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Since 2009, CLOSET has been throwing parties for the whole rainbow of the queer community.

CLOSET was co-founded by Joshua Mason Browne and Anna Whitelaw who came together with a dream of throwing parties truly for everyone. 

Billed as a night for homosexuals and those who love them, CLOSET was born back in 2009 on a steamy late summer February night. That first night back they imagined a few hundred people would turn up, but instead 1500 people turned up down three flights of stairs and around a city block.

Originally known for their tongue-in-cheek street posters, CLOSET has grown over the last dozen years into an institution in Australia’s queer scene that has seen many of Melbourne’s finest djs grace the decks.

Over the last 12 years, CLOSET have thrown more than 150 parties at dozens of venues across Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart. Among those, CLOSET runs an annual CLOSET NYD party at the Gasometer Hotel, the annual Homo Halloween party and sell-out Dark Homo parties during Dark Mofo in Hobart.

CLOSET also has run the collaborative events Westgay and the Big Gay Brunswick Party, as well as a queer homage to house music Frankie.

In 2019-2020, as part of NGV’s Friday Nights, CLOSET has also programmed the CLOSET Disco Bar at the Keith Haring / Jean Paul Basquiat Crossing Lines exhibition at the NGV International. 

Anna and Mason also founded Gaytimes, Australia’s queer camping music and arts festival, now in its seventh year. Gaytimes 2023 will be held in Gembrook on Friday February 17-19 2023. For more on the annual frolic in the forest, visit gaytimes.com.au