Two students were forced to leave a bar last weekend – for being GAY.
The couple were asked to leave cocktail retreat Bora Bora for kissing.
The couple, who wish to remain unnamed, were bullied for being ‘sexualised’ and were pushed to leave the bar.
The manager targeted the duo saying “he doesn’t want to bar homosexuals.”
But when he came back and was further questioned, the boss admitted, “It’s sexualised when two people of the same sex kiss, not romantic.”
One student said he was “furious and intimidated” with the incident.
He said: “I would never have expected something like this to happen in a bar in York. I was left feeling victimised
and angry.
“What concerns me is that the owner genuinely believed his views were acceptable and was in his right to impose them on us.”
A witness told Vision she was “sick to the bone” with the manager and claimed there were “lots of other couples
kissing”.
She said: “The boys I met were not doing anything outrageous in the slightest.
“They were being victimised due to their sexuality. The manager openly admitted that if it had been myself [sic] kissing a guy, there would have been no issue. I found this disgusting and I was extremely angry.”
Another witness also added: “I was with a female gay friend, yet when I asked whether I would get thrown out for kissing her, the manager said no.”
Bora Bora’s manager was unable to comment when contacted by Vision.
‘Scared’
But it’s not the first time the bar has come under fire, with other students claiming the venue victimised them on the basis of their sexual preference.
A student claimed that he was forced to leave after briefly kissing his boyfriend.
He said: “It was not a particularly passionate kiss and we were dancing with a group of straight friends, but we were told to stop, as ‘we don’t allow things like that in this place, stop now.’”
But the hell seemed to continue with one third year student claiming she experienced sexual harassment by staff members.
She said: “The bartender who served me a cocktail at Bora Bora was lascivious and creepy, making untoward remarks about my appearance.
If this is okay and two guys kissing isn’t, I don’t want to spend any more time in Bora Bora.”
One second year gay student is scared the incident in Bora Bora is not a one-off, and shows a problem with York’s entire nightlife.
He said: “I was appalled by the views expressed by the owner and dread the idea of being cautious of my actions every time I’m on a night out, in case I’m threatened again. Needless to say I won’t be going back.”
Just over half of students have experienced homophobia
The news follows a string of students crying out with similar cases in York.
York Vision conducted a survey confirming that just over half of LGBTQ students surveyed had experienced some sort of homophobia or sexual harassment when enjoying a night out at York.
One anonymous student told Vision: “I think York’s nightlife needs a bit of a wakeup call. Students have to understand that they shouldn’t be putting up with this blatant discrimination and these double standards.”
Students at a number of YUSU Club nights experienced harassment, at venues including Club Salvation and Kuda Night Club.
One student said: “I was ‘getting off’ with this guy and a girl was pointing at us, giving us dirty looks and muttering stuff to her boyfriend about us being disgusting.”
Another told Vision: “I was in Kuda and I had to break up a fight between some friends and a group of men. One guy called me a “fat dyke” for the pleasure.”
It seems incidents ranged further afield, with one student claiming: “I got gay-bashed outside Efe’s because some douche called me ‘qu*er’ and I started antagonising him. It did not end well.” Another student stated that they receive a lot of “slurs like “f*gg*t” on nights out.
The climate of homophobia has triggered a number of outcries from student reps across the uni. The Students’ Union LGBTQ Officer, Maddie Boden, urged students to avoid unfriendly bars. She stressed “the importance of feeling safe while in bars and clubs in York.”
She added: “If you feel harassed or threatened because of your sexuality or gender identity, call the police. No matter how big or small the incident is, it is still a hate crime.”
YUSU Welfare and Community Officer, George Offer, said: “All incidences of homophobia on campus or in the city are unacceptable and will be taken very seriously by North Yorkshire Police who are tough on hate crime.
“If you ever experience homophobia on a night out, you can report it directly to the Council, or through Yorkshire MESMAC, who can provide support and guidance through the process.”
YUSU President Kallum Taylor added: “This is obviously a cause for concern. We absolutely will not tolerate it and expect our partners to be in line with that.”
Tara Annison, Goodricke College Chair, also condemned Bora Bora: “I can’t believe that! What a backward establishment!
“It’s disgusting; we’re in the 21st Century now. People are free to love who they want; gender, race or religion should no longer be boundaries!”
Annison also confirmed that the possibility of a kiss-in “would be amazing!”: “I’m going to go in there with all my female friends and we’ll start getting off and see what they say!”
She added: “We’re spearheading the Goodricke Access campaign to help improve disabled access into clubs, so I don’t see why we can’t make clubs accessible to everyone in terms of love.”
‘It’s absolutely disgraceful’
But it’s not only students that are getting involved. Tokyo Manager Adele Lord told Vision: “These people shouldn’t be allowed in our venues: it’s absolutely disgraceful.”
