths,

What were once seedy neghbourhoocls have bloomecl under the t:-=.crusade. The inner east used to be a rough area of beer-drinking, mea. .,:eating. brawling wharfies and workrng cass who nao more rn comrnc-Sir Les Patterson than wth the characters in eueer as Folk, And that \.",.i: .:tne y,rcmen Up lnt two decades ago, Klngs Cross was a crme der ..-_ _

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