As Section 377 No Longer Remains a Criminal offense in India, How Is It Going to Impact Workplaces?

As Section 377 no longer remains a criminal offense in India, how is it going to impact workplaces?

Why did I choose this topic?

I have been nurtured in such a way that I want that my actions help in betterment of society. Personally, I want to focus more on the neglected ones amongst the neglected. LGBT community is one such strata whom I have been following and hence I felt intrigued to write upon this topic.

What does the research say?

Background

While travelling in a train, you hear loud human voices coupled with claps! What do you feel? –Eunuchs have arrived!

A male colleague appears very soft to you, who you feel is behaving in “effeminate” manner. You deduce that he is a gay!

The above two are just two examples of the perceptions we carry. We are too deep rooted in our age old customs and cultures irrespective of whether they are applicable in modern day context or not. So even though Section 377 has been decriminalized legally, it is expected to be a crime in minds of people.

Similar Example

In 2014, Honourable Supreme Court recognized transgenders as a separate gender. There have been a few positives post this but the negatives have overshadowed it. Government is yet to pass The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016. Most of the public and private institute still have no specific job openings for Transgenders and at workplace, there are no Gender Neutral Washrooms. And the bigger trouble is that they continue to face discrimination by employers and colleagues and face social ostracization even after the 4 years of the ruling.[1]

Kerala has taken many steps towards inclusion of Transgenders like Employing 25 transgenders for Kochi Metro. But the fact is that 8 people left the job within 1 week as it was neither suitable nor financially viable for them. These stats reveal that whatever be the legal rules, society, is guided by its own misrules, whose roots are too deep and visceral to be hacked off overnight.

The Case World Over

The United States have legal protection for LGBT people. 87% of Fortune 500 companies have non-discrimination policy for sexual orientation. But still millions of people are still judged not on the quality of their work but on irrelevant characteristics. They live in fear of losing their current employment, being harassed on the job, or being bypassed for promotions simply because they are part of LGBT society[3]

% Range Survey Output

15-43 Discrimination and Harassment

8-17 Passed over or fired from job

10-28 Negative performance evaluation

7-41 Harassment, abuse, vandalism on the job

Table 1: Survey amongst LGBT working in US[3]

The Indian Scenario

Fig 2a: Study by Mission for Indian Gay & Lesbian Empowerment (MINGLE) amongst the LGBT community working in white collar jobs[4]

The LGBT:

The above survey indicates that in an open work environment being able to behave and talk about themselves freely matters to most people.[5] Post decriminalization of Section 377, this should pave way for them to be more open about their sexual orientation.

The Colleagues:

The survey implies that positive perceiver characteristics of fellow colleagues is very essential for LGBT people. Building upon this positive attitude, with the backdrop of Section 377 ruling, people should be more accommodative by letting away the stereotypes for LGBTs and should motivate them to come out of the shell.

Fig 2b: Study by MINGLE[4]

The Employers:

The Indian organizations (including Indian Government) lack LGBT