Gay and Lesbian-Friendly Suburbs in Sydney

Gay and Lesbian-Friendly Suburbs in Sydney

Rainbow Ribbon

Data from the Australian Census reveals that same-sex couples are most likely to live in Sydney’s inner city, within a strip of suburbs known as the Rainbow Ribbon. Sydney is a generally safe city to visit and queer visitors are no exception, although everyone should keep their wits about them on a night out.

Potts Point

Gone are the days Darlinghurst held the crown as Sydney’s queer capital. While the Oxford Street strip still hosts Sydney’s annual Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade, a few suburbs over to the east of the CDB, you’ll find the beating heart of the city’s Lesbian & Gay culture in Potts Point. Suburbs with the highest proportion of female same-sex couples were a little more dispersed.

Gay-friendly neighborhoods

Sydney’s most gay-friendly neighborhoods stretch from upscale harbourside suburbs Potts Point and Elizabeth Bay, through Darlinghurst and Surry Hills. Then Redfern and Chippendale on the doorstep of the CBD, out to Newtown and Marrickville in the gentrified inner-west, postcodes that are particularly popular with female same-sex couples.

The statistics

The 10 Australian suburbs with the largest proportion of male same-sex couples living together are all clustered within a few kilometers of Sydney’s Central Station. Topping the list was Darlinghurst, where almost one in five couples living together are men in same-sex relationships, followed by Elizabeth Bay, Surry Hills, Potts Point, and Redfern.

Newtown/Erskineville area

The Newtown/Erskineville area in Sydney’s Inner West is home to the majority of the nation’s female same-sex couples. In fact, if you were to take in the neighboring suburbs of St Peters and Enmore, you’d account for a whopping 22.4 percent of female same-sex couples as a percentage of Australia’s capital cities. Its famous terraces and pocket bars also account for 11 percent of male same-sex couples.

East side Sydney what’s to explore?