The owners behind a new Australian venue have issued an official apology after they said the space – which took its name from lesbian artist Chappell Roan’s song “Pink Pony Club” – would have have a “preferred clientele” of young gay men.
Following backlash from the local and wider LGBTQ+ community the venue, originally named Pink Pony, announced it would rebrand and subsequently changed its Instagram handle to new.name.coming.
Set to open in December in Sydney’s Oxford Street – the historic thoroughfare which is home to many of the city’s LGBTQ+ spaces – the venue’s owners, 80-year-old Kevin Du-Val and manager Michael Lewis, told Gay Sydney News it would “unashamedly be targeted at the boys, pretty much 18 to 35″.
“Of course the girls will be welcome, but it would certainly be our desire that it is predominantly gay boys, and when I say predominantly, I’m sort of talking 90 per cent plus,” Lewis, 57, explained.
“Obviously we’ve got legal hurdles … in terms of how much we can vet the crowd while still complying with the law … but it is our intention for it to be predominantly gay.”
In a since-deleted comment on Instagram, also reported by Gay Sydney News, the venue also added: “Hopefully all gay venues are accepting of the full spectrum of our community, we are just being honest and open about our reason for being and our target demographic and preferred clientele.”
The pair were criticised for naming the venue after a song created by a lesbian artist who – as per their description of “preferred clientele” – would not be welcome if she wanted to visit, with members of the queer community in Sydney blasting the decision as “embarrassing” and “tone deaf”.
Roan’s smash-hit queer anthem was inspired by her experience visiting The Abbey in West Hollywood, a famous and popular queer bar, and led her to pen the affirming lyrics: “And I heard that there’s a special place/ Where boys and girls can all be queens every single day”.
She has previously spoken about how that experience was fundamental in her queer journey and helped her realise “realised I could truly be any way I wanted to be, and no one would bat an eye”.
On Thursday (17 October) Du-Val and Lewis took to Instagram to “sincerely apologise for any hurt or offence [sic]” they caused members of the LGBTQ+ community.
“In our excitement to announce the launch of our new venture, our first thought was to let those in the community we envisioned would be the core clientele know we were building something for them, in hindsight our communication was clumsy and very poorly worded,” the pair said in the statement.
“Clearly the choice of ‘Pink Pony’ as a name was also an error of judgement given Chappell Roan’s well deserved reverence with queer women. Growing up as young gay men dancing to Dancing Queen, we selfishly considered the song another gay anthem completely overlooking the wider implications of using it.
“We can see the issue with using the song name as inspiration for what was expected to be a predominately gay venue. We have taken the time to see from the perspective of others in our community, and see that we appeared arrogant & selfish, for that, we are sorry.”
They went on to say that “all members of our community are welcome at all of our venues” and there was “never was an intention to have a door policy of exclusion targeted at any particular group”.
“In hindsight we can see how our nomination of a preferred mix was tone deaf and hurtful and once again we sincerely apologise,” they added.
“At the end of the day the vibe of venue and the music and those it resonates with will dictate the crowd. Everyone is just looking to find their tribe and a place to belong.
“As announced already we will move forward with not only a new name but also a renewed and broadened perspective and sensitivity towards the views and needs of our wider community.”
The post Australian gay nightclub apologises after backlash for using ‘Pink Pony’ as name appeared first on PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBTQ+ news.