TL;DR
- Green Party leader Zack Polanski partied with supporters at London’s iconic gay bar Heaven.
- The event launched the Green Party’s new “Green Space” community initiative.
- Polanski, who once worked at the club, delivered an emotional speech about queer community and resistance.
- Critics questioned the event’s Sunday timing, but supporters clapped back.
- The moment highlights Polanski’s popularity within the LGBTQ+ community and his pro-trans platform.
Zack Polanski Celebrates With Supporters at Gay Bar Where He Once Worked
A Party With Purpose—and a Whole Lot of Queer Joy
Green Party leader Zack Polanski knows how to work a room—and apparently how to work a dance floor, too. The openly gay politician was filmed partying, laughing, and hugging supporters at London’s legendary LGBTQ+ nightclub Heaven, a venue where he once clocked in shifts long before his national profile soared.
Now he’s trending all over social media for it.
Polanski was at the club for the launch of “Green Space,” a new nationwide initiative designed to build community power and raise funds to help get more Green Party candidates elected. And if the reaction online is any clue, the message hit just as hard as the beats echoing under Heaven’s vaulted arches.
From Club Worker to Party Leader: A Full-Circle Moment
At one point in the night, Polanski—bucket hat and all—beamed at a crowd of queer supporters as he reminisced about his time working at Heaven, telling them he’d spent “many an hour on the dance floor.”
Looking around at the jubilant crowd, he declared: “This is community. Community is joy, community is resistance, community is love.”
Then he got serious, pointing out that 800 LGBTQ+ venues have shut down across the UK in the past five years. His message to the government was blunt: “This is a government that knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.”
It was a rare moment where political leadership and queer nightlife blended seamlessly—Polanski not as a distant figure behind a podium, but as someone who once tended bar, danced until closing, and still understands the pulse of LGBTQ+ spaces.
Critics Complain, Supporters Clap Back
Not everyone was thrilled. The Bristol Young Liberals tried to stir controversy by highlighting that the event took place on a Sunday. Social media, however, promptly reminded them that:
- Working-class and shift workers often treat Sunday night as the weekend, and
- If the worst thing you can say about a politician is that he’s fun, that’s hardly a scandal.
For a UK political climate often defined by grim austerity and culture-war posturing, the sight of a party leader dancing with queer supporters felt, frankly, refreshing.
The LGBTQ+ Impact: A Politician Who Shows Up—Literally
Polanski’s popularity among LGBTQ+ Britons stems from more than just a good party photo op. He has consistently championed trans rights, defended inclusive language, and taken strong stances on queer equality where other politicians have hedged or backpedaled. That made him a standout during his leadership campaign—and now a symbol of a new kind of politics: unapologetically progressive, visibly queer, and willing to celebrate community instead of merely invoking it.
His appearance at Heaven is more than nostalgia—it’s a reminder that queer nightlife isn’t frivolous; it’s culture, community, and survival. Politicians who honor that instead of exploiting it are still shockingly rare.
A Night That Says as Much as Any Speech
In a country where LGBTQ+ venues are disappearing and queer inclusivity is increasingly politicized, the sight of a party leader returning to the place that shaped him—and celebrating with the community that lifted him up—is powerful.
The Green Party’s “Green Space” initiative may have been the official reason for the gathering, but what resonated most was Polanski’s message: hope isn’t just policy. It’s people. It’s joy. It’s resistance you can dance to.
And for queer communities, especially in a tense political landscape, that kind of leadership matters.