Last week, Selyn Handloom, one of Sri Lanka’s much-loved textile companies, launched a new addition to their Diversity Dolls – The Rainbow Family. Selyn’s Diversity Dolls is a range of dolls designed and manufactured in-house to help children (and adults for that matter) embrace diversity. The Rainbow Family was dedicated to the fantastic and inspirational LGBTQIA+ couple Hash Bandara and Umanga Samarasinghe, a couple who have chosen love and each other despite social pressure and the stigma attached with being openly LGBTQIA+.
The Rainbow Family is Selyn’s latest addition to its 2021 PRIDE collection, a range of items from Selyn that is all about acceptance, celebrating the hashtag (and movement) #LoveIsLove. The 2021 PRIDE collection, is a show of support and solidarity that further drives home the fact that at Selyn, sexual orientation and gender identity are integral aspects of being who we are and should never be grounds for discrimination. This year, Selyn has joined hands with EQUAL GROUND, Sri Lanka’s leading advocacy group LGBTQIA+ rights, to become a partner of Colombo PRIDE 2021.
Brunch caught up with Selyn Director – Business Development Selyna Peiris and Selyn Brand Executive Aisha Cassim for a chat on being part of Colombo PRIDE 2021, the newly launched Diversity Dolls, and how important it is for companies and society to stand in support of equality and diversity.
Aisha explained that Selyn’s partnership with EQUAL GROUND for Colombo PRIDE 2021 was partly because of EQUAL GROUND’s invaluable work and history in advancing LGBTQIA+ rights. With diversity being an integral part of the Selyn DNA, from the teams in Colombo to their teams in Kurunegala at their factory, Selyn has always valued diversity, especially within the workplace, something which Selyn has previously partnered with EQUAL GROUND for in the form of providing awareness training to Selyn’s management and staff on LGBTQIA+ issues. This initiative was also embarked on with the view of Selyn leading by example on how to foster diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. This history with EQUAL GROUND made partnering with Colombo PRIDE 2021 a natural choice. Aisha also said that as a business, Selyn has always been very transparent about the people behind the product, which is why diversity is such an important factor, especially given that Selyn is a traditional company that is over 30 years old. “If a company like Selyn can do something like this in 2021, it sends out a message to other companies, both new and old, that it’s not about simply sticking a rainbow flag into a product, but fully accepting and saying ‘we are ready to educate’. The main thing for us is educating others about diversity and making sure everyone within and without the company gets it.”
Part of Selyn’s offering to celebrate Pride Month was also the rainbow flower pin, with its accompanying “Pin It with PRIDE” campaign, that was created to make a network that shows just how much we are all a
part of embracing diversity. “Selyn has always believed in sustainability that goes beyond just raising funds,” Selyna said, adding: “Our entire operation has the principle of ‘if we’re going to advocate for something, our products also have to speak about it’. It’s not about just creating a product that speaks for diversity and sustainability at the back end.” This philosophy has been followed throughout the Selyn’s PRIDE collection with Selyna explaining that even “Pin It with PRIDE” was a joint effort to show support and acceptance with everyone around Selyn, from the people they work with to the people they hope to work with, while also providing an avenue for women to earn a livelihood during the challenging period of travel restrictions. The rainbow flower pin was just one part of a whole range, Selyn’s PRIDE 2021 range, designed for Pride Month with Selyn committing to share a percentage of the profit of sales of this collection to EQUAL GROUND to continue supporting the important work that they do across society.
Speaking more on the Diversity Dolls – The Rainbow Family, Aisha shared that the Diversity Dolls collection has always been ahead of its time for Sri Lanka, previously being developed for Selyn’s export market. Basing The Rainbow Family on Hash and Umanga, Aisha explained that this was a way to honour the inspirational LGBTQIA+ couple while also drawing attention to the fact that families can and do come in all shapes and sizes.
Selyna echoed the sentiment of the Diversity Dolls and the shape of the modern family, explaining that the modern family is made up of single parents, divorced parents, parents of different backgrounds, different culture, and of course, different sexual orientations and gender identities, and it this that Diversity Dolls are designed to convey. “Selyn has been exporting toys for the last 30 years, working with European and American buyers,” Selyna said, adding: “We have a background in education and reconciliation, and early childhood education is so important to teach and understand values and ethics.” Selyna explained that the introduction of characters who are diverse and representational of the different kinds of people in society at a young age is when children can be taught to respect and value diversity of all kinds.
Sadly, the Sri Lankan education system doesn’t maximise the opportunity to teach values to children at a young age. “We start educating our children at six years old. Until recently, pre-schools were not even in the education system. It’s only recently with the present Government that they have come to fall under the Education Ministry,” Selyna said, adding that by the age of six, children’s value systems are largely established and teaching the values like diversity becomes more challenging, and this is where the Diversity Dolls as Selyna first imagined them comes into play, because the Diversity Dolls open up children’s minds to different issues in society through its characters, from religious and ethnic issues with ethnic dolls, to issues like LGBTQIA+ issues and unconventional family structures through The Rainbow Family.
“A father and a mother is not what makes a family; even in Sri Lanka,” Selyna said, explaining that this was why Selyn put out The Rainbow Family, dedicated to Hash and Umanga, because, to Selyna and Selyn, they are the representation of a modern, proud family. “We’re very forward in our thinking, controversial even, but we have to say it,” Selyn added, saying: “And as a company, we have the possibility to do so. We were scared about potential backlash as an old handloom company; we wondered what our customers would say, but as far as we know, we haven’t received any negative comment, and the collection has sold. People are buying it, and not just from Colombo but from out of Colombo as well.”
Proceeds from sales of the rainbow pin, the Diversity Dolls – The Rainbow Family, and Selyn’s PRIDE collection will go towards supporting the continuous work and advocacy of EQUAL GROUND. To look at the whole range, please visit https://selyn.lk/product-category/pride/.
