Endangered territory, endangered identity: Oxford Street and the dissipation of gay life

Oxford Street in inner-city Sydney has been associated with gay identity, community and life since the early 1970s. In recent years, however, the street has declined as a gay precinct. This has engendered considerable anxiety among sections of the gay community, especially those activists and constituents with a substantial emotional investment in the idea of gay community and territory. These concerns have been especially acute around the issue of anti-gay violence on Oxford Street. The loss of gay space and the threat of violence are evocative concerns for they speak to the current dissipation of established patterns of gay life.