Remy Schwenke and some friends were stopped by security guards from entering Auckland’s SkyCity casino last weekend because of their outfit.
The 30-year-old identifies as a gender diverse person and is a proud Samoan fa’afafine.
In the video shared to social media, Remy was told to wear a jacket and cover up the outfit they wore as it was regarded as ‘fancy dress’ and did not meet their dress code.
“I was told to look at the board because of the dress code. I wanted to understand personally from the guard what was wrong with my outfit, considering that it was in a very similar style to my girlfriend who had already walked in – so same length skirt, same type of boots,” Remi says.
SkyCity prides itself as a world-class entertainment complex and casino situated in the heart of Auckland’s CBD. Over the years they’ve been awarded the Rainbow Tick certification, which means the organisation encourages and affirms people from the rainbow community who are part of their staff.
But Remy did not feel welcomed at all, and called out SkyCity for discriminating against the LGBTQIA+ community.
“My life is not a costume. How I express myself is not a costume,” says Remy.
“I have been through a journey in terms of coming to terms with who I am today and just being able to openly express myself, you know, in this day and age. I’ve been embracing it and just being able to do it. But that was probably my biggest… Like it really ripped out a lot of pain from inside. As in, ‘Oh sorry, you can’t be like that.’
“That what was coming out. And I have so many friends that I know experience this on the daily, and organisations, I feel like they have a responsibility, especially if they are wearing the Rainbow Tick proudly all over their media. They should be teaching people and having rules set for how they can make sure that people don’t experience what I experienced on Friday.”
TP+ reached out to SkyCity, and this was the response from their media team:
“SkyCity deeply regrets the actions taken by its staff, and we unreservedly apologise for the offence this has caused the customer and the wider LGBTQIA+ community.”
They admit to “an error of judgement on the part of SkyCity staff” which led to Remy being unfairly denied entry to the property.
“SkyCity should be a place where both customers and employees alike can be their whole self, without fear of discrimination no matter what their gender identity or sexual orientation, and in this instance, we have fallen short”.
SkyCity will be reaching out to the LGBTQIA+ community to ask for their support in providing additional training to the front line Security team as a way of preventing this from happening again.
Remy has not met with SkyCity yet but had this advice for SkyCity and other organisations.
“Do the mahi. Don’t just put on pride stuff when it’s convenient for you.”
“We are not a tick box. We are not the trending thing to do right now. We are humans; we are people; we are loved ones; we are people you know, people in your spaces and people that you haven’t met yet who are still growing. And if you’re wanting to just tick the box when it comes to inclusivity, it’s already the wrong direction.
“I want you to really connect with people and actually remember that these are lives you are talking about; these are humans that have lives. All of us deserve to be welcomed just as anyone else does.”
By John Pulu
