Tao Group Hospitality’s Post

Transcript

Hi, my name is Austin Crown. I'm a senior manager and special events and I've been here a little over two years and my preferred pronouns are he, him, or they them? Hi, my name is Neil Ryan Gibb. I am the vice president of promotions here at Tao Group and I have been with the company for over 10 years. My preferred pronouns are he, him, and his. Hello, my name is Sunny Mercelis. I am a production coordinator and in one month I will be. Two years with Tell Group. My preferred pronouns are he, him, his. My name is Jordan Reyes. I'm a marketing supervisor in the Las Vegas corporate office. I've been here for almost two years. My preferred pronouns are he, him, his. Pride month, personally, to me, is a symbol of visibility. It's making sure that people, for so long, LGBT people who have been ostracized and have had violence committed against them, to show that we're here and we're not going anywhere. And it's really important to have visibility because for so long it's been, you know, we were the outcast. So many acts of violence have been committed against us. And even today, acts of violence are committed. So Pride Month is really one of those that's hey, we're here, we're not going anywhere, we're important and we're integral members of society or we contribute to art. We are here and we're staying. Pride Month to me personally is a celebration of love and acceptance. It is celebrating all the victories of the LGBTQIA plus community throughout history. Personally, Pride Month means it's a time for, you know, overall celebration and remembering that. There's a time to be fully inclusive with everyone around you, be your free self, be truly who you are, and just represent every color in the rainbow. To me, Pride Month means celebrating all identities, fostering safe place, and honoring the triumphs and struggles we've all faced. Pride Month really manifests itself in different ways. You know, different cities hold different Prides, and it's really fun to go to different prides and meet people from different walks of life, to understand different cultures and why people are here and why people are celebrating. It's really a party, but it's more of a celebration of life that we're alive, that we've overcome so much. And, you know, we're showing that we are so prideful in who we are and we want other people to be too, and we want the world to be more inclusive. To who we are and what we what we bring to the table. I celebrate Pride month by attending events that support the queer community and educating myself on issues that affect us today and supporting local queer businesses. I typically celebrate Pride month being active in surrounded by people within the community. I feel like it's important to just go out, celebrate how you want to celebrate and just being one with everyone around you. Hello Pride by participating in local. Events and educating myself and others on issues we face. Prizeman For me, the most important thing is going out and meeting new people. It's not always about the parties and the fun. It's about introducing yourself and really getting to know people who have similar ideas to you, but also learning about people who are different and who have different places that they've come from to really broaden your spectrum of what being in the LGBTQ plus community really means for people. A personal story for me actually about Pride is a time where I was at an age where I could, you know, go to my first gay club and like, be around people around who were just like me and celebrating everything. But actually a week before I was planning on going to do that was the Orlando Pulse shooting in 2016. For me, that was a very terrifying and traumatic time, and it kind of like messed me up years after that. And it wasn't until I went to I was invited to go out to my very first gay pride festival where that was like my first time where I was like, you know, out and proud and happy. And I was trying my best to kind of like let go of that fear and that traumatic experience to kind of just be, to live freely. And every single pride after that just kind of reminds me of like you go through some traumatic times. There are moments where you can, you know, let go and just kind of like start all over and. Give yourself that that happy space. One meaningful experience to me with relation to Pride was attending my first Pride parade. It was World Pride in New York, and just to see the sheer scope of our community. There were so many people from around the world attending this event and to feel that sense of belonging and unity with everybody present. It was just a feeling that I couldn't even compare to anything else. I really think workplaces can really hone in on focusing on the mental health of LGBTQ plus people. There's so much that people don't realize that LGBT people go through in adolescence and in their teenage years trying to come to terms with who they are, and that creates a big internal struggle. I'm not speaking for everyone, but personally, a huge internal struggle of who we are and into your later. Adult years, you don't realize how much that manifests in every aspect of your life, including work. And so a lot of LGBT people focus so hard on work so they don't focus on maybe the past traumas and stuff that they've experienced. So companies that focus on making sure everyone has good access to mental Healthcare is huge and really important, I think really in any workplace. Workplaces can become more LGBTQIA plus inclusive by implementing diversity training and fostering just a culture of acceptance. Tao Group does a great job of all of that. I think some common misconceptions the community face is that people don't think there's still issues happening today, but even though you don't face it in a city like Vegas or LA, New York, there's still other towns where people are still getting discriminated against. Alice can be more supportive during Pride Month by listening, educating themselves on issues that affect the LGBTQIA plus community, advocating for our rights, and just fostering inclusive spaces. I think, you know, this ties into everything I've said. I think the significance of Pride Month is that visibility and I wish more people would take it as less of a were different. And This is why as opposed to we are showing you who we are because that's important for us to be seen. For so long in the media, we were never seen or we were only portrayed as one type of individual or one type of person. Where we come in all different shapes and sizes and going to a Pride parade or this being visible during Pride month really I think exemplifies that we are all important in our own unique way and it's showing that uniqueness and accepting that from everyone.