~ Collective Statement from Queer Individuals and allies
To endorse the statement, please visit: http://tiny.cc/l1rnaz [CLOSED]
“We stand by Rasika and Shivangi and condemn every attempt by the management of The Slate Hotels to discredit them.”
The Slate Hotels in Chennai’s Khader Nawaz Khan Road is a popular nightlife destination in the city. Last week, the establishment humiliated, intimidated and threw out a young queer couple, accusing them of behaving “inappropriately”. When the young women spoke out about the hotel management’s homophobia, there were further attempts to intimidate them by threatening to “release CCTV footage” of them behaving “inappropriately” on the dance floor. And a week after the deplorable incident, the management has not even considered an apology, and instead seem to be attempting “media management”.
As queer individuals from Chennai and who have a connection to Chennai, and as people who believe in keeping private establishments who claim to be ‘queer friendly’, accountable for their actions, we condemn the homophobia and queerphobia on display by The Slate Hotels, Chennai. There is nothing ‘indecent’ about two women dancing with each other, and nothing ‘inappropriate’ about it either. If the establishment was ‘LGBTQI+ friendly’ as they claim, they would have trained their staff to be more sensitive, and asked the ‘patrons who felt uncomfortable’ to leave instead to ensure that they are a safe space for women and LGBTQI+ people.
How many training sessions has the management held to sensitise their staff about LGBTQI+ issues? What have they done to ensure that their establishment is a safe space for queer individuals and couples? What strategies have they developed to ensure queer individuals and couples do not feel threatened by their other patrons?
Further, we condemn all attempts made by the management of the hotel to intimidate and discredit the two young women.
A ‘statement’ is doing the rounds, purportedly released by the three ‘youngsters’ who run the hotel — Varun Ganesan, Jai Chowdhary, and Deepraj G. This statement is nothing but an attempt to discredit the two young women, and to portray themselves as victims of a “media conspiracy orchestrated by two students.” The statement blatently using the queer movement and our struggles is deplorable and exploitation of our lived experiences. The statement also highlights the hotel managment as ‘youngsters’ and hence cannot be homophobic. As queer individuals, activists and allies we are aware that age does not have anything to do with prejudice and bigotry. As individuals who have worked at grassroot level, our allies and supporters come from all ages and backgrounds. The bid to portray all young persons as queer friendly is another attempt to dilute the queerphobia kids go through in schools and colleges. This is nothing but ageism. Our fight for a just society and safe spaces for queer individuals includes the supposed progressive and liberal spaces. These spaces are not free of prejudice and queerphobia.
We condemn this thoughtless statement, that is a clear attempt to silence the victims of The Slate Hotels, Chennai’s discrimination and homophobia.
We demand that the hotel management issue an immediate and full apology to the two young women, and further take steps to sensitise their staff about LGBTQI+ issues. We also suggest that the owners of the establishment enroll themselves for sensitisation sessions as well — learning the right words and pretending to be ‘woke’ is not a free pass to humiliate, threaten, and discriminate against people.
To Rasika and Shivangi, we would like to extend our support, and hope that their daily lives and their education are not disrupted further by the reckless homophobia and insufferable self-righteousness of the owners of The Slate Hotels, Chennai.
To endorse the statement, please visit: http://tiny.cc/l1rnaz [CLOSED]
Endorsed by:
- Abhi R, Chennai
- ADHARSH A, UNDERGRAD STUDENT, SALEM
- Aditya Kumar, Mylapore
- Aditya Shrikrishna, Film Critic
- Adrija, Gurgaon
- Afia Nazar, Pursuing PhD, Chennai
- Aishwarya, Chennai/Bangalore
- Akshaya,Chennai
- Aksheeya Suresh, Chennai
- Alina Maria Tiphagne
- Amba Salelkar, Equals Centre for Promotion of Social Justice, Chennai
- Anadi Athaley, Filmmaker
- Anandaraj
- Ananth
- Anisha Mariam Abraham
- Anita Bharathi
- Aparnna Suresh
- Arvind, out and proud queer person.
- Ashwin Shakthi
- Asif Marecan, Freelancer, Chennai
- Aurpera
- Avi Narayan Singh, Student, Scms Pune
- B.Sowmiya
- Bakhya K
- Bala Murugan
- Bhoomika D. Pandhare, Advocate.
