Stereo's Push It speak out on Glasgow's LGBT+ club scene

"We were getting ready to finish one night and had Destiny's Child's greatest hits on. One of us said "Wouldn't it be amazing if we could put on a club night with these songs, in a nice environment without being harassed?" Aby told The Glasgow Times.

"We realised then that that was exactly what we should do."

Six years on, and Push It - the club night held in Stereo that plays RnB, Hip Hop, Pop and Rap music exclusively by female-identifying artists - is one of the biggest nights on the Glasgow club scene.

With Cat, 30, already an established DJ in Glasgow, she took Aby, 29, under her wing and rest was musical history.

"The first few nights were touch and go and had about 20 people there each time. "We now have about 300 to 400 people coming on most nights that we do it.

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"It's had an upwards trajectory but I've had lots of head-in-hands movements." she laughed.

Both Cat and Aby, who are studying for a Masters in Applied Economics at The University of Strathclyde and a part-time PhD in dance at the Conservatoire respectively, felt the need to have a night in the city that felt safe for LGBT+ people.

Named after the Salt N Pepa song, the night has continually championed LGBT+ safety as well as pushing the boundaries of Glasgow's clubbing scene to make sure inclusivity is of the highest order - even if it means monitoring the crowds themselves.

"We wanted the night to be for people like us, so people could feel the way we felt on a night out" examined Aby.

"It is majority women and queer people who attend the nights" said Cat.

"We are open to everyone but we keep a close eye on the crowd, because it's also a safe space.

"We would never stop people from coming, that's not what we do, but we do go through the crowd and make sure that everyone is okay, and have quite a big presence."

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"All our staff are safer spaces trained and we have a safer spaces policy" added Aby. "The safety of the crowd is really important."

For those who are unacquainted with a safer spaces policy, of which Stereo now uses as a venue, the policy asks that those in attendance respect boundaries and privacy of others, as well as respects their protected characteristics.

As Aby puts it, "it is a base line of how people should behave".

This might seem obvious to some, but in recent weeks there have been incidents to suggest that homophobia is still prevalent in the city, such as the recent graffiti on the Polo Lounge.

Oran Mor was under fire recently for hosting the launch of what some describe as an 'anti-trans' group, and a Drag Queen has said she feels "scared" to be in public after teaching a Primary school class in Glencoats Primar alongside MSP Mhairi Black.

Aby describes this as a 'push-back', happening because it is harder to deny LGBT+ visibility.

To many this may come as a surprise, but to people such as Cat, who is a lesbian, it is a behaviour at times sadly expected.

"I feel unsafe in about 80% of clubs spaces in Glasgow" said Cat. "I've had homophobic abuse on the street shouted at me and I think that the micro-aggressions are real, and hard for people to understand if they haven't experienced them before.

"Having safer spaces has always been necessary, and now it's becoming more prevalent" she continued. "When I started pushing safer spaces in Glasgow, people approached it like a battle. The problem is that while other places in Glasgow have queer-friendly nights, most of those are organised by women and queer -people. Other nights aren't booked by people like that.

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"A lot of other people outside of those groups don't understand safe spaces or see the need for them. There is a fear of looking stupid and saying what someone might think is the wrong thing and that is stopping an open dialogue. People have to be educated on LGBT+ issues like trans rights, but it shouldn't be trans people's responsibility to do that. And if that education is pulled back in schools, then how will people learn?"

Aby, on the other hand, identifies with queer-ness but is not necessarily LGBT+, and she says that as an "ally", it is people like her who should be "making sure that other people aren't marginalised for their sexuality or identity".

The popularity of Push It shows that there was indeed a gap on the Glasgow club scene. A number of similar nights have popped up in Glasgow from bigger, more corporate venues with a bigger budget in the years since.

The popularity of artists such as Ariana Grande, Lizzo and Charli XCX have helped, but Push It maintains that they are still a centre of the LGBT+ community in the city.

"We identified what made people feel good and safe and made it happen. We are still a centre for that community but there have been other nights that have the same ethos without the safe spaces, that charge so much more- or, they say they have the safe spaces and they don't and that's when people get hurt."

Does Glasgow need to do better, then?

"Yes, absolutely" says Cat.

"Men need to do better, I think" adds Aby. "I don’t drink and I don’t go out as much but from what I can see is that the inclusive stuff is done by female identifying folks and queer people. It would be good to see the same effort from men in similar spaces."