Madison Square Garden Has Been Secretly Tracking Queer Musicians

If it seems incredibly fucking bizarre for a venue to have facial recognition cameras and a database tracking the sexual orientation of guests,

The surveillance practices implemented by Dolan are also enforced at his company’s other venues: The Sphere in Las Vegas and Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

It's because the venue is owned by a rich, paranoid weirdo.

Because everybody knows straight cis people never do anything untoward, amirite?

To wish them happy pride, right?

It's all projection.

I'll play devil's advocate, these venues kind of have an obligation to have information on the artists they're hosting. How they use (and store) that information to book and host events is another thing, but a good venue doesn't blindly book artists. And when you book a lot, you can't rely on memory.

A venue needs to know if they should expect blowback against the artist and crowd they're hosting as they've an obligation to protect them. You can't have a safe place if you turn a blind eye to the people who might seek to disrupt the show.