Semper Floreat is the University of Queensland Union's free & independent student newspaper.
If you’re queer or LGBTQIA+ and pro-Palestinian, chances are you’ve been hit with the phrase ‘you’d be killed for being gay in Palestine’ or something similar. This is an example of pinkwashing. According to DecolonizePalestine, Pinkwashing ‘refers to when a state or organization appeals to LGBTQ+ rights in order to deflect attention from its harmful […]
Continue Reading
Just around the corner from Ipswich train station is an intimate bar that serves as a gallery, workshop, and live music venue, as well as a reminder that intersectional, inclusive spaces can be found everywhere. I’d come to see a punk music show but discovered a beautiful expression of the joy of community. The walls […]
Continue Reading
Completing a PhD is challenging under regular circumstances, but even more so when you’re a trans person hiding who you are. This was part of my motivation for coming out in the past year, a decision I had put off for years because in my home country, serious violations of LGBTQ rights are commonplace, and […]
Continue Reading
When I think of you, I think of the poem ‘Simplify Me When I’m Dead’ by Keith Douglas, specifically the lines, “Thus when in a year collapse particular memories, you may deduce, from the long pain I bore the opinions I held, who was my foe and what I left, even my appearance but incidents […]
Continue Reading
The primary subtractive colours of cyan, magenta, and yellow can be mixed to create all the colours of the rainbow. For our Queer Edition, I’m gifting you birdies proudly displaying these colours. Cyan – Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus) A recently-published study, ‘Personality predicts song complexity in superb fairy-wrens’, reveals that superb fairywrens’ beautiful songs hold […]
Continue Reading
Queer Fest was a massive festival with a ring of 55+ stalls, food trucks, a stage, and plenty of areas to kick back and chill. It was an explosion of queer creativity and community, with all types of creatives represented behind stalls and on stage. Artist stalls were loosely grouped by discipline and this grouping […]
Continue Reading
I The body I call home isn’t mine. Nor was it ever, it was destined to be deemed public property And handled with such disregard for its being Measured solely by its desirability details And the displeasing flaws that draw the eye The strangers eye is one of assessment With it only to judge your […]
Continue Reading
Anxious. Nauseous. Terrified. Do I cancel? Nice pants and a button up. Big black combat boots. My nice underwear; the ones with dinosaurs on them, neon red and black; make my arse look phenomenal. Most realistic packer. Strap-on in the backpack. Just in case. Black eyeliner. A gold chain? No chain. A ring. Or two. […]
Continue Reading
“Butch is masculinity without men, femininity without compromise, and queerness without apology”. If you’ve been in lesbian circles lately, or especially if you’ve tried dating as a lesbian, you’ve probably heard people joke about the “masc shortage”. Well, if we’re facing a masc shortage, then we’re in the midst of an all-out Butch Crisis. But […]
Continue Reading
A long feast of leaves and crawling in the garden. Hands big and curious scoop me up, Into a jar smudged with dirt. I hear fantasies of colourful wings and sunshine. Months of this, I’m so hungry for change. I don’t care if it will hurt. I wrap myself in silk. Dissolving, Reforming, Clawing my […]
Continue Reading