Lord also reminded students that there was a direct link to her if customers wanted to report an incident.
“Obviously the best thing to do is to come and say it straight away, and try and find out who they are.”
“Even if they don’t feel comfortable to come and speak to me on the night when I’m there, just email me and let me know about it straight away so I can deal with it and get descriptions of people.”
She added: “We do operate via York Pubwatch, a scheme across the city, and we meet at least once every other month. People we don’t want in our pubs and clubs for whatever reason – for violence or hate crime or aggression toward our staff – we take those in to the Pubwatch and it votes on whether to bar those people from our venues, and in fact… if someone acted like that in Revolution we’d ban them in the whole city. It’s very important that it’s brought to our attention.”
If anybody has suffered from a similar incident, students are reminded to contact North Yorkshire Police and report any acts of harassment as a hate crime on 999. You can also use the YUSU ‘call it in’ service by emailing [email protected].
I will raise this tomorrow evening at our officers meeting. Do you have a named contact for further discussion ?
David Lewis
Co-chair, York LGBT Forum
Same thing happened to me in Bora Bora earlier this year almost identical situation – I emailed to complain, nothing ever came of it!
It’s an established pattern. Two men kissing is disgusting, unnatural and shouldn’t be allowed in public; two girls kissing (if they’re attractive) is ‘hot’.
With regards to Bora Bora, I think you have got it all wrong! I frequently visit this bar with gay friends and my brother who is gay and we have never experienced any homophobic attitudes! In fact the opposite, Bora Bora with their fun choice of music and laid back attitudes promote freedom. I know the manager and staff there and believe their ‘views’ have been distorted in this article! It saddens me that this incident has occurred but I think it is unfair to brand someone’s business with generalisations like this!
@ K sounds awfully like something like a shill would say. BURN THE SHILL. BURRRN THE SHILLL.
@K
I was there on the night – and for once actually Vision haven’t conveyed the gravity of how shocking what happened that was. Half the bar walked out over the incident, the attitude of the owner was ridiculous. They may have a laid back attitude, but only towards heterosexual couples. I have been in there with gay friends before and the staring and sneering of staff has made them uncomfortable. This place needs to finally be held to account for how it makes its clientele feel – if not for fairness and human decency, but for good business!
Ha.. Clearly written by someone at Bora Bora
I wonder what would happen if a interracial couple went in their? Any white women out there want to help me experiment?
there* sorry it has been a long day
Absolute rubbish. The people at this bar are not homophobic or intimidating in the slightest. It is a small bar that has to uphold certain rules to keep the place pleasant for everybody, and it achieves this. It seems getting asked to behave in the way the car expects ALL it’s customers to act has upset a certain few who rather than accept their part, are going to try and give a nice place to hang out in York a bad name.
bar * not car
This article highlights how far we still have to go to achieve equality and safe spaces for everyone and whilst I wouldn’t wish to discourage victims from reporting crimes to the police, 999 must only be used in emergencies and in the case of dangerous crimes happening at that very moment. I would urge the author to edit this article to include the 101 non-emergency police number which can be used instead of 999 after a crime has occurred or if it does not require an immediate response from the emergency services. I understand there will be incidents that require the emergency number but I feel strongly that the 101 should be promoted and utilised when possible to allow the 999 line to be free for the most serious and urgent incidents.
@K
First of all, “In fact the opposite, Bora Bora with their fun choice of music and laid back attitudes promote freedom.” : Asides from the fact that this phrase sounds just like an advertising slogan, you honestly think that because the bar plays ‘fun’ music that this therefore goes to show that it is anti-homophobic? That alone is a generalisation and sign of ignorance.
Furthermore, you say, “I know the manager and staff there and believe their ‘views’ have been distorted in this article!” – Even if that was the case, still you can’t deny that two gay men were literally thrown out of the bar, explicitly because they were kissing. No matter how the staff’s views were ‘distorted,’ this act alone is ridiculous and goes to show Bora Bora’s unwelcoming atmosphere. It certainly won’t be a place I will be visiting.
Hi Folks
The LGBT Forum have taken the actions of these establishments very seriously, and will be discussing it this evening at our Exec Meeting. We would then be hoping to work with the Leaders of both YUSU & Goodricke College. No Student should have to be humiliated or discriminated against like this. There are laws in place to protect them, Human Rights Act & Equality Act being just two of them.
If any Student would like to discuss any issue with us, then please drop us an email. Your details will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Thanks
Edwina Sykes Co Chair
http://homophobic.co.uk/?p=1111
We have your article on our website ;-)
@EC Not sure what you mean by your comment… or if you’ve actually read the article. The article specifically says that there were other (can guess hetrosexual) couples kissing in the bar but they weren’t asked thrown out… the entire point of the article is that this couple were victimised because they were gay men
What does this Tara Annison person have to do with this? Is she even queer?
