A Touch Of Gay #58: The Toolshed Incident
Toolshed Palm Springs embroiled in allegations of racism, misogyny, transphobia, and discriminatory treatment toward Honey Davenport and ONYX SoCal-Southwest.
Daily Inspiration: When we were wrong we promptly admitted it
* Step 10 from 12 step programs.
* Immediate, honest and conciliatory inventory of wrongs.
* Sincerity is in the timeliness, the complete accounting, and the action to resolve.
Leather News: The Toolshed Incident
* May 1st, the Toolshed leather bar in Palm Springs held two back to back events starting with the Rodeo Welcome Party in conjunction with the Palm Springs Hot Rodeo from 6 to 8 pm and then a special fundraising event by ONYX SoCal-Southwest from 8:00 pm to 2:00 am.
* ONYX SoCal-Southwest [https://www.facebook.com/ONYXSoCal.Southwest] is a leather organization dedicated to people of color, and this event was intended to be a community building outreach opportunity for the group and had been planned with Toolshed for months.
* The ONYX SoCal-Southwest event was to headline DJ Honey Davenport [https://www.facebook.com/honeydavenportofficial] who is the current standing Mr. Palm Springs Leather of P.S.L.O.D who’s home bar is the Toolshed. Honey Davenport also has a long pedigree of performance and fame in our community on the national level along with their current journey to compete at IML in just a couple weeks.
* In the week leading up to the event Toolshed allegedly renegotiated on a number of agreed upon terms including the amount they would pay ONYX from $1000 down to $750 because it’s reported the bar owner said “Honey is too expensive”.
* On the day of the event the Toolshed owner contacted Honey Davenport and told them to play country music for the first two hours of their set starting at 8:00 pm during the ONYX Southwest event.
* This started a chain of conversation between Honey Davenport and ONYX leaders, then ONYX leaders and the Toolshed owner explaining that country music isn’t a part of what they do at their events, and that are are to paraphrase Honey Davenport, “few intersections between country music and the house vibe he plays for P.O.C. Events.
* Honey and ONYX did come to an agreement at the last minute to appease the Toolshed by mixing in some country music during the first two hours of their event even though they felt it was not a good idea.
* When Honey Davenport showed up for their set, he found out that the DJ hired for the rodeo event to play country music was asked to stay all night “just in case”, which immediately set a tone for the situation that the Toolshed owner had doubts or a lack of trust in Honey Davenport. Additionally it landed negative because the bar had told ONYX that Honey Davenport was “too expensive”, but they can pay an additional DJ to hang around all night “just in case”.
* As Honey Davenport started their set with a country music tune, then second a house mix the owner of the Toolshed immediately came to Honey and sternly underscored they wanted country music to be played, to which Davenport stated they planned to mix in.
* Shortly into the set Davenport reported on their video account of the night’s events that a patron who was part of the rodeo crowd came up and asked if they were going to play country music or not, ultimately telling them, “Read the room, it you are in a room full of white people maybe you should play white music.”
* At this point Honey Davenport made the decision to leave the event as they did not feel they were honored or appreciated in that moment by the owner of the bar or its patrons, at an event and space that is supposed to be about bringing people of color and community together in a safe environment welcomed.
* Davenport transitioned to the other DJ to had been on hand and left, the men of ONYX continued to try and get through their event.
* ONYX posted a lengthy statement on their social media explaining their own account of the bad-faith actions of the Toolshed owner leading up to the event, their parallel accounting of how Honey was treated, their steadfast support for Davenport’s actions, and their disappointment in how the Toolshed treated the organization and all involved.
* Honey Davenport posted their own video statement on social media the following day which offered his detailed accounting of the night’s events which parallels perfectly with that of ONYX.
* For almost a week Toolshed was silent as news of the incident spread across social media, podcasts like Butt Honestly and others. They refused to discuss the matter meaningfully with the parties involved for nearly a week.
* On Thursday May 7th the Toolshed [https://www.facebook.com/PSToolShed] finally released a statement on social media which is closed to comments except only to those who applaud them. It reads in vague generalities, carefully crafted terms that equivocates the matter to something of an accounting error that needs to be looked at and investigated. It reads impersonal and detached like boilerplate lawyer speak or even AI generated verbiage.
The best response to the Toolshed statement I have seen as of this recording is from Hades Amun-Ra [https://www.facebook.com/thepuphades], Mister Mr. Kink 2026 of Palm Springs.
While its appreciated that acknowledgment that harm occurred, the Tool Shed’s statement still falls short of meaningful accountability. It frames the issue primarily as a matter of “communication” and “coordination,” while failing to directly name and address the racism, misogyny, and transphobia that patrons, performers, and community members experienced and witnessed.
When harm disproportionately impacts Black people, femmes, trans people, and queer people of color, it is important to explicitly recognize that reality rather than speak around it in generalized language about “respect” and “diversity.” Avoiding direct language minimizes the experiences of those affected and makes it difficult for community members to trust that the full scope of the issue is being understood.
Additionally, this statement does not outline concrete accountability measures or actionable next steps beyond future written agreements and internal discussions. Communities deserve more than promises to “learn and do better.” We are looking for clear, public commitments such as:
* What specific anti-discrimination policies will be implemented or strengthened?
* What staff training or cultural competency measures will take place?
* How will incidents involving racism, misogyny, transphobia, or discriminatory treatment be documented and addressed moving forward?
* What systems will be put in place to ensure performers and patrons feel protected and supported in real time?
* How will impacted community members be included in these conversations and solutions? It is also difficult to reconcile the claim that the community is being “heard” and that feedback is being welcomed while comments on the post have been disabled.
* Closing off public dialogue prevents transparent community conversation and accountability, particularly for those directly impacted who may not feel safe or empowered enough to reach out privately. If the goal is truly to listen, there must also be space for the community to speak openly and be acknowledged publicly.
Accountability requires specificity, transparency, and action — not only reflection. Our community deserves spaces that do not simply celebrate diversity in branding, but actively protect and affirm the people who make that diversity possible.
– Hades Amun-Ra
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