So it's Saturday morning and G-A-Y's Jeremy Joseph is on Twitter warning One Direction fans that if you're a straight girl, you won't be welcomed and potentially turned away at the One Direction gig he's hosting tonight. Jeremy has been doing this for years and honestly I can understand that he wants to keep a majority gay and lesbian audience at his famous gay club, but to be so vile in taking joy at excluding our straight brothers and sisters from a concert they may not be able to experience elsewhere is just plain wrong.
Jeremy Joseph on Twitter: £3 Wrist Bands for ONE DIRECTION At G-A-Y tonight available at G-A-Y Bar, hoping the name G-A-Y, isn't too Subtle????
It's G-A-Y not Str8
Imagine in 2011 if gays showed up at a concert at the O2, legitimately bought a ticket or wristband and were turned away because of their sexuality – it would be headline making! The fact that he gets to discriminate based on sexuality for so many years is preposterous and I think as a gay community, we've allowed it to go on too long. Why I ask? Jeremy Joseph is lucky enough to have found a niche in the marketplace to make a very nice living from pop and capitilze on the young gay market, but is he really a hero for getting the likes of Britney, Mariah, Kylie and One Direction to play at his gay club?The answer is a huge NO.
These artists are paid to appear and play live and whether it be a gay club or a straight club, the are quite happy to get paid to perform for their fans no matter what the venue. As if Kylie or Lady Gaga would turn away a gay boy or a straight girl from one of their shows – those "straight girls" know where their bread and butter come from!
Jeremy Joseph on Twitter: My birthday wish is for little girls to realise that
G-A-Y is a lesbian & gay club so there's only ONE DIRECTION & that's No Direction 4 them
And who is Jeremy Joseph to decide who is gay or straight? How the fuck does him or his team of buffoons know if anyone is questioning their sexuality? I'm a thirty-five year old gay man and I know that when I was a teen, it was hard enough to fit in, and for me personally I didn't wear my sexuality outwardly on my clothes or appearance in fear of others judging me – I don't think that much has changed in the last twenty years. And I can't begin to tell you how many lesbian women I know who look and act like straight women and that's perfectly acceptable in society.
You want to know the ironic part is… I can't tell you how many straight men I've heard brag over the years that G-A-Y is a great place to meet straight women who are out with their gay friends to have a good night. These straight posers give a wink to the thug on the door and get in with no problem, then once inside you see them creeping up on every straight girl they can find in there because they know, that there is very little chance a gay dude is going to be bothered to try and intervene. I've witnessed this first hand. It's just sickening. It's like a playground for straight men at times, not a "safe" place for young gay men or their female friends to enjoy themselves.
So dear readers, I ask you this – should Jeremy Joseph really be allowed to enforce his gay only policy at G-A-Y? In my eyes, no. We live in a time where we need to be preaching love, acceptance and diversity for all and that includes our straight brothers and sisters. Lord knows if it wasn't for those young girls having the strength, courage and tenacity to help me with my coming out, I would had a tougher time than I did. And all these straight girls ask is that we take them out every once in awhile to have a FABULOUS time at a gay club every so often – it's not asking much.
Jeremy Joseph – it's time to stop being so spiteful and get more creative. I do commend you for being a pioneer in the gay movement and there is a lot you have done for our community, but in 2011 your "gay only" policy at G-A-Y is offensive and quite honestly, I think I can safely say "we" here, demand a bit more open-mind thinking when it comes to you judging who is and who isn't gay enough to go to your nightclub.
If Perez Hilton can change his schtick then so can you Jeremy Joseph. But then again, with reviews like this and this, and no action taken, I think it's safe to say Jeremy Joseph doesn't really give a rat's ass about you as a customer or a gay person.