The Beat Megaclub has responded to allegations of LGBTI discrimination.
The club has issued a lengthy response to allegations made against it by a transgender person who claimed he was discriminated against by his treatment and subsequent ejection from the club on 9th August.
Oscar McGregor, 18, said he was involved in an altercation with security after an incident in one of the club’s male toilets. In the following days, Oscar and his supporters embarked on a furious social media campaign against the club, including the organisation of petitions and the establishment of social media boycott pages.
The Beat Megaclub is Australia's longest-established nightclub, with a rich association with LGBTI communities, developed initially by long-time operator John Hannay and more recently Ross Hannay, as well as a raft of LGBTI-sympatico talent both behind the decks and on-stage performers. Long-time Beat performer and Australian identity, Carlotta, chose to launch her book, 'He Did It Her Way' at The Beat in the 1990s.
The Beat claims to have CCTV footage vindicating its staff's actions, and in a table-turning revelation, The Beat has advised that the police have asked whether the club wishes to pursue their own assault allegations against Mr McGregor.
The Beat Megaclub's statement reads:
Statement by The Beat Megaclub regarding the incident on Saturday the 9th of August
To everyone concerned,
This statement is being made to address the incident which has been reported as having occurred at the Beat Megaclub on Saturday the 9th of August, in which a person who identifies as being transgender claims that they were prohibited from using the toilet that they preferred and as a result were forcibly removed from the club.
From the time the person complained to us about this incident, they threatened legal action. This being the case, we were by policy unable to respond as the issue is then a subject of police investigation and in the hands of lawyers.
However due to the impact of social media and, and subsequently some publications, including petitions and boycott pages all making so much of this issue without bothering to see if any part of the allegations were true management wish release this statement to put across our side of the story. As a result we hope that that this issue can be put to rest, not only for the sake of the Beat but also for the sake of the young person making these allegations.
On Saturday the 9th of August the person who made the allegations was at our venue and used the male bathrooms. We haven't got an issue with that at all and many of our customers can attest to the fact that many people who identify as Trans* often use our restrooms without any incident or questioning. According to several witnesses, this person used the toilets and while they were in there decided it would be a good joke to throw their removable enhancement at other male customers in the toilets at the time.
This resulted in two of our customers to leave the venue in disgust and when this person left the toilets one of our guards told him that that kind of behaviour was unacceptable and should they continue to bother others they would be asked to leave. Soon after this person went to buy a lollipop from our shop and abused the person working there. The person in the shop reported this to our security guards and this was what drove three guards to approach this person to leave our establishment. It is policy when someone is being asked to leave that, no matter who they are more guards are required to be there to not only protect each other but to make sure that everyone involved behaves properly including our own guards.
This person was found on the Deck Bar and was then given the time to finish their drink before being escorted out. At the end of this time they decided that they did not want to leave and started striding around the Deck Bar creating quite a scene, flailing arms and refusing to leave. They then struck one of the guards. At this time our guards decided that this person had to be physically restrained for the safety of themselves and others.
At this point, in frustration at this person's erratic and violent behaviour, that one of our guards said "Do you want to be treated like a man?” this person responded "Yes", and the guard then forcibly restrained this person, though of course our security would have had to do the same to anyone behaving in such a fashion.
After this had occurred a friend of this person came and spoke to them and the person and told them to calm down and security would release them, the person said they would and the guard let them leave of their own ability, even though this person then stormed through the venue striking our manager who was just coming out of the Cockatoo club to the Deck Bar to see what was going on and knocking customers out of the way as they were leaving.
Once in the front foyer the person protested to our door girl and the entire time the guards stood back and observed them, only being present to make sure that no one was hurt and that this person left the venue, which, after some more yelling and demonstrative behaviour, the person left without any more physical contact from security.
This is what occurred, we have the statements of our staff involved and footage of the entire incident to corroborate our story. Our staff behaved in exactly the manner that is expected of them by law and by our own policies. When the footage was given to the police they viewed it and asked us and the guard that was assaulted if we wanted to lay charges. This would not have occurred if any of our staff had done anything untoward in performing their duties during this incident.
At no stage during this whole incident was this person told they could not use the toilets they identified with and they were not asked to leave for using a toilet we disagreed with them using. This incident was entirely based on the unacceptable behaviour of this individual and nothing else.
We take our responsibilities to the LGBTI community very seriously and have always endeavoured to do so. We value this important part of our clientele and respect them as a vital part of the Beat's history and of our future. To see so many people just take this persons allegations as fact without any proof of what they have said has been surprising and distressing for our management and members of our staff who are well aware that this is not the way things are done in our venue. We also notice that the petition that went up regarding this issue was put in place by someone from Washington in the U.S.A., who immediately after making these allegations had a disclaimer saying that they took no responsibility for the petition and any of the allegations put in it. We would think that this would speak volumes to anyone who actually knew our establishment and the way we operate.
