Paula Lindo – Our histories, stories, present, future.

Among the awardees for The Financial Times’ 2016 Top 50 LGBT Future Leaders is Trinidadian Liam Rezende. He is based in London, where he works as the Marketing Communications Manager for Andaz, the Hyatt’s lifestyle brand. Rezende said he felt an immense sense of pride in being chosen as one of the Top 50 LGBT Future Leaders, not only as a member of Hyatt but also as a Trinidadian.

He also said he was proud to have make his parents proud, as they had urged him to leave Trinidad. “I only came out to my parents after I moved to London, and they said they always knew. My mother said, “the reason I wanted you to leave was because you weren’t able to be your true authentic self here, and for a mother, not being able to see their child be themselves is heartbreaking.” Rezende was also proud that he had made it onto a business list with no tertiary level-training, as he had gone straight from doing CAPE at Queen’s Royal College to working at Hyatt in Trinidad and then transferring to London.
“I owe so much to T&T, and to QRC, because I think that QRC and Trinidad have made me the person that I am today, and in a sense, I feel indebted to T&T and I can’t for one instant do what I’m doing and not think about Trinidad and not think about people. My entire family lives in Trinidad, my mother, father, brother, sister, and all of my friends are there, so that’s one of my main goals, to get more involved from here in Trinidad.Before moving to London from Trinidad & Tobago I sat on the steering committee of the Coalition Advocating for the Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO) a group set up to educate policy makers and push for policy reform. The organisation was formed after protection based on sexual orientation was written out of Trinidad & Tobago’s Equal Opportunities Act and not included in the country’s National Gender Policy. More recently, I organised the first fundraising charity dinner for the London Gay Men’s Chorus to support their development and outreach programme, I have taken part in the 2016 Pride Run and I’ve also been featured in Attitude Magazine talking about growing up gay in Trinidad and Tobago a country that still criminalises homosexuality.”
He said when he realized he wasn’t being discriminated against or being treated differently in the workplace, he began to flourish in his role. “I came over here as a front office receptionist and now, fast-forward six years and I’m Head of Marketing for one of their main properties in London, and I certainly count me being my authentic self as the reason for being where I am today. That’s what prompted me to go to my Human Resource team and say we need to ensure that new employees know we are an inclusive company and they’re not going to be discriminated against based on their religion, race, gender or sexual orientation. Even though it started off with me prompting LGBT inclusion, it has become a lot bigger, in the sense of the company making their stance public on all of the different ways in which one can be discriminated against. I’d like to believe I’ve made a change in what goes on in the company.”
Rezende said although he feels proud, there is also an element of guilt that he can be himself in London while LGBT people in Trinidad face significantly greater challenges. “I don’t have to think about whether I’m going to be kicked out of my house by my landlord, lose my job, bullied in the workplace or attacked for holding someone’s hand in the street. Those are very significant realities that LGBT people in T&T face.” He said the recent popularity of Kia Rankin Boss has strengthened and perpetuated some stereotypes about the LGBT community in T&T, and he hopes that his inclusion on the lists can be beneficial to someone in T&T, whether it’s being able to know they’re not alone or changing the way they think about the community. “I think that it’s about breaking those stereotypes and seeing that LGBT people come in all shapes and sizes.”
Rezende, who one day wants to effect changes for the LGBT community in T&T, said he is looking forward to 2017, when the model United Nations will be debating LGBT rights. It will be the 50th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in the UK, although the laws against homosexuality which were imposed by Britain on the Commonwealth still remain. Rezende said these two events should spark interesting conversations.
The list was presented by the Financial Times in association with OUTstanding, a professional network for LGBT+ executives and their allies. The awardees were nominated by their peers and colleagues and completed an application process. A media release from OUTstanding said that “Future Leaders are high performing and high potential individuals at various levels in their careers. A stronger emphasis was placed on their work towards LGBT+ inclusion rather than their seniority in the business. Each person was scored on the seniority and influence of their role, their impact on LGBT+ inclusion inside and outside the workplace and their business achievements.”