What exactly went down at Futch Night?

On Friday, sapphic nightlife staple Futch Night hosted an event at Brooklyn’s House of Yes. The floating queer party regularly hosts events in New York, Los Angeles, and San Diego, but recently allegations of racism have surfaced in the past few months, leading Black sapphics to question exactly who is welcome at Futch Night.

@yungmoneyny

Not a problem if you go to futch and like it. Hearing that this is the “it” lesbian party and going and seeing a lack of diversity also hearing a lack of diversity in music is sad. I think futch is a great physical example of the segregation that is very present in the lesbian community online and Irl. #wlw

♬ original sound – naya barnes

“I don’t think Futch Night is diverse at all,” TikToker Naya Barnes said after an event earlier in June. “I actually don’t think Futch Night is set up to be a diverse space.”

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It wasn’t just about the choice of music or venue this time. After Black sapphic influencer Alexis Williams (@alexisdenisew) posted a video about being turned away at the door on Friday for not being dressed “futch enough,” other Black queer folks came out to talk about their experiences with the event.

@alexisdenisew

futch night is never beating the racism allegations

♬ Good Luck, Babe! – Chappell Roan

“If you are queer, and a Black woman or a person of color, and you are on TikTok,” said creator @stupidbitchentertainment in a post after Friday’s event, “there is no way you have not seen countless and countless of women talking about their experiences at Futch Night and you still decide to go.”

“There are so many spaces in New York City that are people of color friendly,” she continued, responding to the wave of videos of Black sapphics calling the party out for its lack of diversity. “That is just not one of them.”

@jerickahandie

yeaa… #FutchNight #wlw #Futch #Brooklyn

♬ Head Empty – Tsundere Twintails

And while some folks attempted to offer a different opinion on the space, attendees of color agreed that the party needs to do better when it comes to including the entire sapphic community.

@braveryave

the diversity of a space is dependent on several things. while i enjoyed @futch night, everyones experience won’t be the same. but for all the black & brown LA lesbians, come to NYC 🫶🏽❤️ #futchnight #wlw #lgbtqia #wlwtiktok

♬ original sound – braveryave

After one attendee posted a clip of folks dancing to Chief Keef, the DJ for the House of Yes party, DJ Lexos, commented, saying: “I just wanna say this means a ton bc i literally was playing music for my people !!!! Ik it was a ton of white ppl i just wanted to take up space for us.”

“i feel like POC should take up spaces like these,” another commenter wrote, “because then we will never have a place where we are welcomed. i just know a group of white people ain’t gonna stop me or scare me into not going.”

But it shouldn’t be on Black sapphics to try and diversify a space that doesn’t seem to be trying that hard to make people of color welcome.

In a new video, Alexis Williams decided to address the problem head-on. She declined to give details about what happened when she was turned away at the door on Friday. “It’s very evident to me that a lot of you get off on invalidating Black women’s experiences,” she explained, “and I don’t want to play into that anymore.”

@alexisdenisew

ppl will invalidate POCs experiences til the cows come home and then wonder why they dont wanna talk abut it 😭😭

♬ original sound – Alexis Williams

Williams stated that she spoke to one of the event organizers, who did offer an apology. But it’s clear that more than an apology is needed. If a sapphic party isn’t thinking about diversity in every aspect of its design, including venue choice, music choice, and marketing, it’s not going to serve the majority of the queer community who are hungry for WLW spaces in Los Angeles and New York.