@K
You basically sound like a PR guy for Bora Bora.
@Disgruntled She has absolutely nothing to do with it, but any publicity is good publicity when you’re running a year-long campaign for YUSU Prez.
Tara Annison and co, speaking as a gay female student at UoY, I can assure you that I actually find your ‘kiss in’ idea offensive.
My sexuality is fetishised and belittled as part of a ‘flexible spectrum of female sexuality’ enough as it is, I don’t need straight girls rushing to my defense in a faux display of solidarity.
If you want to support your fellow women students who are queer, speak to us. Read up about appropriation and about how detrimental the ‘straight girls kissing in bar’ stereotype is. I cannot count the amount of times I have been in a bar and had my relationships with girlfriends undermined because I am ‘obviously straight’ and ‘just putting it on for the lads’ and/or trying to avoid a romantic encounter with a man.
If you are an ally to lgbt+ liberation, please explore what being an ally entails, I can assure you it does not entail leading a campaign or a movement for equality, it means recognising your own privilege and standing behind lgbt+ people and our movement.
Please, Tara and co, read some Butler, listen to Staceyann Chin, even Andrea Gibson, check out some queer blogs- then come back and understand that you and your female friends having a kissing protest in our name is actually more detrimental than useful.
@Perturbed Lesbian, you pretty much just said exactly how I feel in reaction to Tara Annison’s comments. I would also like to add that kissing someone of the same sex or gender isn’t a statement or part of one of Annison’s campaigns.
@K, you can’t just silence people’s real life experiences like that. If several people say they feel discriminated against, intimidated and upset you can’t just tell them they’re wrong and assume you know better. You’re trivialising people’s real experiences.
@GA, I disagree with you about the use of the emergency services number. Being a victim of homophobia can be very intimidating and scary, and you don’t always know if it could turn violent. If you call 999, the emergency they will decide what priority to give the incident, not you. Telling people they shouldn’t call 999 when they don’t feel safe could make the problem worse and make people feel very isolated.
@RM I extend my sincere apologies to you that my post has made you feel I undermined the seriousness of homophobic crimes. I was trying to advertise the availability of another number (which is also able to immediately assess the seriousness and dispatch emergency services where appropriate!) which people may wish to use say, the morning after the crime took place or any other time after an incident that victims feel able to. I would like to assure you, and other people who read my comment and felt isolated, that I was in no way trying to disregard other people’s experiences and I was only wishing to promote the range of numbers available and their different purposes.
York does still have some way to go. Can I encourage all students (LGBTQ and allies) who feel strongly about wanting the city to be a safe space for all LGBTQ people, to get involved in York Pride. It is taking place on 21st June this year – deliberately arranged to fall in term time. There will be a parade through the centre of York setting off from the Minster around midday (if the same as last year), and walking to the Little Knavesmire, where there is an all-afternoon festival. http://www.yorkpride.org.uk/
Prof Dave Smith, Chemistry.
Thank goodness somebody still stands up against this surge of homosexual propaganda – it is the owners right to ask anyone he does not want on his premises to leave. It doesn’t matter if the reason is politically correct or not.
Actually, Conservative, it is against the law to refuse to provide services to people purely on the grounds of their sexuality – the owner has no right to discriminate. You can refuse to serve people based on their behaviour, but only if you can demonstrate that the ‘standards of behaviour’ you demand are non-discriminatory.
As for a ‘homosexual propaganda’, I doubt that you would describe an article about racism in York as ‘black propaganda’, so it is equally inappropriate to use that kind of language here.
We can all stop discussing the issue when LGBTQ people in York are not scared to walk down the street hand-in-hand, kiss in public or mention to their employer/supervisor that they are gay without danger of abuse or assault. We are not there yet – even with all the progress that has been made.
It is not “homophobia”, but HETEROPHILIA that prevails, not just in York but on the entire planet. It has been ever thus since billions of years of evolution led to the dichotomy of the two genders.
Homosexuals are the only group on the planet who define themselves by a practice that leads to biological self-extinction. The heterosexual (heterophile) community has a HUMAN RIGHT to have an opinion about homosexuals, irrespective if that opinion is not in agreement with the ‘gay-supremacist’ agenda.
Well Mike, I guess we can argue the toss about whether the heterosexual population of planet Earth are pursuing a selfish agenda of overpopulation, famine, water shortages and self-extinction; but the real issue here is your objection to LGBT people asserting theirrights to human dignity, self respect and non discrimination. If that is ‘heterophobia’then I guess that makes me ‘heterophobic. Which is strange, because some of my best friends are straight…