Queens become kings for a day

Sydney Olympics organisers on Thursday refused to back down from using drag queens in the Games closing ceremony winning praise from most commentators and gay groups.

The decision to use between 40 and 200 drag queens, hailed as a breakthrough for gay rights, had set off a storm of protests from church groups and conservative politicians who saw it as an endorsement of a homosexual lifestyle.

Some callers to talk-back radio stations even said they planned to demand refunds for ticket they had bought for the October 1 closing ceremony.

But Games chiefs stuck to their guns, seeing the criticism as only a backlash from right-wing reactionaries.

Asked if the drag queens would be taken out of the ceremony, Games spokesman Milton Cockburn told Reuters: "Absolutely not."

Olympics chief Michael Knight said the drag queens would be part of a segment extolling Australian films and their inclusion should not be seen as a celebration of gay culture.

The drag queens will appear on a float in a celebration of "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", a film which won the 1995 Oscar for best costume design and featured three cross-dressers travelling through the Australian outback by bus.

Federal parliamentarian Bob Katter, a member of Prime Minister John Howard's government, had said drag queen participation would turn Sydney into a "world sleaze capital".

"LA (Los Angeles) has Hollywood, India has the Taj Mahal and Sydney has its drag queens," he said.

But newspaper commentators applauded the drag queens, saying that despite Australia's macho sporting image, cross-dressing was also a part of the nation's art culture.

In an article headlined "Frock Up For Your Country", The Australian pointed out that the country's most internationally acclaimed entertainer was "Dame Edna Everage" who in real life was male Barry Humphries.

The article said Dame Edna, whose character portrays a middle class housewife, had done more to define Australia than the country's top historians.

"So come on SOCG (Games organisers), make the queens kings for a day at the closing ceremony."

Organisers of the 2002 Gay Games in Sydney, a city which already holds the world's largest annual gay parade of up to one million people, said the closing ceremony role for drag queens was a breakthrough for acceptance of homosexuality.

"The inclusion of drag queens in the closing ceremony...demonstrates a general acceptance of gays and lesbians by the wider community," the Gay Games organisers said in a statement.

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