Olympics to feature drag queens

Australiam drag queens pose as the Chinese swimming team

Drag queens will take part in the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics, organisers have announced sparking a furious reaction from anti-gay politicians.

Games chief Michael Knight said the drag queens - men who dress up in outlandish dresses and wigs - would be part of a segment celebrating Australian films.

Sydney hosts the world's largest gay parade every year

He insisted their inclusion was not a celebration of gay culture.

However, the announcement set off a massive protest from right-wingers and church groups.

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

And Roman Catholic church spokesman Father Brian Lucas said drag queens did not reflect the values of either Australia or the Olympics.

One irate caller to a radio phone-in said he would get rid of his ticket to the Olympics in protest.

Priscilla

But the homosexual community in Sydney which stages the world's largest gay parade every year were delighted.

Lifestyle drag queens need psychological help, not public attention

David Oldfield, One Nation Party

"This is the first time gays have openly gone on display at an Olympics," drag queen performer Sally (Trevor) Bunney told Reuters news agency.

"This decision has brought people out of the dark ages and it shows that people are getting more tolerant of gay people."

The drag queens will appear wearing original costumes from the hit movie "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert".

The film which tells the story of three cross dressers travelling through the outback in a bus won the 1995 Oscar for best costume design.

Mardi Gras

Ceremony director Ric Birch said the inclusion of drag queens also reflected Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

The gay pride march and street carnival attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators each year.

But David Oldfield, head of Australia's right wing One Nation Party, asked if ceremony organisers were "taking LSD with their cornflakes".

"Lifestyle drag queens need psychological help or perhaps gender re-assignment surgery, not public attention or adulation," he added.

A spokeswoman for the New South Wales Council of Churches said some deeply religious countries might also be offended by the depiction of homsexuality in the closing ceremony.