1. LGBT COMMUNITY IN INDIA:
ISSUES, STAKEHOLDERS AND
ADVOCAY
Student assignment
Tanmay Singh Pathani
14MHMH06, MPH 3rd Semester
Abstract
Indiahas a traditionaland a very religious culture basedon acceptance and harmony of
variety of thoughts, beliefs, normsandway of life. It is very evident the same doesnot
exists for the LGBT community with prevalence of alienation, discriminationand
marginalization. The documentlooksat the variousissuesand tries to providean in-
depthanalysisof different stakeholdersandplay of power between them associatedwith
issuesof LGBT community.

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Introduction
Indiais a country of diverse cultural andreligious beliefs, ways of living, faiths, philosophiesand
orientation. Thoughwe are a deeply religious country buthave an assimilativenature with harmonious
reception. Butas we look throughour modernprogressivesociety there is a presence of resentmentand
anxiety towardsanythingwhich is not commonorregular in ourcollective perception.
The behaviorof society towards sexual minorities like lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgenderis of
harassmentordiscrimination. There is a presence of increased incidence of experiencing violence,
discrimination, harassmentandthreatdue to their sexual orientation.
In havetried to look intothe variousissues related to LGBT community and attemptinga stakeholder
andpower analysiswith emphasisonaspects dealing with advocacy.
Dimension of the issues related to the LGBT community and
Homosexualityi
No Issue Description Impact
1. Homophobia It can be simply defined as fear or hatred
towardshomosexuality.
The large scale homophobiacanbe
related to morals, beliefs, or religious
thoughtsofthe dominantgroups.
The major reinforcement tothis is via
the dominantthoughtinthe society.
 Threat of violence,
 Discrimination, targeting of people
belongingto LGBT.
 Social exclusion and injustice
 Conceal their sexuality, for fear of
the negative reactions
 Homophobicjokes, physical
attacks, verbal comments.
2. Marginalizationand
social exclusion.
Marginalizationleads to lossof full filling
one’slife at individual, interpersonaland
societal levels.
The loss of control onlife, resources and
stigmatization.
The personis in the end of the chain of
access for social security, health,
economic welfare, educationand many
more.
 Multiple formsof marginalization-
suchas racism, sexism, poverty or
other factors is seen alongside
homophobiaorTransphobiathat
negatively impact on mental
health.
 Exclusion of LGBT community from
the supportstructureseventheir
own families.
 Commonissuesseen are dropping
outof schoolunable to find
regular jobs, haveless options
thanothers, being ignored and
isolated, unable to access various
services and unaware of what they
are entitled
3. PhysicalHealth It is a well-established fact thatLGBT
community isat a highrisk of sexually
transmitteddiseasesand AIDS. The
 High risk for STDs andHIV

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reasonis attributedto highprevalence of
unprotectedsex, IV drugabuse and
commercial sex work.
 Inability to access hormonaland
sex reassignmentsurgery for
Transgenderpopulation.
 NoSRS guidelines.
 Denial of health services.
4. Mental Health High risk of developingemotional
disordersdue to stigmaand
discrimination.
Victimization, lack of support, rejection
andsearch of self-identity leading to
panic attacks, highsuicide rates.
 Use of addictive substancesto
overcomesorrow.
 Heavy alcohol consumption.
 High psychologicalmorbidity.
5. LGBT children and
their families
There is great impact of family reaction
when one comes outas a lesbian, gay,
bisexual.
Mostly they will wait for adulthoodto
avoidrejection.
Lack of communicationanddiscussion
between parents andLGBT children
further complicates the problems
 Family conflicts may lead to
disruptionwhich cause the
eviction of LGBT children from
homeinto hostels, foster care and
in many cases homelessness.
 Highly rejected LGBT youngpeople
were:
1. More than8 times as likely to
have attemptedsuicide;
2. Nearly 6 times aslikely to
report highlevels of
depression;
3. More than3 times as likely to
use illegal drugs;and
4. More than3 times as likely to
be at high risk for HIV and
STDs
6. Economic statusand
discriminationat
work.
Discriminationof LGBT people in the
work place is very common.
Socioeconomicinequalities due to
pervasivediscriminationleads to lack of
economic power, poverty, wagegap and
high rates of unemployment.
 Absence of diversity for
livelihoods.
 Discrimination and lack of
opportunity leadsto poverty.
7. Media Media has also playeda negativerole in
depicting themas violent andcriminal.
There are only a few non-governmental
agencies in Indiasuchas Sangama,
Samara, NazfoundationandPUCL
(People's Unionfor Civil Liberties)
fighting for their rights. There is an
urgent need toaddress thisissue to
 Media leads to informationwhich
is not correct and creates
homophobia.

