An event was held here to observe International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) on Friday.
Organised by Keshav Suri Foundation and Lalit Hotels, the event — The Drag Queen Story Hour — was an attempt to raise awareness about the rights of the queer community and a create a better understanding about them.
Via stories
Drag Queen Lush Monsoon read a story from the Elphie Book series that has been brought out for children by the Lalit group. It was a story about Elphie, a rainbow-coloured elephant that helped a disabled bear who was a DJ reach a party on a wheelchair.
The response it evoked from the children was pure emotion. “The story teaches us not to discriminate”, “be who you are”, “we must take everyone along”, said the children as the microphone was passed around asking them what they had learnt from the story. If the organisers had tried to script the event, they would not have been able to write a better script as the children with their responses showed that they did not need to be tutored to be inclusive.
Elphie, the mascot of The Lalit Hotels, is a gender non-binary elephant. Though a small exercise, the children were taught that like Elphie, they must welcome everyone with open arms. As Monsoon was reading out the story, it was also being presented in sign language.
The organisers said they came up with the concept as children are the teachers of tomorrow and they must be taught that everybody is different and it is normal to be different.
