Pink Pony, a new gay bar set to open in Sydney this summer, has responded to the backlash it received on social media after its owner said the preferred clientele will be “predominantly” young gay men.
Per Gay Sydney News, the venue, located on Oxford Street, will open its doors in the first week of December, and is operated by Sydney publican Kevin Du-Val.
Ahead of its opening, Du-Val told Gay Sydney News on Sunday that the venue will “unashamedly be targeted” towards gay men aged between 18 to 35 years old.
“Of course there’ll be overlapping above that”, Du-Val said of the demographic Pink Pony hopes to draw in.
“Of course the girls will be welcome, but it would certainly be our desire that it is predominantly gay boys, and when I say predominantly, I’m sort of talking 90 per cent plus,” Du-Val added.
The publican went on to say that Pink Pony will be “predominantly” targeted towards patrons of fellow gay clubs and events like Flash Sydney on Oxford Street and the recently shuttered ARQ nightclub.
“Obviously we’ve got legal hurdles … in terms of how much we can vet the crowd while still complying with the law … but it is our intention for it to be predominantly gay,” Du-Val said.
The comments were met with criticism on social media, with some accusing the bar of excluding other members of Sydney’s queer community, including lesbian women.
“It’s almost like we are forgetting why the L is first in LGBT,” one user wrote on Instagram, while another asked: “What is it going to take for people in this scene to listen to and respect the opinions of queer women?”
Others claimed the name of the club — which Du-Val said was inspired by the Chappell Roan song “Pink Pony Club” — contradicts the clientele it is aiming for, since Roan is a publicly out lesbian.
“Disappointed with the name choice if it’s not at least a little bit for lesbians,” one Instagram user wrote. “Very disappointing that a club named ‘Pink Pony’, inspired by a lesbian artist, is going to be a predominantly 90 per cent gay men’s bar,” another added.
Also on Instagram, Sydney drag queen and Drag Race Down Under contestant Etcetera Etcetera wrote: “Talking openly about a ‘preferred clientele’ being openly male in 2025 is crazy when you’ve named your club after a song by a lesbian”.
“Maybe as a community we need to be investing in spaces that make us all feel safe and welcome,” Etcetera added.
Michael Lewis, the CEO of Pink Pony’s parent company Tuloch Pty Ltd, responded to the controversy in a statement provided to PEDESTRIAN.TV, saying “the backlash from some parts of the community is disappointing”.
“However, from our perspective, a business having a target demographic is not particularly remarkable or newsworthy, but clearly we have unintentionally hit a raw nerve,” Lewis said.
Lewis added that the club “understand[s] the frustration many within the community have towards the lack of venues available to them, hence why we are opening Pink Pony”.
“Having said that, the hate and vitriol being directed towards a small business trying to make a difference for their chosen market is a bit over the top,” Lewis said.
Per Gay Sydney News, the club also addressed the backlash over the weekend, writing on Instagram that “we are just being honest and open about our reason for being and our target demographic and preferred clientele”.
In an Instagram post shared earlier today, popular Sydney queer event organisers Heaps Gay accused Pink Pony of having an “exclusive door policy of ‘gay men only’.”
“This is so disappointing and tone deaf and actually fucked… We have been fighting for inclusion for the last decade and this feels like a million steps backwards,” Heaps Gay wrote.
Du-Val acknowledged issues with clientele along Oxford Street, but in terms of venues increasingly attracting straight crowds.
“If the gay boys don’t feel comfortable anymore, they stop coming, and then of course the more they stop coming, the more it shifts in the other direction [straight],” Du-Val told Gay Sydney News.
“Unfortunately, [venues have] been caught in that trap of chasing revenue at any cost and not controlling their door or trying to filter their patrons with the best interests of the majority of patrons in mind – and it’s ultimately come at a cost,” he added.
Lewis told P.TV that the response to Pink Pony has been “overwhelmingly positive”.
“We look forward to delivering a fabulous club to our followers,” he said.
Lead images: Gay Sydney News and Instagram
The post Sydney Bar Pink Pony Responds To Backlash Over ‘Unashamedly’ Preferring Gay Male Patrons appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
