Don't Just Add Pride Month Logo, Be Inclusive Too: Parmesh Shahani On LGBTQA+ Rights

Parmesh Shahani with his optimistic nature and hopeful attitude is on the journey of making a difference in the world, stepping stones for a larger change in the society. It has led him to be an author and an activist for LGBTQ inclusion in corporate India. Queeristan author has guided many corporates on their inclusion journeys. He served as Vice President at Godrej Industries and founded and ran the award-winning Godrej India Culture Lab. 

In the conversation with SheThePeople, Parmesh Shahani recalls his journey, slaying various roles as an author, activist, vice president of a huge corporation, and consultant. 

Parmesh Shahani on his journey 

It has been an amazing journey. I had a chance to connect with people in different ways. At Godrej, for ten years, I ran Indian Culture Lab, which was a unique connecting space. At MIT, I helped my professor with Media based think tank. My whole life has been about finding ways to help people connect, and through these connections, we can think of ways to make the world a better place to live. I feel privileged to have an opportunity to work in creative industries with different fashion magazines, movies, and more.

I have worked in academia at universities as an academic scholar, worked in the business world, and been an author of books like Gay Bombay. I have seen various professions, and it feels good to be in different spaces. I feel blessed because usually, people tend to be limited in their own domain.

Since my book came out that was two years ago, I have been using the book as an operating system to help many companies in India. Showing the companies how to be inclusive and tell how it benefits everyone.

You have explored so many fields, Was it difficult for you? What did challenges look like?

It's not been difficult for me. I would like to talk about the opportunities. It was amazing to have so many good allies and friends along the way. I went to Boston to study at MIT, and my professors supported me in conducting a big South Asian LGBTQIA+ festival in my workplace. My parents and my friends have been quite supportive. I see organisations at various levels being progressive around me. I mean everyone has challenges in their own life be it queer people or hetero people, but is important to look at opportunities. 

Can you shed more light on your work concerning the LGBTQ community?
The 2018 Supreme Court verdicts, the NALSA judgement, and the 2019 transgender act have been LGBTQA+ favourable. Prior to these verdicts, several companies were doing good work, but in the last four-five years, there's been a lot of energy on the ground. However, companies are yet confused between wanting to do good and doing actual good. Many of them are unable to convert those intentions into actions. 

On the ground, action is in giving jobs, and in India, companies have just started on their journey. So I'm pushing them. I am telling them that only changing the logo during Pride Month won't help, actions need to go beyond that. So my work involves pushing, scolding, empowering, and inspiring companies to do more. I tell them to walk the talk, now the time for talking is over. Now you have to do the actions, and I show them what good actions are.

How much has it helped it?
Yes! It has done quite a bit. There are many organisations across the country that are doing good work. They are working with Community partners on the ground, giving jobs, building infrastructure, and creating spaces. Several industrial organisations such as CII, FICCI, and more have put this on their agenda, urging the member companies to become more inclusive.

Also, narratives and conversations in popular media are normalising LGBTQ stories. Now this also helps corporate because we all are in a connected world. So, if something happens in one space seeps into the 

The corporations in India also see television, read news, watch queer-friendly content, and follow the cases in the Supreme Court. Moreover, employees also ask more from their bosses and push them to do more. So all of that is helping change. Now if you ask me, is it enough? No, it is not enough. We need to be doing a lot more, but we are doing more than before for sure.

Despite inclusivity at corporate levels, there are constant reports of discriminative treatment at the hands of employers and colleagues. What is your take on this?
The organisations need to learn and also need to sensitise everyone and need to build the infrastructure. It's not just hiring and giving jobs without creating a safe environment.

The role of a corporation is to protect, preserve, and empower talent. If the company fails to create such an atmosphere and environment, then of course people will leave.

A report by Young India says that 100% of queer people want to work for queer-friendly companies and interestingly 70% of straight also want to work for queer-friendly companies. So if companies are treating their queer employees badly, no one will want to work for them. The company should invest when they're hiring queer people, invest in the training and sensitisation programmes. The assessment of queer employees' needs is a must.

