 "India is an outlier on gay rights")
It doesn't take the World Bank rankings to validate the fact that India is a difficult place to do business. Similarly, it shouldn't require global paradigms on LGBT rights to establish that the Supreme Court's astounding ruling yesterday reinstating a controversial Victorian era decree criminalizing homosexuality, is a regressive and diffident verdict, and a 'U-turn' for India's civil rights jurisprudence, as noted lawyer Harish Salve observed on Twitter.
Nevertheless, since comparisons make our world go round, it was 1811 – long before there was any such thing as the telegraph, telephone, radio, television or the Internet, and around 40 years sooner than tomatoes made their way into Indian markets – that the Netherlands became the first country to decriminalize homosexuality. Russia followed suit a century later, in 1917 as did many others through the course of the 20th century – including Britannia, whose long-amended laws we continue to so dearly uphold. The Netherlands also led the way for same-sex marriages 12 years ago and since then several other countries, particularly in Europe, such as Belgium, France, Spain, Norway and Sweden, but also Canada, South Africa and New Zealand have joined the ranks in legalising gay marriage. Iceland even has a Prime Minister who is openly gay and married to another woman.
In the United States, the Supreme Court earlier this year struck down parts of the Defense of Marriage Act that denied gay partners the same benefits provided to heterosexual spouses and also allowed gay marriages to resume in California. A total of 12 US states allow same-sex marriage while in 2003 the US Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to criminalise sodomy.
In countries where governments have led, corporate boardrooms have preceded constitutional changes in the way they approach this issue. Human Rights Campaign which calls itself the largest civil rights organization to achieve equality for the LGBT community reports that Corporate America updated its "non-discrimination policies and benefits packages well ahead of federal mandates to support LGBT employees and their families" and hundreds of companies, including Nationwide, Citigroup, Groupon, Procter & Gamble, Hershey’s and US Airways, joined a public coalition to urge Congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act "a proposed federal law that would provide consistent nationwide legal protections from workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity."
In other countries like India too, where governments haven't exactly been progressive, companies have broken new ground on promoting LGBT equality.
Corporate support for gay and transgender rights is improving and "more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies and 90 per cent of all large employers surveyed by a large LGBT advocacy group in the US are offering health insurance and other spousal benefits to same-sex domestic partners of their employees" according to ABC News. Also, 90 per cent of Fortune 500 companies in the US have policies against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, according to Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index 2014.
Perhaps an assertion from a spokesman of Stonewall, an activist group, sums up in a nutshell how dramatically attitudes towards gay people have changed in the developed world. “We’ve gone from ‘able to be sacked because you were gay’ to an index which celebrates achievement of employers,” the spokesperson told the Financial Times.
MNCs who have inherited global best practices on LGBT inclusion are also fostering that culture in India. Forbes magazine reported a couple of years ago that the HR departments of 11 top multinationals – including Goldman Sachs, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Cisco, Dell, Novell, General Electric and Microsoft – came together at the Bangalore campus of IBM to share best practices for fostering a culture of LGBT inclusion in their organizations. Some of them have even started training programs to sensitize employees regarding LGBT rights.
Findings from MINGLE, a nationwide advocacy group and think-tank that pushes for LGBT equality in all spheres of public life in India throws up more interesting insights. Their 2012 survey, which focused on three sectors of the economy – finance, software & IT services, and engineering – found that a third of LGBT respondents reported facing harassment at the workplace, and nearly 80 per cent reported hearing homophobic comments in their offices. Also, 50 per cent of respondents believed that their being closeted had an impact on workplace productivity. But, on the brighter side, LGBT employees who had come out of the closet reported that they did not face discrimination from their managers.
Nonetheless much work remains in making organisations more sensitive about the issue, not least because 90 per cent of respondents in the MINGLE survey said their organisation's policies on the matter is a factor they kept in mind before joining the company.
Consequently a lot of Indian corporations seem to be waking up to the need for a compassionate workplace. Infosys, for instance, has started the Infosys Gay Lesbian employees and You (IGLU) initiative, which creates a safe and respectful work environment for employees in the LGBT community. Similarly, Google and Goldman Sachs have set up LGBT networks in India while, in the gender column, "Wipro Technologies decided to have ‘I do not wish to specify’ and ‘Others’ as options, in order to address a wider set of talented applicants in their Bangalore and Mumbai offices" according to a report from the Society for Human Resource Management.
Twitter meanwhile has been abuzz with outrage directed at the court verdict and several doyens of India Inc joined the bandwagon in criticizing the decision. "#Sec377 is 150 yrs old n has no relevance today. The world has accepted the inalienable right to his/her right to sexuality as per Art 14/21" wrote Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the founder-chairman of Biocon. Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra seemed genuinely perplexed and asked whether the court had passed the buck to Parliament, while Meera Sanyal, RBS’ India head, said she was "aghast at Supreme Court order upholding Sec 377. Hope that at least one parliamentarian will take up the cause to change this retrograde law."
Adding to the voices, even the godmen spoke out. The twitter handle of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar insisted that "homosexuality has never been considered a crime in Hindu culture. In fact, Lord Ayyappa was born of Hari-Hara (Vishnu & Shiva). #Sec377"
Now who can argue with that?
