Launch of Creating Inclusive Workplaces for LGBT+ Employees in India – The Definitive Guide

A recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Contemporary Choreography, 2014, Navtej is recognised as a cutting-edge choreographer who brings the traditional form of Bharatanatyam to a “queer” edge in order to transgress the constructs of gender, race and class boundaries. He is among the few male dancers of classical form in India and first Sikh to have taken to the art form.
In June 2016, Navtej and his partner of 20 years, Sunil Mehra filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court of India challenging Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. This resulted in the 2018 landmark judgment in Navtej Singh Johar and others v. Union of India in which the Supreme Court unanimously declared the law unconstitutional "in so far as it criminalises consensual sexual conduct between adults of the same sex."
In India, Navtej has collaborated with The Chandralekha Group, Leela Samson's Group: Spanda, The KHOJ Workshop, The Gati Dance Forum, he has collaborated with Shubha Mudgal, Justin McCarthy, Sheeba Chachi, Ravinder Reddy, and received several commissions: The Gandhi Memorial Museum, the Commonwealth Games, the Govt of Kerala, Lalit Kala Akademi, the India Foundation for the Arts, being some of them.
A long-time student and practitioner of yoga, Navtej has trained in yoga at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, Chennai, under the guidance of Sri. T.K.V Desikachar. A yoga teacher since 1985, his approach is fluid and adaptable as he freely merges asana, pranayama, visualisation, meditation, and Vedic chanting. Committed to rigorous research and cross-disciplinary inquiry, he has devised two new methods of embodied practice: Abhyas Somatics and the BARPS method of asana.
Navtej is a recipient of the Times of India Fellowship 1995, Charles Wallace Fellowship 1997, and has been a research fellow at the ‘Interweaving Performance Cultures’, International Research Centre, Freie University, Berlin, from 2013-17; he teaches in the “Performance Arts Programs” at Ashoka University; and is founder-director of Studio Abhyas, at New Delhi.
He has also acted in a couple of films; Earth -1947 by Deepa Mehta, and the award-winning, Khamosh Pani (Silent Waters) by Sabiha Sumar.

Keshav Suri is the youngest Executive Director at The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group. He recognises that hospitality brings certain opulence with it and the many dimensions to running a hotel chain. Involved in developing strategies for expansion at The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, he specifically spearheads the chain’s Operation, Food & Beverage, Quality Management, and Marketing divisions. He has been instrumental in effectively fulfilling various unique F&B initiatives and ideas across the Group. His brainchild, ‘Kitty Su,’ completed seven successful years in August 2018. It has been awarded ‘Best Night Club in India’ of the year by INCA and ‘Best Night Club’ by Times Food and Nightlife Awards. Kitty Su is the only nightclub from India to be featured consecutively in DJ Mag under the Top 100 Best Clubs around the World for the last 3 years. It has also been featured as Top 6 Club in the world by GQ India. After the successful venture of Kitty Su in Delhi, Mumbai, and Chandigarh markets, and Kitty KO in Bangalore, Keshav’s next step is to take Kitty Su to Kolkata. With his dynamic and creative approach, Keshav Suri conceptualised The Lalit Food Truck Company, the hotel’s outdoor catering vertical. Under his leadership, The Group became the pioneer, in 5-star luxury hotel chains, to launch food trucks in India. The unique start was marked by Mexican cuisine. Today, the company has four Food Trucks, including a pizza truck.
An alumnus of St. Columbus School, New Delhi, Keshav Suri graduated in Law and Business from the University of Warwick. He obtained a Master’s Degree in International Management from Kings College, London followed by an LLM Degree from School of African & Oriental Studies (SAOS), London.
‘Uniqueness’ is a concept is in sync to this man. His out-of-the-box thinking emerges on multiple platforms at the hotel. The internal policies of inclusiveness and equality for the differently-abled and the LGBTQIA community are noteworthy for a progressive India. The Group proudly supports the policy by creating awareness within the organisation and providing job opportunities for all. Kitty Su has hired a wheelchair bound DJ (India’s first) as its resident kitten. He is also working with NGOs like MakeLoveNotScars to help acid victims in their surgeries and offering them jobs, and tied-up with Robinhood Army to minimize food wastage and work towards eradicating hunger from our society. As an influencer, Keshav also initiates events on the guest front of hospitality, to encourage inclusiveness in a social space. He believes in responsible entrepreneurship and promotes the essence of Made in India across the Group – advocating the use of Indian products. Addressing the health concerns of the society, he has taken initiatives of ‘we serve what we grow’ at The Lalit.
Having worked with several marginalised communities, he launched the #PureLove Campaign and he has rehabilitated about a 100 queer people – counselling them, skilling them, providing jobs and enabling them to live their lives with dignity. He is also one of the petitioners, who filed a writ to revoke Article 377 in the Supreme Court of India.
Having taken upon the cause to build an inclusive nation, he launched his own – Keshav Suri Foundation – on October 13, 2017. The mission of this foundation is to embrace, empower and mainstream the LGBTQ Community. The Foundation is the official affiliate for It Gets Better Project in India.

Aritra is a Product Manager, Innovation Measurement working with Nielsen since 2011. He also assumes the stretch role of PRIDE Employee Resource Group Lead for South Asia in 2018. Born and raised in Kolkata, Aritra completed Masters in Statistics from University of Pune and is currently staying with his partner in Bangalore.

Besides work, Aritra is very passionate about art & music and is associated with a non-profit organization working on preservation of traditional music from Bengal.

Chandra Duraiswamy wears two hats. A day job as a Director of Marketing Communications and a gay job as driving the LGBT+ agenda at his organisation, Capgemini.
In the last seven quarters since the launch an ERG for LGBT+, Chandra has played a key role at Capgemini by launching inclusive policies and benefits comprising of same-sex partner insurance, gender reassignment surgery, all-gender restrooms, creating awareness and sensitizing employees to hiring LGBT+ talent a reality.
On the personal side, he and his partner were one among 15 same-sex couples from all over India featured in FastTrack photo campaign launched during 2019 Valentine’s Day to normalise same-sex love.

Praful is the Innovation Lead at The Event Studio and also Founder of 6 Degrees LGBTQ++ growth network. He has over 21 years of marketing communication experience across various events, public relations; digital and television domains in companies like Times of India, Wizcraft, Ticketpleasedotcom, Seventy event management group etc. His work mainly focuses on 360 degree Marketing Consultancy; Business Growth hacking; Augmented; Virtual and Mixed Reality Content creation apart from Experiential curation and Networking.

He had also conducted a podcast called Keeping it Queer in which he had featured about 6 Degrees and the LGBT lives and many other things.