Lesbian couple kicked out of Aly & AJ concert for dancing together
AJ and Aly Michalka with Raymond Braun at a Human Rights Campaign 2019 dinner in March. (Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
A lesbian couple were forcibly removed from an Aly & AJ concert at a county fair in California after being told to “stop touching each other.”
The two women were dancing together at an Aly & AJ show at Alameda County Fair when a security guard approached them and ordered them to stop. She told them they were “disgusting” and warned there were children there.
In a thread on Twitter, one of the women, @Aygelz1, says they tried to move away from the abusive security guard and attract the band’s attention. But the guard returned “with 4-6 police officers and security guards” who told them they were being “kicked out of the fair.”
Hey @alyandaj, this is my girlfriend and I. Last night we attended your concert at the Alameda County Fair. While we were dancing (and barely touching), a security guard told us we needed to “stop touching each other”, we were “disgusting”, and “there were children here” pic.twitter.com/nvDVsgxIHw
— AyG (@Aygelz1) June 23, 2019
In a message addressed to the singers, she wrote: “We asked why and they gave us several different answers after also calling us ‘idiots’ numerous times, they also said that you both wanted us to leave. We were kicked out of your concert and the fair for being gay.”
She added: “We have never felt so uncomfortable being ourselves in our entire lives. We felt unsafe. We were scared.”
The incident was filmed by a fellow concert-goer, who was shocked to see the crowd booing as the women were escorted off the premises “for being publicly gay.”
two girls just got kicked out of the aly & aj show at the alameda county fair for kissing and being publicly gay what the fuck bro pic.twitter.com/en78yclDai
— ????? ????? ? (@kaylaberinreyes) June 23, 2019
This year was the first time the annual county fair was supporting Out at the Fair, a festival showcasing the LGBT+ community.
Aly & AJ are supporters of the LGBT+ youth charity The Trevor Project and were collecting funds from fans at the concert. @Aygelz1 acknowledged the irony of this on Twitter, especially as it took place during Pride month.
After learning what had happened, the singers announced on stage that the security guards were wrong to kick the couple out. Aly said: “Security please do not do that, this is a Pride event and we should be able to be whoever we are [and] do whatever we want.”
@alyandaj 2 girls were kicked out of the concert for kissing. aly and aj noticed and called out the security guards. not cool aleda county fair, but also praising aly for noticing and saying something! pic.twitter.com/IKWODUEt59
— kaleb (@mistapoet1) June 23, 2019
Despite this, it appears the lesbian couple were unable to return to the concert.
@Aygelz1 directly addressed the singers, saying: “The only bright side of this horrifying ordeal was the support from all your fans, standing with us. I hope you guys do something about this. Safety for the people that you so unapologetically support should be the most important thing.
“How else are we supposed to live?”
