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Church anger at nod to gay men's sex club

22/02/2008 4:00:07 AM


The lessee of a former Wollongong church site received approval this week to operate as a gay men's cruise club.

The Men's Social Club on Victoria St has been given Wollongong City Council consent to operate as a "sex on premises establishment", but does not allow for the club to provide paid sex services.

Four letters were lodged with the council objecting to the development application, including a petition of 39 signatures from the Seventh Day Adventist Church, which is located on the same street about one block west.

The church members said the club was "an inappropriate facility as the activity to take place on the site could have a detrimental effect upon children and young people in the vicinity".

Residents also believed the location of the club in the former Gateway City Church building was inappropriate, would cause parking congestion in the area and that the type of business would attract "violent crime, bashings, drug related crimes, prostitution and rape..."

But the operator, Merrylands based Men's Club Pty Ltd, owned by Allan Denis, said that typical patrons of this style of club "do not identify as 'gay', and as such prefer discretion ... it is highly unlikely that any patrons would loiter outside the premises ... the premises would house an entirely internal and discreet activity".

The club originally came to the attention of the council early last year because it was operating without development consent. After inspections by Wollongong Police and the Fire Brigade the lessee was told by the council to cease operating. An application was submitted to the council in June to use the premises as a "commercial health recreation and social centre".

David Underhill and Martin Anstee, the directors of Wollongong finance company PLC Money, part-own the building.

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Comments


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I would expect the church to have far more tolerant and compassionate views in the 21st century towards people's freedom of lifestyle choices.


Posted by Chris on 23/02/2008 7:07:28 AM
Church members should videotape people as they enter and leave, it would not be long untill it was deserted.
Posted by Cherokee on 23/02/2008 1:02:19 PM
I live on Victoria Street. I have no objection to the men's club operating there. In my experience, it's the pubs and clubs in Wollongong that are more likely to attract anti-social and criminal behaviour, because of the habit of some men to get drunk and behave like aggressive thugs.

The Seventh Day Adventist church should tend to itself and not seek to interfere in the ordinary conduct of a lawful secular business. "Violent crime, bashings, drug related crimes, prostitution and rape" - these all remind me of certain qualified Old Testament endorsements supposedly made by, or on behalf of "the Creator".

Thankfully, most rational people do not subscribe to an infallible belief in scripture.

Posted by Brendan of Wollongong NSW on 23/02/2008 9:22:02 PM
Oh for God's sake, the church needs to grow up! Homosexuals are just as much a part of our society as the religious...they need to work together and get over each other's differences.
Posted by Blair on 25/02/2008 12:19:55 AM
As a gay man I am totally appalled by such a proposal!

The club is unlikely to bring rape, bashings or the like, but it will further cast an already shameful view of the gay community.

I have lived in and around Wollongong for most of my life and I do not oppose gay clubs because they give the gay community somewhere to be proud, safe, and comfortable in a social sense. However the club that is being mentioned in this article is not one of those places, and such filthy places should not be permitted for the benefit of any decent ordinary gay man.

Uncouth behaviour that takes places in places like the one being proposed is just another nail in our acceptance into the community.


Posted by Andrew on 26/02/2008 1:16:56 AM
Brendan of Wollongong,

You display either your ignorance or your naivety, I'm not sure which.

This proposed ''men's club'' isn't merely a place for homosexuals to meet and socialise: eg have a coffee, read a book, have lunch, go dancing, etc.

Religion has nothing to do with it, either.

Many people who live and work and study in Wollongong would object to this filth if they knew what will be, and has been, going on inside that building.

The common name for such a ''business'' amongst the ''homosexual commmunity'' is: sluthut.

That's unbridled sex orgies by dozens of men all night and all day long.

That's hundreds and hundreds of sex tourists coming to visit and live here in our city.

The Seventh Day Adventist Church has a right and a duyt to protest against this business and to protect the people of Wollongong from an influx of hundreds of the most unsavoury sexual perverts.

The wonder is that more of Wollongong's allegedly community-oriented organisations have not also lodged formal objections to this business.


Posted by Summerfield on 26/02/2008 10:28:31 PM
So if a Church tries to open up one block from my "Commercial Health Recreation and Social centre" I should complain about the upstanding moralistic behavior that might negatively impact my clients? And then try to stop them from operating?

Oh the outrage....

Posted by Yeahright on 1/03/2008 11:07:48 PM

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These premises in Victora St will reopen as a gay men's social club. Picture: WAYNE VENABLES
These premises in Victora St will reopen as a gay men's social club. Picture: WAYNE VENABLES

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