IIMA report bats for inclusion in academia amid lack of political support

A new report shows that higher educational institutions in India strongly favour same-sex marriage, signalling a fresh burst of hope for the LGBTQ+ community at a time it is grappling with a lack of political support.

The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) has released the report emphasising LGBTQ+ inclusion in academia, less than two months after the government of India filed an affidavit in Delhi High Court saying that same-sex couples cannot claim a fundamental right to marriage.

Authored in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group and the Pride Circle Foundation, the report titled “Fostering Pride in Higher Education: The Road to Inclusion” focuses on college-based support groups driving LGBTQ+ inclusion.

It says, “84 per cent of respondents in colleges with support groups strongly believed that marriage between same-sex couples should be legal. This figure drops to 72 per cent in institutions without a support group.”

More than 1,700 students in colleges across India participated in the survey conducted for the study.

Prof. Errol D’souza, Director, IIM-A, says, “An inclusive culture is indispensable for students to be who they are, openly express themselves, and grow holistically. It is imperative that a culture is sustained whereby students do not experience victimisation, micro-aggression, stress, anxiety and impediments to self-acceptance.”

IIM Ally, the LGBTQ+ resource group at IIMA — the top management institute in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (2020 rankings of the Ministry of Human Resource Development — was initiated by students in 2015 and got official recognition in 2017.

It organises events, panel discussions and film screenings, and also provides access to “an LGBTQ+ friendly mental health professional, who is easily reachable, for consultation by anyone on campus”. Using IIM Ally as a case study, the report urges other educational institutions to set up a support infrastructure for LGBTQ+ students.

Ramkrishna Sinha, co-founder, Pride Circle Foundation, says, “Colleges recognise ragging as something that hurts their students. Discrimination towards LGBTQ+ students must also be taken seriously. It affects mental health, and the engagement of students with their curriculum and their faculty and peers. It has an impact on confidence and personality development.” He suggests educational institutions should join hands with organisations that highlight diversity and inclusion as a core aspect of campus recruitment.

The report shows that 64 per cent of LGBTQ+ individuals, who were out, have been discriminated or witnessed discrimination faced by other members of the community. It maintains that discrimination also affects LGBTQ+ people who are “not out” — those who have not publicly revealed their gender identity or sexual orientation.

It advocates gender-neutral washrooms and dormitories, and the right to dress in keeping with “individual gender identity and expression”. It also asks institutions to “provide accommodation and documentation change support to transitioning students”. That involves the use of “identified name, pronoun and gender affirmation” in university communication as well as databases, mailing lists and all kinds of records.

According to Sinha, discrimination compels many LGBTQ+ people to leave India for Canada, Australia, the US and European countries. In the absence of empirical research, he relies on anecdotal evidence to conclude that even those with accepting families choose not to come back to India due to the lack of legal recognition for same-sex marriage and restrictions on surrogacy for LGBTQ+ couples.

Lens on LGBTQ+

(Study on level of acceptance of the community)

• 84% respondents in colleges with support groups strongly feel same-sex marriages should be made legal; the figure drops to 72% in colleges without support groups
• 13% students in colleges with support groups feel homosexuality is unnatural, a disease, both, or they had not made up their mind; the number rose to 21% in colleges without support groups
• In colleges with support groups, 59% respondents feel comfortable with an LGBTQ+ roommate; the number is 49% in colleges without support groups
• 90% feel the presence of a support group helps in fostering an inclusive mindset within college
• 65% feel it is necessary for professors to communicate about LGBTQ+ diversity and inclusion to make the college more inclusive

Source: Fostering Pride in Higher Education: The Road to Inclusion (2021)

Sinha says that the top business schools and engineering institutions stand to lose out on talented people because of the discrimination they face in India. Moreover, LGBTQ students from other countries participating in exchange programmes are reluctant to pick India because of similar fears. “Inclusion is a must to support LGBTQ+ people to become productive citizens and contribute to the GDP of our country,” says Sinha.

Campus-based LGBTQ+ collectives have come up at institutions in India, including Ambedkar University, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jadavpur University, Pondicherry University and the Indian Institute of Science. Many of these do not prioritise economic inclusion or same-sex marriage as causes to fight for. They are keen to build solidarities with other marginalised communities such as Dalits and Muslims, and to speak against human rights violations and curbs on freedom of speech.