In a bid to mainstream transgenders and the lGBTQIA community, the lalit Suri Hospitality Group is pushing the equality debate to another level by incorporating them in the industry depending on their skill sets and transitioning ability.
To demonstrate its commitment to the cause, the hotel has been hosting the Pride parade party for the last two years and even invited drag artiste Justin Andrew Honard, widely known as Alaska, the runner-up from the second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. “As a company we have been actively working with distinctive marginalised communities, ranging from differently abled individuals, sexual minorities and more. In order to make our
organisation gender diversified, we have taken a number of steps that highlight humanity over sexuality. For example, we have revised the designation of a chairman to a chairperson,” says Keshav Suri, group executive director.
The turning point in Suri’s life to introduce the concept of gender equity was when he read about a
differently abled person being denied entry at a hotel. He was even privy to the
emotional tussle when one of his employees at Kitty Su was transitioning from a male to a female. “These individuals are far more neglected that any of us in terms of medical support and skill development which further motivated me to organise activities where we try to educate, train and entertain people about lGBTQIA and other minorities,” he adds.
Since it wasn’t a cakewalk, Suri decided to train and educate aspirant staff at the group’s hospitality school. They are mainstreamed only after they clear two months of grooming and allied programmes.
From a corporate point of view, he tells us, India is far behind in tapping into Pink/lGBTQIA tourism that has been a major contributor to the US and Brazilian economy. Suri, who is on board of NITI Aayog’s Young CEO Forum, is accentuating diversity and inclusion policies to generate employment and initiate better livelihoods. “I believe that if companies start revising their HR Policies, it can create a major difference in the lives of these people, which I call the true growth of the nation. Because we need to start looking at gender as a non-binary and achieve a control mechanism to eradicate this,” he says.
Apart from organising the Pride fest, the lalit Hotels in Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and london will be celebrating Elphie’s Carnival from Christmas till New Year. Elphie replaces Santa Claus as this year’s mascot because the humanoid is not aligned to a particular gender or religion. “Our message for 2018 is pure love. Elphie will be dressed in rainbow colours marking the December festivities,” he adds.
“We understand that according to the law, we are a minority and hence during the march we always advocate other miniscule minorities ranging from Dalits to Adivasis. Our intent is to peacefully march in order to maintain our visibility and let people know that we are no aliens,” adds Mohnish Malhotra, organiser, Delhi Queer Pride which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary.