Star Observer

Just under a week ago, Sydney’s sluttiest queer halloween party, Halloween Wh*res, announced it would give this year a miss. Just a few days later, its opulent, high-budget rival, GAYM Entertainment’s very own Horrorween, made a similar announcement. With Sydney’s two biggest queer halloween events no longer running, some gays are now wondering if there’s much left to do this spooky season. Well, as it turns out, there’s plenty. First up, we have POOF DOOF’s Halloqween Ball.

One Nation’s Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce have distanced themselves from the party’s failed Western Australian candidate, Parminder Singh. It comes after Singh, who had been number three on One Nation WA’s Legislative Council ticket in the 2025 state election, made a number of homophobic comments in an interview with Perth comedian Jasky Singh (AKA “Mr Sikkant”).

National Science Week, Australia’s huge annual festival celebrating all things science and technology, kicks off on Saturday, August 15, and the event line-up couldn’t be gayer. Last year, 3 million people participated in more than 2,500 events and activities across the country, and this year is slated to be bigger and better for the queers. There’ll be unvarnished sex-ed performances, gay spy sagas, and even drawing workshops by a non-binary scientist turned comic artist.

Brisbane’s iconic Big Gay Day has been postponed until 2027, with organisers saying the increasingly complicated — and expensive — reality of staging a major outdoor event meant this year’s party simply couldn’t be delivered the way it deserved. Event organiser Harry K said it wasn’t an easy call to make. “Sometimes the hardest decision is the right decision,” he told Star Observer.

A Tasmanian LGBTQ+ inclusion program has just gone national, allowing tourism businesses across Australia to become “Rainbow Ready” certified. Businesses accredited via the pioneering program will attain formal recognition of their commitment to fostering queer-friendly environments where all participants feel respected, valued, and welcome. The program builds off of the Rainbow Tasmania Tourism Accreditation, an initiative led by the Tourism Industry Council Tasmania (TICT) in 2013.

For another four days, visitors to Westfield Parramatta can take a free look at non-binary artist Bonnie Huang’s (they/them) tribute to queer westies: Bonnie Huang: Dare to Dream. The installation, developed in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) and ACON’s project, is a video, text, and sculptural shrine to the LGBTQ+ residents of Western Sydney.

The producers of Heated Rivalry have confirmed that Justice Smith (Pokémon Detective Pikachu) and Charlie Gillespie (One Night Only) will join the cast of Season 2. While many are excited to see these steamy actors bring to life yet another fiery hockey romance from Rachel Reid‘s Game Changers books, others are criticising the move, citing diversity concerns. Gillespie is slated to play Troy Barrett, a standoffish and reckless forward on the Ottawa Centaurs.

Victoria Police have made five additional arrests relating to attacks on men via dating/social media apps, bringing the state’s total count to 47. It comes after a slew of violent assaults and robberies in 2025, wherein fake profiles were used on apps like Grindr to lure gay men to locations where they were subject to homophobic attacks. Continuing the alarming trend seen in earlier investigations, all the alleged perpetrators in Victoria’s latest arrests are 18-years-old or younger.

Sydney’s most iconic, sexy, and delightfully queer Halloween party, Halloween Wh*res, is taking a break this year. 4the.love, the events team behind the fervently loved costume party, took to Instagram over the weekend to announce the news, citing NSW Police’s upon Oxford Street as among the deciding factors. “We’ve made the difficult (and slightly chilling) call to pause Halloween Wh*res for 2026,” the post read.

The NSW Police have been forced to properly investigate the alleged misconduct that occurred during a sniffer dog drug raid of several of Sydney’s LGBTQ+ venues during Pride month. The investigation will seek to determine whether the police overstepped on 13 June, as is alleged by numerous which describe individuals being shoved and forced to strip in public.