As for the publications and organizations who have run with this story, we understand their need for content and their responsibility to report anything going on in the community but are surprised at the lack of monitoring of the comments in their forums. Many of which have been entirely baseless and slanderous allegations stating things like our management are in the mafia, run drugs and our security constantly attack people. None of this could be further from the truth.
As a side note the guard who was assaulted is well known among our patrons as one of the kindest and most understanding members of our staff with a long history with us of protecting everyone and making sure their time with us is pleasant. For people to be calling for him to lose his job is quite baffling and would be a great loss to our establishment.
In the name of equality we have attempted to treat this issue the same way we have treated every other incident where a customer has complained after being removed from our venue and we thought that everyone would know that there are two sides to every story. In this case this has not been what has occurred. Normally if a person has a complaint they take it up with the management and the police and trust that the legal system will bring forward the truth and they can start whatever campaign they want from there.
Management have been unable to respond to this issue due to the fact that the person who made the threatened legal action in their first facebook post to our page (and not as a personal message to our management) immediately tied the hands of our pages administration (who is not management or the owners) and left them with no ability to respond due to legal issues. The initial post was responded to by stating that management were aware of the incident and were dealing with the person involved personally but the subsequent bombardment of our online presence with allegations that had no basis in truth left us with no option but to delete them.
We would hope that everyone who has involved themselves in this would take a step back and take into account our point of view, if every venue had to go through this type of attack with every person who was ever asked to leave a venue and didn’t - bearing in mind that you are required by law to leave a venue when asked without incident or it is you who will receive the fine as every nightclub is private property - the nightclub industry would do nothing but take up all of their time responding to every person who ever had a complaint, no matter how unjustified.
We do have a concern that this young person has not understood the ramifications of being the centre of this attention and the consequences of making false statement that attempt to cause damage to a business without any kind of proof. When the footage and statements of others who observed this incident come out in court they may suffer quite a backlash from those who feel they have been deceived by their turning this into a trans rights issue, when it had nothing to do with that. We hope that all of you who have joined in on this will also give support this person when they have to deal with what will probably be a difficult time for them. It is for this reason we have not mentioned them by name in this letter.
In closing, we understand that anything we say will probably not be accepted as the truth by some people who feel that what this young person has recalled from the night is the only version they need to know and for those people even this person being convicted in court will be some kind of larger conspiracy to undermine their narrative. With this letter we are only attempting to explain our situation to those who want to know both sides of the story.
Please, in future be careful of what you take to be true when it is written online, we say this not only about us but for all establishments that have to deal with such issues. Everything we do from who we let in and what they do in the club is monitored these days and if anyone complains we always have to refer to that monitoring and be very careful to follow the laws all Queensland venues must abide by. Failure to do so potentially costs us quite a lot. For everyone who has taken to any of the forums discussing this issue we have read all of them and sincerely thank everyone who has come to our defense, we are eternally grateful for your support.
Thank you all, for taking the time to read this.
The management of The Beat Megaclub.
To everyone concerned,
This statement is being made to address the incident which has been reported as having occurred at the Beat Megaclub on Saturday the 9th of August, in which a person who identifies as being transgender claims that they were prohibited from using the toilet that they preferred and as a result were forcibly removed from the club.
From the time the person complained to us about this incident, they threatened legal action. This being the case, we were by policy unable to respond as the issue is then a subject of police investigation and in the hands of lawyers.
However due to the impact of social media and, and subsequently some publications, including petitions and boycott pages all making so much of this issue without bothering to see if any part of the allegations were true management wish release this statement to put across our side of the story. As a result we hope that that this issue can be put to rest, not only for the sake of the Beat but also for the sake of the young person making these allegations.
On Saturday the 9th of August the person who made the allegations was at our venue and used the male bathrooms. We haven't got an issue with that at all and many of our customers can attest to the fact that many people who identify as Trans* often use our restrooms without any incident or questioning. According to several witnesses, this person used the toilets and while they were in there decided it would be a good joke to throw their removable enhancement at other male customers in the toilets at the time.
This resulted in two of our customers to leave the venue in disgust and when this person left the toilets one of our guards told him that that kind of behaviour was unacceptable and should they continue to bother others they would be asked to leave. Soon after this person went to buy a lollipop from our shop and abused the person working there. The person in the shop reported this to our security guards and this was what drove three guards to approach this person to leave our establishment. It is policy when someone is being asked to leave that, no matter who they are more guards are required to be there to not only protect each other but to make sure that everyone involved behaves properly including our own guards.
This person was found on the Deck Bar and was then given the time to finish their drink before being escorted out. At the end of this time they decided that they did not want to leave and started striding around the Deck Bar creating quite a scene, flailing arms and refusing to leave. They then struck one of the guards. At this time our guards decided that this person had to be physically restrained for the safety of themselves and others.
