Coming out, at work

A discussion hopes to empower the LGBT community to deal with discrimination at work, sexual harassment and build self-confidence

As part of Indian LGBT Youth Leadership Summit 2015, Godrej Industries along with Mission for Indian Gay and Lesbian Empowerment (MINGLE) will conduct a panel discussion called Building Alliances for LGBT Empowerment in India. The intent is to create awareness among LGBT community to deal with discrimination at work, sexual harassment as well as build self-confidence amongst individuals with alternate sexuality.

Representative pic

“Many LGBT folk get through school and college by being taunted for their sexual orientation. This makes them lose confidence. We want to help them deal with this in a corporate environment. Many times, people don’t know how to respond to being asked if they are gay, in public.

We want to gear them for these challenges,” explains Ashok Row Kavi, who is an LGBT rights activist and founder chairperson of the Humsafar Trust, and will be part of the panel. “Most corporates don’t recognise alternate sexuality. At Humsafar, we get numerous transgender employees who have been sexually harassed at big multinational companies. Such discussions will equip them to deal with similar instances at the work place,” he asserts.

The panel members also include Nisa Godrej, Executive Director, Godrej Consumer Products, who oversees corporate strategy and human capital functions for Godrej Industries and Associate Companies (GILAC), Meera Sanyal, former CEO and Chairperson of Royal Bank of Scotland, India and now a leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and lawyer and activist Vijay Hiremath.

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