My sisters in the struggle

For the last 5 days I've had one of my oldest gay friends visiting. He moved from Melbourne to London with his doctor boyfriend a year ago, and I haven't seen him since I left Oz. I was super excited to catch up. The first night Marcus arrived we went out for a fancy cocktail and a cheap and cheerful meal (which, by the way, is my idea of the perfect date) after dinner Marcus asked if we could go to a gay bar. I said that was perfectly fine. He wanted to head off to Christopher St (which was once the heart of the gay community) in search of a bar. Its funny, but I soon realised that I haven't been to a gay bar the whole year I've been here, and that not one was coming to mind. Although I have many a gay friend, most of them aren't the type to flock to only boy bars and stay there. Almost every single place I frequent here is a mixed crowd. I was quite surprised with his insistence on going to a boy bar, so off we went, finally settling on the historic Stonewall Inn.
This got me thinking a lot about how different it is here and how much i take it for granted. Marcus and I got to talking about why he only felt comfortable in gay bars. I knew it had nothing to do with picking up (Hes in quite a serious relationship and neither partner is the type to stray) and was genuinely curious. Marcus told me that growing up in Australia, he really only ever felt safe to be himself at gay bars. Whenever he had frequented a 'straight' bar there was almost always some sort of confrontation. He said he often felt quite fearful if he was forced by friends to go to a straight bar, so subsequently made the decision to never to to one again.
NYC on the other hand, is one great big hodge podge. I can honestly say I don't really know any 'straight' bars. Supposedly, after Giulliani cleaned up the drug problem in the city, most of the gay bars and clubs shut down. I think a combination of this and the sheer growth of the population has turned most clubs and bars into a mixed crowd. Even at a gay club I went to on Friday night, the crowd was quite mixed (i.e the group of German tourists in line before us)
Now I know New York, is pretty liberal and sometimes I forget that (I still remember a friend from Australia coming over and being shocked by how many openly affectionate gay couples you see out in the streets) but is Australia still so backward? Thats so upsetting. I guess I've been away so long that I've forgotten what its like back there. I know the rest of the world isn't quite up to NYC pace, but is it still that conservative?