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upholdthe fundamentalrights
guaranteedunder constitutionofIndia.
8. Barriers to care Dominantheterosexual assumptions
leads to negative thoughtsandless
affirmative andcaring health care to
LGBT people.
The primary care givers are notalways
LGBT friendly andmay havenegative
notions. Lack of identity documentsand
certificates hamper the access to
supportivecare.
 Health care givers are often not or
misinformedaboutLGBT people.
 Inability to access care due to fear
of negative reaction or
discrimination.
9. Criminalization Presence of article 377 makesall non-
naturalsexual behavioras illegal anda
punishableoffence.
Activists often quotethe act leads to
further alienation of the LGBT people.
 Issuesof corrective rape.
 Homophobialeadingto economic
loss.
 Alienation.
Aspects of LGBT issues which lend towards advocacy
1. Advocacy issues related to Health.
HIV spread andpreventionstill remains as a major issue of advocacy for LGBT people. Indialacks
a concrete policy on the health care needsof LGBT population. There is no meansto collect
health related data in any of ourhealth informationand datacollection system. Smoking
prevalence has been foundto be very highin LGBT individualsdue tostress associatedand wide
spreadalienation. Mentalhealth is another arena for advocacy as it has been foundin many
studiesoutsideIndia thatold LGBT populationsuffersmostwith chronic mentaldisorders. Risk
behaviorand healthrelated issuesare very commonin LGBT community. Thereis a strong
requirement of health related advocacy for LGBT community toprovidefundamental right of
health.
2. Creating inclusive workplacefor LGBTcommunity in workplace.
Indiais oneof the mostrapidly developingeconomic entity in the global world. With the advent
of MNC’sin Indiawhich promotediversify work culture andhave equally tapedthe potential of
LGBT community. Indiancompaniesneedtocompete with such diverse work culture only by
giving the required space andinclusion of LGBT community inthe work force. There are large
numberof research which showsby embracing inclusive work place we can tapthe required
progressand alsomake the systemefficient. By creating a safe andrespectful environmentwe
can providetactical solutionstolivelihoods issuepresent. “Worldwide, pink money is valuedin
billions of dollars acrossa variety of sectors. It is high-timeIndiacashed in”.ii
3. Media and Advocacy
Indiahas a large andvibrantmedia industry. Mediaplaysan importantrole in building public
opinion. Withthe growth of television it hasan immense strengthtoshape the public opinion

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andwork against wide spread homophobiaandnegativethoughtsabout LGBTcommunities.
Indianmedia is slowly is space to LGBT issueslike movies“Dostana”and“My brother nikihil”.
Media hasimmense role in developingopennessandacceptance.
4. Advocacy for barriers for care
There is need of community basedadvocacy sothat LGBT individualscan come as community
bodies. These community bodiescan effectively deal with barriers for care by self-advocacy for
fundamentalrights andmakingpositiveopinionsamongthe local bodiesandgovernment
administrators.
5. Advocacy for decriminalization
The article 377 shouldbe lookedwith a birdview thathow it is facilitating alienation andcreating
barriers to access supportrequired by LGBT community. Italsoact as a hand cuff for any person,
local body ornot for profit organization to work for rightsof LGBT population. According toarticle
377 anunnaturaloffence is whoevervoluntarily has carnal intercourse againstthe order of
nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punishedwith imprisonmentfor life, or with
imprisonmentof either description for a term which may extend to ten years, andshall also be
liable to fine. “Explanation- Penetrationis sufficient to constitutethe carnal intercourse necessary
to the offence described in this section.”As per the law mutualmasturbation, analsex and oral
sex are also an offence butthe law hasbeen increasingly used toharass homosexuals. Withthe
decriminalization we can providerequired legitimacy andvalidity to LGBT community.
Stakeholder Analysis on Health Advocacy for LGBT community
Significant Influence Some influence Little Influence No influence
Significant
Importance
Government,
Ministry of Family
Health and Welfare,
WHO, UN bodies,
Judiciary, Religious
bodies
Notfor profit
organizations, Civil
societies, LGBT
activistsand
Leaders, Lawyers,
Local governing
bodies, IMA
Doctors, Nurses,
Community
workers, ASHA,
Hospital
administrators
Individual
membersof LGBT
community
Some Importance
Media, Newspaper,
films, television,
Teachers, Funding
agencies
Community based
LGBT
organizations
Parentsand
families of LGBT
youth.
Little importance
Health insurance
agencies
Local community
leaders
No Importance

