HRC urges fashion leaders to boycott Dorchester hotels

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), America’s largest lesbian, gay,

bisexual and transgender civil rights organisation, has released an open letter to fashion leaders urging them to “avoid” the Sultan of Brunei’s Dorchester Group hotels during their upcoming travel for menswear and haute couture fashion weeks in London, Milan and Paris.

“The simple truth is that profits from these hotels belong to a regime that could start stoning women and LGBT people as soon as next year,” said HRC in the letter. “It’s our hope that if you’re travelling to any of the fashion shows in Europe over the next two months, please send a message to the Sultan and take your business elsewhere.”

HRC is the latest organisation to throw its weight behind the Dorchester boycott, following the likes of Anna Wintour, Kering’s François-Henri Pinault, Yves Saint Laurent, Brian Atwood and Peter Som, who have already called on the fashion industry to stay away from the hotel group in response to the decision of the hotels' owner, the Sultan of Brunei, to introduce Sharia law in Brunei.

HRC concluded in its letter: “It’s clear that these efforts are having an impact. Dorchester declared that it has been losing millions since the initial actions began against the hotels, and just last week the company announced that it cancelled its annual Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize.

“By avoiding the Sultan’s hotels, people around the world are sending a message that the growing global equality movement will not stay silent when the rights of women and LGBT people are in danger.”