The Sydney Gay Liberation Quire was a group of sixteen men who got together in 1981 to promote gay liberation through music.

This often involved the re-writing of lyrics of traditional songs to turn them into something much more powerful and subversive (such as ‘The Homosexuality Song, sung to the tune of the Mickey Mouse Club anthem). But they also drew upon other, more poignant sources, such as ‘Peat Bog Soldiers’, which is believed to have been sung by inmates of Nazi death camps in either Boermoor or Dachau.

The Quire continued until 1987, giving more than 300 performances in a range of situations from concerts to picket lines and protest rallies. In 1983 they produced an EP of some of their songs: Hormones or Jeans: The Gay Liberation Quire Goes Down on Vinyl.  This included a couple of ‘Christmas’ songs – ‘God Help You Merry Dykes and Poofs’ (to the tune of ‘God Bless You Merry Gentlemen’) and ‘Hark the Herald Fairies Shout’.

The EP can be heard by visiting Red Jo’s Blog Spot here.