We demand queer spaces that are free from surveillance—now and forever!
Gay bars are using facial recognition technology to build and share lists of their patrons. Demand they trash their surveillance machines and stop endangering the community.
Journalist Cydney Hayes recently discovered that at least three San Francisco gay bars are using dystopian face-scanning technology on their patrons.
That means that bars like Mix, Badlands, and Toad Hall are building secret, unaccountable lists of everyone who walks through their doors—during an enormous wave of political persecution against queer and trans people.
Bars say facial recognition makes people safer. That is an utter lie. Tell bars: keep our community safe by rejecting surveillance technology!
Why is facial recognition so dangerous for gay bars?
Venues that use facial recognition to scan and track their visitors are, fundamentally, building lists of gender and sexual minorities and their allies. What’s just as scary: we have no idea how many LGBTQ+ spaces are using this tech, how long the data is stored, and who has access to it.
The spread of surveillance tech through LGBTQ+ venues is a crisis for our community.
Facial recognition is dangerous for everyone, but it carries special risks for queer and trans people. Certain states are already building databases of trans people. Other states and agencies are demanding trans people’s medical histories and other sensitive data. This, as powerful political figures push for our reeducation and eradication.
We’ve seen this movie before, and it does not end well. LGBTQ+ venues that use biometric surveillance technology, including facial recognition, must remove it, scrap the data, and apologize to their patrons. All others should commit to keeping their community safe by rejecting surveillance technology—now and forever.