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Interrogating The Politics Of Gay/Lesbian Belonging In An Australian Country Town: A Case Study Of Daylesford, Victoria, And Local Responses To The Chillout Festival, Andrew Gorman-Murray, Gordon Waitt, Christopher Gibson

Chris Gibson

This paper examines the nature of gasy/lesbian belonging in Daylesford, an Australian country town, contributing to work on both gay/lesbian rural geographies and the politics of belonging. Daylesford hosts ChillOut, Australia's largest rural gay/lesbian festival, thus providing an apt lens for investigating gay/lesbian belonging in rural Australia. The festival, per se, is not analyzed, but instead local responses to ChillOut are interrogated below, particularly certain outcomes and debates following the 2006 festival. This paper begins with a discussion of the notions of belonging and the politics of belonging, and how these relate to gay/lesbian lives. This is followed by …