For instance: If trans people are your employees then must have all-gender washrooms. I hope that over the years as people understand this, the discrimination towards the queer community decreases. Queer people won't work in places of bias. 

You wrote your first book Gay Bomaby in 2008 when LGBTQA+ was still an alien term for common people. How was it then and how it is now?
The Gay Bombay was an academic book, more of a research-based scholarly work, unlike novels or short story books. I was clueless that this book will become such an important book. The book is written on contemporary gay life, it is an ethnography of queer life. Even today, 20 years later, people are using it as a reference and thanking me for the book. The book is more of a manual, it is something that HR managers and colleges are using. People find a lot of history in this book, so it has made a larger impact.

Since the removal of section 377, has progress been made? Do you see changes there at the micro-level? 
We have laws in place but people are not aware that laws exist. For example- The government authorities are supposed to issue certificates to trans people it is their right. But a few government authorities are not even aware of trans people's rights. The 2018 verdict decriminalised us but not fully, we are still fighting for equality and equality means non-discrimination, certainly the right to marry, and so many other things.

A lot of progress still needs to be made, but what I'm seeing on the ground is there are daily challenges, life is not hunky-dory. Life is hard for many queer people at home, in their workplaces, and in society at large. But I'm also seeing that in small ways there is also progress being made.

By the end of the day, I'm 50% happy and 50% angry. I want to be 100% happy. Why should I be 50% angry at the end of every day? I want it to happen faster and I don't want to read sad stories, I only want to read happy stories about queer people. That's the whole point and I want to get to that place very quickly. 

Suggested Reading: Let’s Do Away With Homophobia: Walk Through An Ally's Eye At Pune Pride 2023 

Parmesh Shahani On LGBTQA Rights

What are your thoughts on marriage equality?
Marriage equality is a broader term and every person should have the choice to marry their partner. If hetero people have the choice of marriage or no marriage queer people should also. We pay the same rates of taxes, and we contribute in similar ways, so we should not be treated as lesser citizens. So, I am optimistic and hopeful that the Supreme Court, you know, judges will pave the way for these rights to be given to us. As a citizen of the country, entitled to equality in the eyes of the law, I want the same rights as everyone else, that's it.

As a leader yourself, how we can empower more people from the community to grow to leadership positions?

People around the world are realising that you need to create leadership pipelines. There are many structural barriers in place for people from historically disadvantaged communities to reach them. Even the technology itself is coded against women and has biases. So how do we create a better world? You have to work with systems and structures and create alternative pipelines. With universities, companies, and think tanks we are coming up with great ideas and solutions. When a city, a state, or a country focuses on diversity and inclusion, it benefits exponentially in terms of money, innovation, and attracting the best talent.

A bunch of things have to be done and people in power have to do it right. You have to create pipelines with educational institutions, corporations, and more. For instance: Several US organisations are funding, say, black women in STEM programmes to help advance them in their careers to enter the workforce. They are creating pipelines, they're creating internship opportunities. The systems are very loaded and very biased. There is an amazing documentary called Coded Bias, it talks about this only. 

I wish that we do this more in India with our universities, companies, and governments. We need to understand this and change the structures that are there to allow to empower more inclusion. We need intentional inclusion, what we call positive discrimination. We must hire many women, we must hire people from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. That is why the 2014 NALSA judgement asked for transgender reservations. 

How road looks ahead?
I would like to see more connections between various movements because the fight for gender equality has been going on for many decades now. There is LGBTQA+, accessibility, the environment, and sustainability, all these things are interconnected agendas, we cannot create a better world for women without thinking about LGBTQA+. We can't create a more accessible world without looking at people with disability. There is a realisation that all of our struggles and needs are interconnected.

I hope that educational institutions and corporations also recognise that and participate in constructive conversations to shift the needle forward because otherwise, it is not going to be sustainable. We need to move towards a world where there is more and more equity.