Aloha, I'm Rob and welcome to our Meet Their World video series
Me and the Hostelworld crew will be chatting to eager
explorers from around the world sharing their stories and words of wanderlust
Get comfy... grab yourself a cocktail... and enjoy travel
tales of adventure and discovery from our community of beautiful backpackers
In celebration of Pride month we're chatting with
Joe Hindman to learn about his personal journey as a gay
hostel owner in South Carolina and the challenges and hurdles he's had to overcome
Hi my names Joe Hindman Im the owner and
general manager of a new modern boutique hostel in Greenville
South Carolina called Modal, I'm a gay male and my pronouns are he/him
Thank you for joining us today Joe
So firstly congratulations on your HOSCAR for
Extraordinary Inclusive Hostel
Its definitely quite an achievement in such
a short space of time if I'm not wrong.
was it 9 months if I'm correct?
Yes, we opened in July of 2020.
Lets see if we can get things going
a bit with just some more some loose hearted questions
If you were to choose two celebrities to share a dorm with
in a hostel who would they be?
I think one would be Lizzo.
I don't know if you know who Lizzo is
I totally love that, and the other....
It's gotta be someone who could potentially get on with Lizzo as well
Its always such an interesting dynamic
This one doesn't make a whole lot of sense
but Barack Obama?
I think it would be so much fun to see that dynamic
and somebody I greatly respect
so off the cuff I guess those two if that makes any sense?
That is definitely a killer combo
I think your gonna have a good time with them two in a dorm
So if you were a cocktail, what cocktail would you be and why?
now the why part might be a bit more difficult to answer
but if you were to be a cocktail on a menu who would you be
I don't know that this is a standard cocktail but here in Greenville
my favourite bar is called Exile and they have a cocktail called the Pink Lady
and I feel like it characterises me in a glass so and I love
it and I can drink way too many of them.
So that's me.
Have you got a best pride memory a memory from Pride or anything
that you know really stands true in your mind.
Again another hard one these aren't easy
And i'll be honest I haven't been to a tonne of Pride festivals
and the reason being is I came out when I was 25
and so a lot of the past I kind of missed out on bigger city Pride
I definitely remember my first Pride experience was in Charlotte
North Carolina which is just about an hour and 45 minutes north of here.
And I just remember the first time being out and proud gay man
and feeling the sense of I wasn't alone for the first time like
being there at the festival and being around just like minded people
and it been an enjoyable thing, not being something where we
felt like we had to find refuge or safety somewhere by ourselves
but it was very public and it was
just really impactful to experience that for the first time.
I didn't previously have a really strong connection to say
the rainbow flag or iconography for the gay community in general
but through actually experiencing Pride and experiencing
interaction with individuals who were also from the broad queer community
It just totally changed the way that I feel and think about
specifically Pride.
It's important to note that pride isn't about at its core partying
and celebration and it's not strictly about being crazy
or sensual, but I think it's important because it's
a time for those of us who have gone through our own journeys
and found who we are to acknowledge the past and also
you were saying talk about the future.
I noticed on your site you reference to the term LGBTQIA+
Now myself as a straight male, the expansion from the term LGBT
or LGBTQ, is LGBTQIA+ now a global recognised term?
I think as a brand and as a business and specifically as a person
I try to use language and identifiers that are as inclusive as possible
like it also incorporates additional individuals within that spectrum
that may be feel in the past have been left out by simply using LGBT
in what we as a mission wanted to do here made
it made the most sense to use that term.
What kind of stereotypes about the LGBTQIA+ community annoy you the most?
Just like any demographic theres always going to be that stereotype that is perpetuated
time and time again through cliche characters through Hollywood or
characterisation in general or assumption
I think for me specifically when I was figuring out who I
was in and understanding you know my own story as a gay man
I had a hard time with accepting that that's who I had
to become and that's not that's not a reality that's not
true no one's they said that but in my mind if I was to
be loud and proud.
I had to take on this new persona which there's a lot to
be learned in just sitting down and listening to somebody and
really learning who they are rather than making assumptions
about what you think simply by what you see on the outside.
That's one reason
why we fight so hard within our business to to do everything
we can to make sure everyone feels like they're welcome and
that they are loved and that they are accepted to walk through our door.
You know we've been in places where that's not the case
You know specifically the queer community as a whole like
time and time again we've walked into spaces where we knew we weren't welcome.
You know you could just sense It you could just feel the
eyes staring at you.
The focus on it in terms of media and stuff like that, its very important
Do you think that kind of focus has made things transition at all
or is it very much the same
It's just had a blanket put over the top of it?
I think the younger generation is starting to believe
and support the queer community at a much younger age.
