Poof Doof, a Melbourne gay club, has come under fire following the release of a photographer’s brief for taking photos. The brief outlined that photos should only be taken of boys only: “no-one is here to see girls. Ever.”

It then went on to detail the type of boys that should be photographed and those who should not.

The list includes “boys with muscles, hot boys and ONLY the BEST drag queens.”

It then says that photos are not to be taken of skinny boys, boys with bad skin, messy boys, Indi boys (which some claim refers to Indian men) and anyone who has previously had their photo taken.

Australian LGBT+ publication Star Observer reported that Poof Doof says it no longer uses this brief with general manager Susie Robinson telling them that it was released by a disgruntled former employee.

Robinson says the brief was handed out during a meeting in 2011 and that it was “kept to use against us”.

“It’s a shame that this particular photographer felt he had been so wronged [by being terminated] that he really wanted to have as much negative impact on our brand as possible,” she told the Star Observer.

“It’s a shame that this particular photographer felt he had been so wronged [by being terminated] that he really wanted to have as much negative impact on our brand as possible.

“We’re really devastated. A lot changes in eight years, and that brief isn’t representative of who we are today.”

“Initially [in 2011] we started out with the tagline ‘a gay club for homos’, but now it’s ‘a gay club for everyone’,” she said.

“We’ve changed, and our crowd has changed. It’s a whole new Poof Doof now than it was years ago.

“It’s for the entire community.”

Robinson said the club in no way stood by the brief anymore, or the sentiments within it, and said she was sorry for the harm it may have caused.

This is reflected in the recent photos of the club nights which include photos of women. However, the majority of the people shown are overwhelming “hot, muscular boys”.

“It was a top line brief that was shared in person with a photographer years ago, and it’s no longer part of our identity,” she said.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that those words were written, and for that, we absolutely, unreservedly apologise. We absolutely don’t stand by it.

“We’re devastated that we would ever cause harm to anyone. It’s an extremely old document that has been circulated deliberately to hurt us by someone who has recently been terminated from the team,” she alleged.

“We had that discussion when he was about to be terminated and we knew he would retaliate, we’re just extremely sad he’s done it, and taken a community down with him.”