Ripon nightclub responds to transphobia allegation

A Ripon nightclub has defended itself after being labelled “transphobic” for a comment on social media.

Wonderland, on North Street, announced on Facebook last month it would be offering “free entry for the ladies” on March 2.

On the same post, which has since been deleted, one man commented, “as in lady boys?”, to which the nightclub responded “trans not included I’m afraid”.

Ripon woman Elise Whincup described the nightclub’s comment as “incredibly transphobic”.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines transphobia as “harmful or unfair things a person does based on a fear or dislike of transgender or non-binary people”.

Ms Whincup added:

“I’m starting to wonder if Wonderland is the kind of establishment I want to be in if they have these views, where not only do they refuse trans women the same privileges as cisgender women, but agree with and not remove a comment like this from their social media.”

The original post and comments have since been deleted.

After deleting the Facebook post, Wonderland said it had revoked the free entry offer due to “certain situations”.

Ms Whincup, who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community herself, told the Stray Ferret she feels “very strongly about speaking for minorities”, adding:

“Even if it was a case of ignorance, ignorance breeds hate. It only takes one person to think the establishment shares their views, which don’t necessarily stay quiet after a drink, and makes an unsafe place for transgender people.

“Myself and someone else commented complaints under the original post and on another post by Wonderland, but our comments have been deleted and we have both been blocked by the page.”

Ms Whincup later shared her concerns on This is Ripon UK Facebook group, which has more than 14,0000 members.

In her social media post, she said she feels the “LGBT community of Ripon needs to be made aware” of the situation. She added:

“No public apology or even admittance of transphobia has been made, however they find it acceptable to post about a monthly LGBT night while sharing beliefs shown below in their previous comments.

“We have a large LGBT community in Ripon, and this is not how to make them feel safe and accepted.”

‘A can of worms’

The Stray Ferret approached Wonderland for comment in response to the claims. A spokesperson said:

“If you do free entry for the ladies and accept people that have ID, stating they are male, it will open up a can of worms.

“Absolutely everybody will be claiming to be trans just to get free entry — you don’t have to look like the opposite sex to be trans.

“It happened to us in the past and was very difficult to deal with. People began abusing it and that’s not fair on transgender people.

“How can someone on the door tell someone that they are or aren’t trans? Nobody has the right to do that. That is why I decided to accept free entry for people who had IDs stating that they were females on the ID. Even if someone was born a male and it stated they were a female on their ID they still would have been granted entry.”

The spokesperson also said they “never knew ladyboy was an offensive term”.

They continued:

“People come to our venue for a good time, and everyone is welcome. We have just launched an LGBT pride night on the first Friday of every month and it’s going to be wicked. Everyone is welcome here, and we may even do free entry if dressed in drag.

“But the funny thing is that no trans people or anyone from the LGBT community had complained whatsoever. We have plenty of people from the LGBT community coming to our venue on a weekly basis.”

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