Girlfriends shown the door, accuse city pub of homophobia

When Delhi-based Shivangi Singh came to meet her girlfriend Rasika Gopalakrishnan last week, the duo must not have thought that their weekend outing would turn out to be a nightmare. 

The two women in their early 20s, who visited The Slate Hotels on Khader Nawaz Khan Road on July 27, were asked to leave as their behaviour ‘seemed inappropriate’ and a few customers allegedly complained about them. 

When DT Next contacted Shivangi, she related their ordeal. “Rasika and I are close friends; we studied together at Ashoka University in Delhi. I came down to Chennai to meet her and we visited the pub to unwind. Once we started dancing, a few customers kept staring at us. Though we felt uncomfortable, we continued dancing. Later, when we headed to the washroom that’s when some bouncers followed us and accused us of inappropriate behaviour and asked us to leave the premises immediately. We felt intimidated and left,” Shivangi said. 

The duo posted details of the incident on Facebook which has since gone viral. When Shivangi spoke to the manager later, he is believed to have told her that a few of their regular customers were ‘offended’ by the manner in which the duo danced. “They didn’t even ask us for our side of the story. They just believed whatever they were told,” she exclaimed. 

As a same-sex couple has the same right as any other couple, Shivangi and Rasika decided to go public with their case and asked for an apology from the management. When they posted their ordeal on FB, the hotel’s FB page responded and apologised for the incident, asking for their contact number to get back to them. Shivangi said, “We want the management to promise us that no couples would ever be subjected to such shaming. We are still students and we don’t want to enter into a legal battle. If the management issues a public apology, we can stop this here.” When contacted, the management at Slate said they will contact the girls on Thursday.