- Boanerges, System Engineer/ Chennai
- Bring the establishment down
- Chandrasekar , Chennai
- Consulting
- Darshni Prasad — Vellore
- David Bethell
- Diana Evangeline, Consultant, Bangalore
- Diveshwar G.R, Chennai
- Drishya, Chennai
- Dwight Cook
- Faizal, IT Engineer
- Frederick/content writer, Bangalore
- Gargi, Kolkata
- Gheshna, Artist
- Gireesh, Writer
- Gokul, Chennai
- Gokul, Student, Chennai
- Gowdham, Student/Anna Nagar, Chennai
- Guha,IT/Bangalore
- Hamsadhwani Alagarsamy, student, NUALS Kochi
- Harini, Chennai
- Harsha .V Alappuzha
- Haseena, Student, Chennai
- Isha, Student, Stella Maris College, Chennai
- Jahnavi Visvanathan, lawyer
- Jaiveer Johal
- Japleen Pasricha, FII
- Jawahar Singh, Entrepreneur, Chennai
- Jayesh
- Jessica Astrid Darcey, artist tourist, Chennai/Kochin/Brisbane India/Australia
- Johnson
- Joshua Muyiwa — poet & freelance journalist
- Justin Thomas, Banking, Thiruvananthapuram
- Kalpaha Viruksham, Architect, Chennai
- Karthik Malena
- Karthik Shankar
- Katherine Deborah Joy
- Kavin, Coimbatore
- Kavitha
- kiran
- Krishna, Teacher, Chennai
- Krithiha, working with a media organisation.
- Laxmi kuckreja
- Leeny, PhD scholar, Stella Maris College, Chennai
- Lenin, Doctor
- Madhuvanti, Chennai
- Madu from Chennai
- Maithreyan Kuppusamy, PhD Student, FZJ Germany
- Mandar M from Mumbai
- Mandar M from Mumbai
- Maryam Nayaz
- Meera, Reporter, Chennai
- Mohan kumar, animator, chennai
- Moulee, Queer activist, Founder — Queer Chennai Chronicles
- Mriganka, Social Activist, Guwahati
- Nabi H. Ali
- Nadika Nadja, Writer and Film critic
- Namditha
- Nandhini Ashok, NID student
- Nikki Andrade, Bangalore
- Nimalan Arooran — Creative Director, Arkscope
- Nithisha/ student
- Pamheiba Rajkumar, Bangalore
- Parvathy, teacher.
- Prabbu Menon
- Prarthana
- Prashant Gopichandran, Sr. Software Engineer, Bangalore
- Prema Revathi, Theatreperson
- Rachel Toms
- Radha, Chennai
- Ragamalika Karthikeyan, Journalist
- Raghu Vamsy
- Ragunaath, Filmmaker, Chennai
- Raj
- Rajeshwari M, Chennai
- Rajkiran, Chennai
- Ram Chennai
- Ram, Chennai
- Ram, IT, Bangalore
- Ranjitha Gunasekaran
- Rashmi
- Rashmi, Chennai
- Ray R, Student (LL.B.), University of Delhi, Delhi.
- Rayanna, Student, Chennai.
- Sagin
- Saiesha Hinge, law student, New Law College, Pune.
- Sandeep Kanabar, Pune
- Sanjana
- Santosh K, Chennai
- Sasank, Chennai
- Sathish Kumar SK
- Sathishkumar
- Sathya
- Saurabh Mistry, Doctor, Trichy
- Selva Balaji
- Shankar Ganesh
- shilpa, chennai
- Shivalal Gautam
- Shrinidhi Rao, Advocate, New Delhi
- Shruthi Kamalahasan- College Student
- Shruthi Kannan, Trikone Chicago
- Shyam konnur, activist, Mist, pune
- Siddhant Pandey, Journalist, Delhi
- Sneha belcin, Journalist
- Soniya
- Sowmya
- Sriraam, Chennai
- Sriram
- Sruthy
- Sudhakar, Software Engineer, New Jersey
- Sudharson RG, Asst.Prof, Chennai
- Suresh Ramdas
- SURESH V/State Govt/Pollachi
- Suresh, Writer, Chennai
- Surya
- Sushmita Shankar.
- Swati Sugumar
- Swetha Shankar
- Sylvia Karpagam, Public health doctor and researcher
- Tanvi GS, Student
- Tharun S, Chennai
- Umesh subramani
- Vaishali Kambli, Pune.
- Valan, Sonipat
- Varun Reddy, Medical student, Chennai.
- Vieshaka, Working With Pride
- Vignesh Srikanth, Writer — Director, Chennai
- Vijayaraj, Chatbot Developer/Pandabots, Chennai
- Vikas Muralidharan, Chennai
- Vinay
- Vinita Singh, Pvt Sector,New Delhi
- Vinita Singh, Pvt Sector,New Delhi
- Vishal Muralidharan
- VishnuKumar KailashKumar, Chennai
- Yashika Bafna
To endorse the statement, please visit: http://tiny.cc/l1rnaz [CLOSED]
~*~
Media Coverage:
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/queer-community-slams-chennais-slate-hotels-homophobia-106607
