Not. Happening.

Last week, while teching at one of the LGBTQ events I was informed by a student that she and her girlfriend had encountered an instance of homophobia from the bouncers at Gatecrasher, at one of the “Loaded” nights – supported, promoted and essentially run by the Guild.

This kind of thing has happened before (in Gatecrasher; two friends of mine – lesbians in a committed relationship – told off for kissing and warned that they would be thrown out if they continued. In that instance, myself and Kitten became rather concerned, but I was personally asked not to follow it up. Those involved believed it was an isolated incident.

In this latest instance, well, it was pretty much the same thing. Although it was quite obvious that straight couples kissing was perfectly acceptable. The two obvious concerns here are:

  1. The bouncers are actively engaging in homophobia; whether or not it is sanctioned by the management remains in question.
  2. This is an ongoing problem, as evidenced by multiple occurances.

Since raising this with our members and committee at a recent LGBTQ coffee afternoon, people have since raised more instances of homophobia occuring at Urban Village, Risa and more instances at Gatecrasher. I’m deeply disturbed that these events are not being reported to myself, the LGBTQ or the Guild; no one has to take this lying down. That’s kind of the point of LGBTQ representation.

Don’t accept it as a fact of life

Due to personal events occuring over the past week I have been unable to follow this up. If the student who brought this up could get in touch with me and provide some sort of statement, that would be awesome :)

I also urge any students who encounter homophobia, biphobia or transphobia in clubs to report it to me (m.ward@guild.bham.ac.uk); it’s one of the reasons I’m here. Any information you give will be treated with the utmost confidence and no names need be given.