I have nephews who are you know
I remember when they were like 15 and in high school and
it came up in the car one day you know about so and so had a
gay friend and it was just...
there was no negativity about him stating that fact.
It was just like this
is normal you know like.... Gay people exist!
it was refreshing to hear that come out of a young person's mouth
where at my age, when I was that age in my life experience
you know that would never of happened.
Do you think that the LGBTQIA+ community have to make
different travel choices?
Is it more difficult for them to choose travel, what's your kind of thought on that?
Some of it I would say, I dont know if its have to
but I definitely think that we choose too in certain ways
You know obviously theres still countries as a whole that it's
illegal to either show or to be out about your sexuality
and that obviously is extremely limiting, there's still a major
fear factor for those of us when we want to travel internationally
we're looking at... lists or we're looking at websites to find
where are the safe spaces.. even though we just
talked about how progressive things look like and how things are positive
There's still always going to be I think this
desire for the queer community to find places where they know that
they can they can relax you know.
Travel and vacation is about relaxing right like it's about adventure and
you don't want to have to constantly be looking over your shoulder
questioning whether or not you're going to be accepted.
And so I think the desire to ensure that you're going
to have a good time means that you're going to do your research
and that just takes more effort and I didn't intentionally
put any permanent gay symbolism or flag on our property
because I really want allies and I really want the heterosexual
community or individuals who may you know have controversial
feelings about the Pride flag.
I didn't want them to feel like this space wasn't safe
and welcome to them.
Your located in South Carolina am I correct?
did this location impose any challenges due to the history
of you know it being a very non-inclusive city like you already mentioned?
Oh my goodness, so there's a couple of factors I think
that impacted our experience specifically on opening
a hostel not just in South Carolina but in the south-east
we realised when we brought you know a hostel to the table
which Americans struggle with that term, perception in general of a hostel
in the United States is typically negative and so I think
the burden we bear as hostels in the United States in specifically
the south-east what I'm experiencing is, I have to be a
very strong advocate and vocal about how hostels are positive
and how they are clean and how they're safe and how they
bring beautiful vibrancy to the lodging community.
What are things that straight people need to stop doing?
Now this is a question that I know people have been asked before
but like are there any tips that you give me or anyone else in the
straight community that, what are the real niches that
just need to be the real things that need to be knocked on the head?
The queer individual or specifically a lot of times the
gay male is used almost in a fetishised way that... or tokenised where
just like I've heard from my friends of colour say that you know
their the token black person in the room.
you know or there
They're token black friend and I think it's the same way
in the gay communities it's almost become popularised again
through Hollywood or through whatever means that
you have to have your token gay best friend or something of that nature
to where It's almost like you're using this person because
of the uniqueness that they are and that's not fair to anyone
that they're that their beauty and their uniqueness as a person
used simply as an accessory.
You know we're not accessories, we're dynamic
and very unique people who have a lot of complexity to us.
And I think unfortunately that concept really plays
harm to the queer community in the sense that it can really impact
someone's mental health if they if the relationship is simply
a very surface-level accessory experience.
Do you find its a big struggle and is it quite easy to see when someone
is just you know acting a trend?
Its very hard because you don't really truly ever know someone's motives
and I think again it comes down too communication for me
If you describe someone you know one way to wear it demoralises
their value then you have to stop and question what's
your motive you now like it's not it's not so cut and dry.
What is it specifically that you think Hostelworld as a company
as large as we are
could do more of or could potentially change to make the lives
of LGBTQIA+ travellers easier?
Well first of all I want to thank you and Hostelworld for the fact that you're
hosting a conversation you know conversations
are where progress is made.
I think that it's important to think you know as a organisation
as a business your voice and what you say impacts a lot
of people it impacts the hosts, it impacts the end-user and the traveller
I think it's important
you know at the granular level that Hostelworld has you know
inclusive policy has.... I think businesses a lot of times
have policy that come off as they tolerate it rather
than they celebrate it, and
that's a big difference to me specifically when corporations have
space and time dedicated to represent and to celebrate
diversity rather than just tolerate it because you know whatever
legal reason they have to.
So its just those little things that
really make a huge impact and make a big difference even with
you know people choosing to use certain name when they make
a reservation and it may not be their
giving name on their ID because to them that's their dead name.
You know there's a lot of reasons why it gets
too a very personal level and those little touch points can make
such a difference for someone who's travelling to make them
feel truly like they're at home like they're truly accepted
like they're truly themselves, which makes a lot of difference
for whether or not they're going to feel comfortable in your space.
So thank you for joining us today Joe for our first episode
of the Meet Their World series.
It's been incredibly insightful for me and really useful
to you know really educate ourselves on this subject
So thank you for joining us and we hope to see you soon.
Thank you so much for having me and happy Pride!