You've reached your limit of free articles.
To read the full story, start your free trial today.
Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.
Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.
Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Tomás Chiu, a manager, and Pen, the hotel’s founder, lead the Casa Venus team. They pose for a portrait on the hotel’s roof.
“It’s my first time working in a space like this, with people from my community, a place where I feel at ease and accepted, without people looking at me, without judgment, without labels,” says Ana Ramírez, a receptionist at Casa Venus at the time of the interview.
Like her, Tomás Chiu, one of the hotel’s managers, who is trans, says, “It’s the first time I feel validated” in a workplace.
Chiu says that in previous jobs he met with discrimination from his bosses, who would use feminine pronouns to refer to him and limit the activities he was permitted to do.
Trans men have an 18.3% chance of experiencing violence in the workplace, according to figures published in 2023 by the Comisión Nacional de los Salarios Mínimos (CONASAMI), the federal agency that establishes the criteria for setting minimum wages. This figure rises to 36.9% for trans women. Both figures are higher than those for cisgender men and women (14.3% and 16.1%, respectively), as well as nonbinary people (16.6%).
The atmosphere of respect and validation within the team is perceptible to visitors. Alan Eduardo Pérez Martín, a tourist from Villahermosa, in the state of Tabasco, says he decided to stay at Casa Venus based on recommendations he read on social media.
“The people who work here are very inclusive, and that’s not common,” he says. “Witnessing people being able to show their personalities lends style and a pleasant feel to the hotel.”
Employees work the front desk at Casa Venus, the first hotel in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Mexico to be staffed by a mostly queer team.
Marissa Revilla, GPJ Mexico
A boost for inclusion in the workplace
Casa Venus’ fight against discrimination has garnered the attention of other merchants and activists in the area.
Maricarmen de la Encarnación Petate, an advocate for the rights of trans women in Chiapas, says the hotel is “a landmark in recognizing and respecting identity” in an area considered “cosmopolitan but very traditionalist, eminently Catholic.”
According to CONASAMI, in 2021, trans women had an 18.8% chance of being denied employment. By contrast, the probability that those who were cisgender would be denied the opportunity to work was 5.1% for men and 4.3% for women. Eduardo Villatoro, president of Cámara Nacional de Comercio, Servicios y Turismo in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, a group that promotes the interests of local businesses, is thrilled that Casa Venus exists and hopes more employers will follow its example.
“The work the hotel is doing [spreads] dignity and contributes to the elimination of stereotypes, stigmas and taboos when it comes to this segment of the population,” Villatoro says referring to people in the LGBT community.
Pen, who says San Cristóbal de Las Casas is “an extremely transphobic place,” says he will continue working to combat workplace discrimination and offer dignified work to members of his community.
“Making the marginal ‘normal’ feels like a political act,” he says.
- New Study Finds High Levels Of Anti-LGBTQ+ Discrimination In Buddhism ›
- A New History Course Explores LGBTQ Life In Ancient Egypt, Greece And Rome ›
- A Four-Star Vienna Hotel, Formerly A Hellish Orphanage ›
