"To me this in itself was discrimination, but my protests were brushed aside."

Well yes, it's positive discrimination; anyone advocating positive discrimination who didn't accept it was discrimination would be foolish.

personally I'm an advocate for positive discrimination with a few caveats and nuances. How positive discrimination can work well is if, day, two candidates for a role are equally talented and you can't decide between them, but one is from an underrepresented ethnic minority.

Or a job wherein part of the role is about an understanding of sensitive racial issues, e.g. an EDI (ethnicity, diversity and inclusivity) manager or consultant. Let's just say that I work for a company that recently learned the hard way that a well-meaning, experienced, white, middle-class EDI manager can come a cropper by saying things in public that a black EDI manager would never say in a million years.

In terms of culture - like gig or festival programming -an awareness of gender or racial balance is important. And as a music or gallery promoter you do not have to weigh things up the same way someone employing an atomic scientist or brain surgeon would...