Woman and girlfriend turned away from LGBT+ club Heaven because they ‘don’t look queer’
Olivia opened up about her experience at Heaven nightclub on TikTok. (TikTok/0livia.olivia)
A woman has claimed that she and her girlfriend were turned away from London’s Heaven nightclub because they “didn’t look queer”.
The woman, called Olivia, said in a TikTok video that she and her girlfriend decided to go to the popular queer venue to mark London Pride after official celebrations were called off due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, Olivia claimed she, her girlfriend and two of their queer friends were told they should go “somewhere not associated with the gay community” by bouncers at Heaven nightclub.
In a TikTok video filmed on her way home from the nightclub, Olivia said: “If you’re a queer woman who doesn’t look like a queer woman, don’t bother going to Heaven, because I just got turned away on the grounds that I should go somewhere that’s ‘not associated with the gay community.'”
Queer woman says Heaven nightclub is just for gay men
She added: “On Pride, I got turned away when I was with my girlfriend and my friends, who are a couple, so that happened to me today.
“Just don’t bother going to Heaven unless you’re a gay man. That’s basically it.”
Olivia has since made the video private after it attracted significant attention – with many people weighing in to share similar experiences.
In a statement, a Heaven spokesperson told MyLondon that their security team “got it wrong” on the night.
“To clarify, the security on the front for Heaven are LGBT themselves,” the spokesperson said.
“[With] Saturday night being cancelled, Pride was extremely busy – and [on] busy nights we do have a stricter door [policy] and prioritise regular customers to Heaven.
“It was insanely busy with the queue to get in remaining until 3.30am,” they added.
Heaven said it is working to hire new security staff and clarified that two women have recently been offered jobs at the venue as bouncers.
The spokesperson said they hope the incoming security team “will hopefully be able to help run the team and deal with the issues”.
