“No matter how small you might feel an incident is, we always want to hear about it — whether it was last weekend or a number of years ago”

Glasgow venue Sub Club has been dealing with backlash after tweeting that the club has been a “safe space since 1987”. The claim was contested by patrons and DJs alike. The club has since apologized.

Multiple attendees responded, describing incidents of being groped and verbally mistreated, while one DJ commented “I posted a SS policy ahead of my night there for that exact reason and the shit I got for it. Jokers.”

Whatever issues arose from the club’s original claim were exacerbated by their response. Sub Club was accused of being overly defensive, victim blaming and ignoring patrons who opened up about their negative experiences at the club. Last night, they posted a lengthy statement on Facebook (that’s since been deleted) which made what many felt was an inappropriate comparison to the recent Orlando club shooting and Jo Cox assassination, as Resident Advisor point out.

“Not only do they display zero fundamental understanding of how the culture around sexual violence works to silence those affected, particularly women, they’re just straight up victim-blaming,” read an opinion piece on A Thousand Flowers in their “Weekly Wanker” section saying they’ve “lost count of the amount of queer women I know who don’t feel comfortable in Sub Club or have vowed never to return because of the stiflingly hetero and macho atmosphere that has been allowed to cultivate in there over the years.”

“How can you trust a club that declares itself a safe space but won’t even reflect on what people are telling them about their experiences there?” the writers ask at one point.

In a new statement on Facebook, Sub Club have apologized for their initial response, saying they aim to do improve the atmosphere and would like to hear from anyone who has felt unsafe at the club, “whether it was last weekend or a number of years ago”.

“We care, we hear you and we are listening. We will come back soon with concrete actions and will invite the community to be part of this process,” they write.

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