He might be a staunch ally, taking time out to learn about the discrimination we face and calling out homophobic, biphobic and transphobic language if he witnesses it. We don’t know for certain that Craig turned up uninvited by his LGBT+ friends. This is something I’ve experienced multiple times over the last few years.īut back to Daniel Craig and his foray into queer nightlife. Unfortunately, when we leave these venues, we’re often met with the harsh reality of the outside world.Īccording to VICE, homophobic hate crimes have risen by 210% over the last six years, and transphobic hate crimes by 332%, and a number of recent and very violent examples of this have taken place when queer people have been on their way home from their bars, clubs, and spaces. For so many of us, it’s a huge part of who we are, and our venues are our spaces where we can come together with friends, dance how we want to dance, kiss who we want to kiss and have no care in the world. Nightlife is a pivotal part of queer culture. So Craig’s words feel like an invasion into that space and those feelings. Despite these technically being ‘unsafe’ for me, as I was underage, they were a space I felt truly able to be myself. I’d been exploring and experiencing queer bars and clubs since I was a lot younger and at school. Several times these nights ended in physical altercations, which was around the time I decided I would no longer go to nightlife spaces in which I didn’t feel safe. These experiences continued after I went to university and would go out on bar crawls with my friends, despite the fact I would be as ‘careful’ as possible with what I wore, how I danced and what I ordered at the bar. I still have flashbacks to negative experiences in straight clubs. As a result, he said, he likes to go out to gay bars to find a ‘safe space’ where he can ‘meet girls’ and avoid ‘aggressive’ men. This week, actor and Bond star Daniel Craig also shared his negative experiences of straight clubs. This was not the first or the last time I would experience homophobic abuse, or violence, in straight clubs. Eventually, I went outside to talk to the bouncer, who also laughed in my face and called me a slur. It didn’t take long for the same men, with friends, to ‘accidentally’ start bumping into me on the dancefloor. I darted out the toilets and was suddenly acutely aware of my appearance, how I was moving and everything else around me. ‘He’s gay, I know he’s gay, look at him!’ came a second man, a friend of the first.
I stuttered and, despite having come out recently to friends, family and at school, couldn’t answer. I was in the toilets having just left friends on the dance floor and, at the dryer, was asked ‘are you gay?’įreezing up, I stared around the room like the answer would be written on the wall.
I was 17 the first time I experienced homophobia in a ‘straight club’.