At this point, in frustration at this person's erratic and violent behaviour, that one of our guards said "Do you want to be treated like a man?” this person responded "Yes", and the guard then forcibly restrained this person, though of course our security would have had to do the same to anyone behaving in such a fashion.
After this had occurred a friend of this person came and spoke to them and the person and told them to calm down and security would release them, the person said they would and the guard let them leave of their own ability, even though this person then stormed through the venue striking our manager who was just coming out of the Cockatoo club to the Deck Bar to see what was going on and knocking customers out of the way as they were leaving.
Once in the front foyer the person protested to our door girl and the entire time the guards stood back and observed them, only being present to make sure that no one was hurt and that this person left the venue, which, after some more yelling and demonstrative behaviour, the person left without any more physical contact from security.
This is what occurred, we have the statements of our staff involved and footage of the entire incident to corroborate our story. Our staff behaved in exactly the manner that is expected of them by law and by our own policies. When the footage was given to the police they viewed it and asked us and the guard that was assaulted if we wanted to lay charges. This would not have occurred if any of our staff had done anything untoward in performing their duties during this incident.
At no stage during this whole incident was this person told they could not use the toilets they identified with and they were not asked to leave for using a toilet we disagreed with them using. This incident was entirely based on the unacceptable behaviour of this individual and nothing else.
We take our responsibilities to the LGBTI community very seriously and have always endeavoured to do so. We value this important part of our clientele and respect them as a vital part of the Beat's history and of our future. To see so many people just take this persons allegations as fact without any proof of what they have said has been surprising and distressing for our management and members of our staff who are well aware that this is not the way things are done in our venue. We also notice that the petition that went up regarding this issue was put in place by someone from Washington in the U.S.A., who immediately after making these allegations had a disclaimer saying that they took no responsibility for the petition and any of the allegations put in it. We would think that this would speak volumes to anyone who actually knew our establishment and the way we operate.
As for the publications and organizations who have run with this story, we understand their need for content and their responsibility to report anything going on in the community but are surprised at the lack of monitoring of the comments in their forums. Many of which have been entirely baseless and slanderous allegations stating things like our management are in the mafia, run drugs and our security constantly attack people. None of this could be further from the truth.
As a side note the guard who was assaulted is well known among our patrons as one of the kindest and most understanding members of our staff with a long history with us of protecting everyone and making sure their time with us is pleasant. For people to be calling for him to lose his job is quite baffling and would be a great loss to our establishment.
In the name of equality we have attempted to treat this issue the same way we have treated every other incident where a customer has complained after being removed from our venue and we thought that everyone would know that there are two sides to every story. In this case this has not been what has occurred. Normally if a person has a complaint they take it up with the management and the police and trust that the legal system will bring forward the truth and they can start whatever campaign they want from there.
Management have been unable to respond to this issue due to the fact that the person who made the threatened legal action in their first facebook post to our page (and not as a personal message to our management) immediately tied the hands of our pages administration (who is not management or the owners) and left them with no ability to respond due to legal issues. The initial post was responded to by stating that management were aware of the incident and were dealing with the person involved personally but the subsequent bombardment of our online presence with allegations that had no basis in truth left us with no option but to delete them.
We would hope that everyone who has involved themselves in this would take a step back and take into account our point of view, if every venue had to go through this type of attack with every person who was ever asked to leave a venue and didn’t - bearing in mind that you are required by law to leave a venue when asked without incident or it is you who will receive the fine as every nightclub is private property - the nightclub industry would do nothing but take up all of their time responding to every person who ever had a complaint, no matter how unjustified.
We do have a concern that this young person has not understood the ramifications of being the centre of this attention and the consequences of making false statement that attempt to cause damage to a business without any kind of proof. When the footage and statements of others who observed this incident come out in court they may suffer quite a backlash from those who feel they have been deceived by their turning this into a trans rights issue, when it had nothing to do with that. We hope that all of you who have joined in on this will also give support this person when they have to deal with what will probably be a difficult time for them. It is for this reason we have not mentioned them by name in this letter.
In closing, we understand that anything we say will probably not be accepted as the truth by some people who feel that what this young person has recalled from the night is the only version they need to know and for those people even this person being convicted in court will be some kind of larger conspiracy to undermine their narrative. With this letter we are only attempting to explain our situation to those who want to know both sides of the story.
Please, in future be careful of what you take to be true when it is written online, we say this not only about us but for all establishments that have to deal with such issues. Everything we do from who we let in and what they do in the club is monitored these days and if anyone complains we always have to refer to that monitoring and be very careful to follow the laws all Queensland venues must abide by. Failure to do so potentially costs us quite a lot. For everyone who has taken to any of the forums discussing this issue we have read all of them and sincerely thank everyone who has come to our defense, we are eternally grateful for your support.
Thank you all, for taking the time to read this.
The management of The Beat Megaclub.