Nevertheless, since comparisons make our world go round, it was 1811 – long before there was any such thing as the telegraph, telephone, radio, television or the Internet, and around 40 years sooner than tomatoes made their way into Indian markets – that the Netherlands became the first country to decriminalize homosexuality. Russia followed suit a century later, in 1917 as did many others through the course of the 20th century – including Britannia, whose long-amended laws we continue to so dearly uphold. The Netherlands also led the way for same-sex marriages 12 years ago and since then several other countries, particularly in Europe, such as Belgium, France, Spain, Norway and Sweden, but also Canada, South Africa and New Zealand have joined the ranks in legalising gay marriage. Iceland even has a Prime Minister who is openly gay and married to another woman.
In the United States, the Supreme Court earlier this year struck down parts of the Defense of Marriage Act that denied gay partners the same benefits provided to heterosexual spouses and also allowed gay marriages to resume in California. A total of 12 US states allow same-sex marriage while in 2003 the US Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to criminalise sodomy.
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On the contrary, the Indian SC's ruling on Section 377 gives us the dubious distinction of joining the likes of Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Cameroon and Nigeria on a list of countries who practice anti-homosexuality laws. Not too surprising a list, if you compare who keeps us company on the World Bank’s 'doing business' rankings. India's record on LGBT rights matches its abysmal score on the ease of doing business, infrastructure, red tape etc.
In countries where governments have led, corporate boardrooms have preceded constitutional changes in the way they approach this issue. Human Rights Campaign which calls itself the largest civil rights organization to achieve equality for the LGBT community reports that Corporate America updated its "non-discrimination policies and benefits packages well ahead of federal mandates to support LGBT employees and their families" and hundreds of companies, including Nationwide, Citigroup, Groupon, Procter & Gamble, Hershey’s and US Airways, joined a public coalition to urge Congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act "a proposed federal law that would provide consistent nationwide legal protections from workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity."
In other countries like India too, where governments haven't exactly been progressive, companies have broken new ground on promoting LGBT equality.
Corporate support for gay and transgender rights is improving and "more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies and 90 per cent of all large employers surveyed by a large LGBT advocacy group in the US are offering health insurance and other spousal benefits to same-sex domestic partners of their employees" according to ABC News. Also, 90 per cent of Fortune 500 companies in the US have policies against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, according to Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index 2014.
Perhaps an assertion from a spokesman of Stonewall, an activist group, sums up in a nutshell how dramatically attitudes towards gay people have changed in the developed world. “We’ve gone from ‘able to be sacked because you were gay’ to an index which celebrates achievement of employers,” the spokesperson told the Financial Times.
MNCs who have inherited global best practices on LGBT inclusion are also fostering that culture in India. Forbes magazine reported a couple of years ago that the HR departments of 11 top multinationals – including Goldman Sachs, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Cisco, Dell, Novell, General Electric and Microsoft – came together at the Bangalore campus of IBM to share best practices for fostering a culture of LGBT inclusion in their organizations. Some of them have even started training programs to sensitize employees regarding LGBT rights.
Findings from MINGLE, a nationwide advocacy group and think-tank that pushes for LGBT equality in all spheres of public life in India throws up more interesting insights. Their 2012 survey, which focused on three sectors of the economy – finance, software & IT services, and engineering – found that a third of LGBT respondents reported facing harassment at the workplace, and nearly 80 per cent reported hearing homophobic comments in their offices. Also, 50 per cent of respondents believed that their being closeted had an impact on workplace productivity. But, on the brighter side, LGBT employees who had come out of the closet reported that they did not face discrimination from their managers.
Nonetheless much work remains in making organisations more sensitive about the issue, not least because 90 per cent of respondents in the MINGLE survey said their organisation's policies on the matter is a factor they kept in mind before joining the company.
Consequently a lot of Indian corporations seem to be waking up to the need for a compassionate workplace. Infosys, for instance, has started the Infosys Gay Lesbian employees and You (IGLU) initiative, which creates a safe and respectful work environment for employees in the LGBT community. Similarly, Google and Goldman Sachs have set up LGBT networks in India while, in the gender column, "Wipro Technologies decided to have ‘I do not wish to specify’ and ‘Others’ as options, in order to address a wider set of talented applicants in their Bangalore and Mumbai offices" according to a report from the Society for Human Resource Management.
Twitter meanwhile has been abuzz with outrage directed at the court verdict and several doyens of India Inc joined the bandwagon in criticizing the decision. "#Sec377 is 150 yrs old n has no relevance today. The world has accepted the inalienable right to his/her right to sexuality as per Art 14/21" wrote Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the founder-chairman of Biocon. Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra seemed genuinely perplexed and asked whether the court had passed the buck to Parliament, while Meera Sanyal, RBS’ India head, said she was "aghast at Supreme Court order upholding Sec 377. Hope that at least one parliamentarian will take up the cause to change this retrograde law."
Adding to the voices, even the godmen spoke out. The twitter handle of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar insisted that "homosexuality has never been considered a crime in Hindu culture. In fact, Lord Ayyappa was born of Hari-Hara (Vishnu & Shiva). #Sec377"
Now who can argue with that?