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Organization Involvement/Interest
State Agencies
1. Ministry of Health and Family
welfare
Review of article 377 anddecrease in HIV/AIDS prevalence
2. Ministry of Educationand Science HIV educationand preventionamongyoungpeoplein the
educationsystem. Preventionof bullyingbasedon sexual
orientation.
3. Ministry of Social Justice and
Human Rights
Social protection of LGBT community andpeopleliving with
HIV.
4. NationalAIDS ControlOrg. HIV/AIDS surveillance, datacollection andspecial
mechanismto monitorsituationin LGBT community
5. IndianMedical Agency Training andSensitization on Sexual orientationand HIV
prevention.
NGOs
1. InternationalNGO Capacity building of nationalNGOs andprovidinglegal and
technical support
2. Associationsbetween NGO and
LGBT community groups
Advocacy for rightsof LGBT community, building collective
opinionagainstbarriers tocare, policy level changes.
3. NGOsworking for HIV prevention Changein healthpolicy, developingmechanismsfor care of
people living with HIV, fundsfor awarenessamongthe high
risk grouplike LGBT
4. LGBT community based
organization
Decriminalization andchanges or abolishmentof article 377.
Accessibility tohealth care, supportmechanismsand
livelihoods.
Media
1. News, television, films ReportingHIV/AIDS-related news andstories to the general
public. Working againsthomophobia, changeinpublic
opinion.
International Org.
1. World Health Organization,
USAIDS, UN bodies
Capacity building in combatingHIV, technical support,
funding, thrustto provideequal opportunity notbasedon
sexual orientation.
Individual
1. Membersof LGBT community To acquire fundamentalright of healthand
nondiscriminationbasedonsexual orientationand equality
as a citizen of nation
2. Families of LGBT individuals Social support, mechanismstoprovidesexual reassignment
surgery by choice, counsellingof families andsensitization
on LGBT issues.

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Power analysis of the stakeholders answering the who, what, why and
how of power
Who Where What How
Government At the level of nation ImprovementofHealth
anddecreasing
prevalence of HIV
Policy,
recommendation
Judiciary At the level of nation,
state andindividual
Criminalization,
mechanismsfor access
to health care
Legislations, act,
recommendationsfor
government.
International
organization
At the level of nation Thrustto decrease HIV
prevalence among
LGBT
Influence, funding,
capacity buildingand
empowerment.
Religious body At the level of
individual.
Changepublic opinion,
can pressurize there
religious thinkingand
can have ownagenda
Power within society to
cause change or makea
particular opinion.
NGOand Civil society At level of nation,
community and
individual
Power to influence and
advocatehealth for
LGBT. Consistsof
power to andpower
within
Advocacy for healthas
fundamentalright at
level of individualand
influence government
by collective opinion
building.
LGBT activistand
leaders
At the level of
community and
individual
Ask for fundamental
right of health by
developingcollective
power via numbers
Empower at the level of
individualand
community. Createan
influence.
Health workforce At the level of
individual
Sensitizationonsexual
orientation.
Provideunbiasedcare
which is notbasedon
sexual orientation
Conclusion
Indiastill joins the rank of countries which consider homosexuality asa crime. Moreimportantly in the
last decades slowly the Indiansociety is becomingmore acceptable towards LGBT community. There is
further need of advocacy tobuild a society which doesn’tdiscriminateon the basisof sexual orientation.
The violence andalienation of LGBT community hasdeep rootedsocial causes. There is a requirementof
workingagainst state oppressionandalsocapacity buildingof the community tolive as an equal citizen of
the nation
References
1. Power a practical guide to social change The Carnegie UK Trust andthe JosephRowntree
Foundation.

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2. Creating InclusiveWorkplaces for LGBT Employeesin India Community BusinessLimited, Google,
3. PromotingandSupporting theInclusionof Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and TransgenderIndividuals,
USAIDS
4. http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-politicsl-of-gay-rights-in-india-1435854890
5. http://www.ryot.org/india-making-progress-lgbt-movement/936442
i Problems Faced by LGBT People in the Mainstream Society: Some Recommendations Chatterjee Subhrajit, IJMIS
2014 Volume 5
ii http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hm6n0X2HCFzG7PQ3VSCRgBf4NPCA