TikTok users Elizahhh and sophiamastt have hit out at straight women for frequenting gay bars. (TikTok)
Two lesbians have gone viral on TikTok after they made videos calling out all the straight women populating gay bars.
Sophia Mastroieni, whose TikTok username is sophiamastt, hit out at straight women for taking over queer people’s spaces in a video shared on 2 September.
The video shows Mastroieni lying on her bed as she lip-syncs to the Julia Michaels song “What a Time”.
“Last night I asked five different girls if they were gay at a GAY CLUB and everyone of them were straight AT A GAY CLUB I give up,” she wrote in text laid over the clip.
She captioned the post: “They took [our] style and now they are taking our clubs.. anyways I went home alone lol.”
The video immediately had a huge reaction, racking up 185,000 likes and more than 11,000 comments since it was posted earlier in September.
Mastroieni’s video prompted an enormous debate on TikTok. Many straight women who frequent gay bars weighed into the discussion to explain that queer spaces can feel like safe spaces for them too.
@sophiamasttthey took out style and now they are taking our clubs..😭 anyways I went home alone lol ##fyp ##lgbt ##wlw ##lesbian
Meanwhile, plenty of LGBT+ people argued that queer spaces should be reserved for members of the LGBT+ community. Some suggested that keeping such spaces for queer people is essential to protect the safety of the community.
“Well if we can’t be there where else are we supposed to go, we deserve a safe space too,” one TikTok user wrote.
But another added: “These comments. Y’all are allies until we ask you to let us have our safe space. Then suddenly y’all are mad we ‘make everything about us.’ Performative.”
One TikTok user wrote: “If straight women want a ‘safe space’ they can create a women’s only club. You don’t just take someone else’s safe space.”
Another queer TikTok user weighed in to make an important point about lesbian bars
The debate intensified further when TikTok user Elizahhh stitched her own video on to Mastroieni’s. Sharing the original TikTok, Eliza said: “No because literally.”
“There used to be 200 lesbian bars in the US, now there’s 21. 21 lesbian bars. There are 800 gay bars in the US, which sounds like a lot – I mean, a lot more than 21, sure, but it’s actually not that many.
@elizahhh##stitch with @sophiamastt y’all allies until it stops being convenient for you. ##fyp ##fy ##lgbtq ##lesbian ##gaybar ##gay ##lgbt♬ original sound – eliza🦋
“Straight people have everywhere else – literally everywhere else – everywhere. And we want one safe space for us and then y’all take over?
“I’m not even saying whether they should or should not come to gay bars, but if y’all are gonna be allies and stand with us until we actually tell you what we want and what’s hurting us and you don’t listen, then you’re performative and you’re not actually allies.
“Y’all want a safe space? So do we. And we have none.”
Eliza’s TikTok on the subject has been liked more than 280,000 times, and many queer people weighed in to share their thoughts.
“I think it all comes down to respect and understanding that those are queer spaces and to realise that this place is inherently not for you,” one person commented.
Another added: “I swear they use us more as an aesthetic.”