“I said, ‘They didn’t let me in because I was a woman.’ They just laughed at me.” Riley and her friends gave up and caught the bus home. Upset, Riley approached two nearby police officers to tell them what had happened. I said, ‘This is really sexist,’ and left.” One of her friends who was present has corroborated the incident. “He pushed the barrier into me and told me to leave.
They didn’t say once, ‘Have you all got membership cards?’ It was just, repeatedly, 'Ladies, have you got membership cards?'”Īs Riley protested against the decision, the male member of door staff accused her of being “mouthy”, she said, as they stood either side of a metal railing. “They said that, yes, he was allowed in and the women were not. “She asked if we had membership cards and we said, ‘No we don’t,’ and she said, ‘Right, you can’t come in.'”īut, said Riley, the door staff did let in their male friend, to whom BuzzFeed News has also spoken to corroborate Riley's version of events. Riley said he accused her of lying and was then approached by another member of door staff. But, said Riley, they were denied access, despite her reminding the security man of his earlier assurances. Riley said she asked a male member of Heaven’s door staff: “Can we all get back in if we come back in half an hour?” Assured they would be allowed in, the group went for food then returned expecting to gain entry. Determined not to let their night be spoiled, they arrived shortly afterwards at the nearby venue, whose regular Friday night event Camp Attack is also run by G-A-Y.īut before going inside the iconic club – which first opened in 1979 and has since hosted performances from countless top-billing pop stars, including Madonna, Lady Gaga, and the Pet Shop Boys – the group of friends decided they wanted to get some food. The doorman then advised the group to go to Heaven instead, she said. Hopeful that they could persuade the other door person at the front of the queue to let them in, the group of friends continued waiting until they were next in line to get in.īut, said Riley, the doorman "was like, ‘You’ve already been told you can’t come in, so why are you still here?’”Īs the bar was not full, said Riley, it was clear to her that because only the women in the group were asked about membership and then denied access it was their sex that prompted the refusal. “We were about halfway to the front,” said Riley, “and one of the security staff – a woman – said to me, ‘Er, ladies, have you got membership cards?’ And we said, ‘No.’ And she replied, ‘Well, you girls can’t come in then.'” The member of staff did not ask the men in the group if they were members, said Riley.
Hannah Riley, a 21-year-old lesbian studying at King's College London, told BuzzFeed News that last Friday evening while out celebrating a gay male friend’s birthday, both the G-A-Y Late bar and the historic Heaven nightclub would not let her or her female friends in.Īt around midnight on 13 May, she said, the group of friends – which comprised two men and four women, most of whom are gay – arrived at G-A-Y Late and began queuing. A British student is calling on gay venues to be more inclusive after two of London’s most famous nightspots refused her entry because she is a woman, she says.