An apology: updated

From my heart, I apologise for the terrible experiences our audience members had this weekend at the Thorny Summer Party.

I am absolutely mortified that our venue created such bad experiences for individuals from the LGBTQ+ community who were coming here to celebrate, find joy and make memories together.

I want people who come to Trinity to feel safe, supported and empowered so I feel sick to my stomach reading these statements. This just is not the venue that I have worked to create and I am sorry that our venue wasn’t the safe space it should have been and that we let the community down.

It’s not acceptable for anyone to be made to feel dis-empowered but even more so on this occasion, when we are celebrating Pride together. A community that have had to fight for the right to be respected and heard should not now be having to take this fight to Trinity.

Trinity is yours, not mine. I am just a caretaker for a building. I, the board and the core staff team here are devastated that this has happened to individuals from the LGBTQ+ community. We understand the severity and impact these experiences have had and we are working today to take direct action with all staff and security involved.

Please, if you do want to talk to me about your experiences, I can be contacted in person on 07517 427 557. I am available in the office all week if anyone wants to come in to talk with me in person – Tuesday all day, Wednesday all day and Thurs/Fri AM. I will do everything within my power to put this right in the hope that we can earn trust back again and so that the LGBTQ+ community might once again feel safe at Trinity.

Emma Harvey, CEO

Actions so far

Updated 16/07/19

We have met with the person who experienced sexual harassment and representatives from Thorny to involve them in shaping the actions we are taking. As members of Bristol Night Watch, we have also been liaising with them. It seems clear that there is a wider issue in the city in relation to a shortage of suitable staff for late night events.

This leads to inexperienced bank staff being used in venues during key events. The security guards usually sent to our venue were working for Pride this weekend.

As a result we were sent different guards who were unfamiliar with the venue (though this is no excuse their poor behaviour).

We have taken several immediate steps:

• disciplinary action with the member of Trinity staff involved, removing them with immediate effect from any future events
• meeting with our security company; the three guards involved were immediately dismissed
• we have been in communication with Bristol Night Watch and the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) who are in communication with SIA regarding the incident with a view to take follow up action in relation to the individuals involved (revoke badges/retraining).

Next steps

• further review and re-training needs to be carried out at Trinity. This will be something that we will involve Thorny in, to ensure that we are creating structures and processes that ensure people are kept safe and respected at our venue
• we will be conducting a full security tender process and will be interviewing teams with the view of appointing a company that is able to respect and uphold our values and policies
• all Trinity staff attending events will be much more clearly identifiable to members of the public i.e. to wear lanyards identifying them as staff with increased representation and presence at key events such as Thorny
• Emma Harvey, CEO will be attending How Do We Halt Harassment? event at The Loco Klub to help contribute to the wider discussions and solutions being developed in response to the shared challenges we face as the venues, promoters and communities of Bristol’s night-life.

This is an ongoing process therefore we welcome any other suggestions and input from members of the community and those who have been affected by the incidents that took place.