A young gay man was allegedly refused entry to one of Britain’s most famous LGBT clubs because he was carrying HIV medication.
The customer, who is HIV positive had been in the queue for G-A-Y Late on Wednesday last week, when security staff searched his bag and found the pills.
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When he told them it was treatment for HIV, they allegedly denied him entry.
The incident has now led to two of Britain’s biggest HIV charities to call on bars and clubs to ensure staff are aware of such medication so they deal with it sensitively.
The man, who does not wish to be identified, has to take the pills Truvuada and Efavirenz every evening so brought them with him on the night out.
He told BuzzFeed, who have used the name Oliver to refer to him, that he has to take two tablets for HIV, one was loose in a pouch and the other was still in its foil.
‘I was stood there in front of a load of people. I told him it was HIV medication, told him the name of the medication, and they were like, “You can’t bring this into the club” and I said, “Why?” And they said, “Because you can’t take pills into a nightclub.”‘
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Oliver added that he tried to explain that it was medicine but claimed staff refused to accept this because he couldn’t ‘prove’ it.
When he offered to take the medicine in front of them, they allegedly refused so he offered to leave it with them and pick it up at the end of the night.
They allegedly still said no so Oliver and his friends were forced to leave the venue.
The popular nightclub, owned by Jeremy Joseph, is the sister venue to the G-A-Y club, which is one of the biggest LGBT venues in London.
Joseph has previously sponsored many fund-raising events for HIV charities.
Oliver told the news site: ‘I thought it was inappropriate. It’s quite humiliating. I was mortified – as a gay venue, that should have been the end of the conversation.’
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‘I think it’s really irresponsible and really disappointing. It’s an extra layer of challenges that people with HIV have to deal with – it shouldn’t be this complicated. I’m not going to be going back to that venue.’
Three days after the incident, Oliver contacted the club to complain about what happened and received a response from the manager who said he would ‘respond shortly’.
Oliver told Buzzfeed he is still waiting to hear from them.
A spokesperson for the Terrence Higgins Trust told Metro.co.uk: ‘Gay venues have a great track record of supporting HIV awareness within the LGBT community and have made an invaluable impact over the past 30 years.
‘In our experience this support has generally extended to door staff – our service users tell us door staff typically either recognise HIV medication during a search, or discretely ask what it is without issue.
This is important because there will inevitably be times when someone has to bring their medicine with them on a night out, as treatment has to be taken at specific times of the day in order to be effective.
They added: ‘There is of course potential for things to go wrong, which can be very distressing for an individual, particularly if this involves having to disclose their HIV status in a public setting.
‘Thankfully these instances are rare, and highlight the importance of training so that all staff are able to handle situations sensitively and discreetly.
‘LGBT clubs and bars will always need to have robust drugs policies which do not undermine people’s ability to take their HIV medication as prescribed.’
GAY nightclub have been approached for comment.
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