PRIDE MONTH

The whole of June has the honour of being Pride Month 2020, a time of equal rights and celebration of sexual diversity and gender variance. More so, it’s a time for straight allies who support LGBT+ inclusion at work and society.

 

How did Pride Month begin?

The month of June was chosen for LGBT Pride (a positive stance towards queer communities) because of the Stonewall riots in New York in June 1969. The first major protest for the rights of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people broke out when the police raided a popular gay nightclub there.

Weary of being constantly targetted by cops, gay clubbers threw bottles at stunned policemen and took the surprise protest to the streets. The demonstrations continued for days on end, and went on to spur the Gay Liberation Front and other civil rights organizations supporting the queer communities.

A year later, there was a march from the same spot in Stonewall to 6th Avenue that became the first official gay pride parade. And so it was that June became the global Pride Month in memory of that uprising.

Pride Month 2020 in India

A small yet established set of LGBT+ allies in corporate India includes companies like Godrej, Wipro, Salesforce, TCS, Capgemini and Tech Mahindra. Some of them are participating in the #21DaysAllyChallenge which Pride Circle is running as a campaign for Pride Month 2020. Pride Circle is an organisation established in India to bring about more workplace inclusion for the queer community.

Speaking of safer workspaces in India, employee benefits is where the LGBT+ workforce gets a raw deal. Some companies are taking the lead in making offices safer and more inclusive with benefits in insurance, leave and relocation. TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) is one of the few firms in our country to extend health insurance to LGBT employees.

At Tech Mahindra, same-sex couples can avail of 12 weeks of paid leave for adoption and three days of bereavement leave. The company formed the platform Kaleidoscopes to share stories of community members. Lalit Hotels has the highest number of LGBT+ employees in the hospitality sector in India. It has a slew of attractive policies for LGBT+ employees and their families.