by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder

TW: Story contains homophobic incident

A lesbian couple is outraged after they claim they were harassed after kissing at a theatre and were told by theatre staff to move to the back. Tori Alexander and her girlfriend, Tia Willey, attended 'Cirque The Greatest Show' at the Playhouse in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

Tori bought Tia tickets as a birthday present. According to the couple, as they took their seats in Row B, Tia kissed Tori and said thank you for the present. However, they said they were immediately told by a couple behind them to “stop kissing” because it was “unacceptable behavior”.

“The couple behind me then tapped me on the shoulder and when I turned around the woman was wiggling her finger in my face,” Tori told The Daily Mail. Tori replied that it was just a kiss and that the couple were allowed to kiss too, to which they replied it was "different when it was a man and woman".

“That made me realize it wasn’t about us kissing. It was homophobia,” Tori added.

The couple then informed theatre staff of the harassment and were told they would either have to move back to the row or continue sitting in their seats. Thankfully, other patrons offered to switch their seats with Tori and Tia.

Following the performance, they brought the incident to senior management. According to them, they were offered no apology but free tickets for a future show and free refreshments.

Tony Doherty, managing director at Parkwood Theatres, said:

"There was an incident at The Playhouse in which Tori has alleged that she was harassed by other audience members. Playhouse staff did not witness or hear the incident, which they were alerted to after it had already taken place. Staff had to resolve the issue in an acutely short time period as the curtain was about to go up on that evenings performance with a full house in attendance. In those circumstances, they attempted to the best of their ability to initially defuse the situation by offering alternative seating to all involved."

A North Somerset Council spokesperson added: "We have a duty to eliminate unlawful discrimination, and therefore take any complaints of discrimination seriously.

"While we have been made aware of an alleged incident at the Playhouse in Weston-super-Mare, we can confirm that we have not directly received a complaint about the matter.

"The Playhouse in Weston-super-Mare is managed on the council's behalf by Parkwood Theatres.

"We're fully committed to making sure that everyone has an equal chance to live, work, learn and feel part of the community."

But Tori and Tia feel that the theatre failed them. 'When I emailed the management they took no responsibility and told me they were fully committed to the LGBT community. It’s clearly not true,” Tori said. “I want them to be held accountable, issue an apology and train their staff better so members of the LGBT community are safe there.”

And they’re not the only ones left feeling the theatre failed them. Nigel Brice, founder of Weston Pride, told the BBC: "I was absolutely horrified to hear something of this nature was happening at the Playhouse, because I know the Playhouse has historically been LGBTQ-friendly.

"All we want is an equal stance within an audience, nobody is saying that we are special or different."

I absolutely agree with Tori, Tia and everyone else who may feel outraged over this incident and the way it was handled. They did absolutely nothing wrong and were subjected to homophobia, which should never have happened.

I am disappointed with the response by the theatre as well. At no point should Tori and Tia be asked to move their seats. If the theatre staff was properly trained, they would have handled that situation with a lot more empathy and care. I hope they are retrained on how to handle these situations going forward.

I am sorry that Tori and Tia found themselves being harassed on a special night in a space that it supposed to be safe and warm for LGBTQ+ communities.

Lesbian couple harassed at U.K. theatre

Subscribe