"For example, approximately 15% of the incidents described during CRER's call for evidence took place within or when gaining entry to a queer bar or nightclub."
Community Conversations:
Clubbing for Wellbeing
As part of CRER’s continued efforts to highlight and tackle prejudice within Scotland’s night-time economy, we facilitated a community conversation for some of those most impacted by discrimination and barriers within nightlife spaces.
CRER’s research found that LGBTQI+ people from a Black and minority background - also known as Queer, Trans and Intersex People of Colour (QTIPoC+) - faced high levels of intersectional harassment, abuse and violence within Scotland’s night-time economy.
For instance, a survey conducted by CRER found that many LGBT+ people from a Black and minority ethnic background have experienced racism within queer spaces and, therefore, could feel marginalised within and excluded from important ‘safe spaces’ for LGBT+ people.
This prompted targeted discussions between CRER and Exhale.Group - an organisation working to support QTIPoC+ in Glasgow and Scotland - which led to a collaborative half-day event in August 2024.
This community conversation brought LGBT+ people from BME backgrounds together to discuss some of the unique issues they faced in nightlife spaces, featuring lunch, an introduction to CRER’s research by Lucien Staddon Foster and a space curated by Exhale’s founder and nightlife organiser Mahasin Ahmed.
At the centre of the event was a workshop led by nightlife organiser and nightlife wellbeing officer Aki Hassan. This explored what QTIPoC+-centred parties could look like in Glasgow; a city with a small and relatively fractured community, where members of the community felt disenfranchised from many of its mainstream nightlife spaces.
Following the discussion, Aki Hassan captured some of the key issues raised by members of the community and what they felt could help make Glasgow’s night-time economy safer, fairer and more inclusive:
Want to learn more about the issues facing LGBT+ people from a Black and minority ethnic background in Scotland’s night-time economy?
Following the Clubbing for Wellness event, Exhale.Group’s Mahasin Ahmed has written about our community conversations and how mainstream nightlife spaces can be more inclusive and better support LGBT+ BME communities.
Inclusive night-life for LGBT+ people from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds
A blog by Mahasin Ahmed
Mahasin is the founder and programme manager at Exhale.Group, they are also the co-founder of LGBT+ inclusive club nights for Black and minority ethnic communities and people from SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) backgrounds.
This work has been supported by the Corra Foundation as part of their ongoing efforts to tackle racism in Scotland, including Islamophobia and antisemitism.
Learn more about these grants here.
