On Friday night, I was standing outside of a club here in Amsterdam (went out to make a phone call) and two guys who also happened to be tourists walked by. They stood out there, pondering whether they wanted to go in or not. They were speaking English and one of them used a homophobic slur while talking to his friend (the F word). Then they attempted to get into the club. The bouncer rejected them on the grounds that homophobes are not welcome. They complained that this was not a gay club, etc. The bouncer was unmoved, told them to hit the road.

When they left, the bouncer looks at me and says “If I hear them make one homophobic, sexist or racist comment while they are outside, they do not get into the club”. I asked if this was part of the house rules or something. He looked at me and said, no, these are the rules of human decency, that’s all.

For a second, I half expected to wake up from a dream because never, in my decades of clubbing, had I met a bouncer who rejected people on such standards.

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