Responsible branding is part of inclusion
- Same-sex/gender marrriage/partnership is not legal in India.
- Union between two persons of the same sex/gender from another country where it is legal is not recognised in India.
- Same-sex/gender couples cannot adopt jointly in India.
- A single person irrespective of their sexual orientation can adopt in India.
What exactly does it mean when organisations announces that they have extended adoption leave to same-sex/gender partners? To my knowledge it could either mean that a single person who has adopted a child can avail the adoption leave benefit. Or it could also mean that a person can avail the benefit if their same-sex/gender partner adopts a child.
It’s positive step and I hope this adoption benefit is irrespective of sexual orientation because this isn’t something only queer persons need or deprived of.
It is also important for us to be mindful when talking about these benefits in public. A headline that reads “Adoption benefit extended to LGBTQIA+ employees” without the legal context of the current situation has the risk of sending the message that same-sex/gender couples can adopt children as a family, where in reality it isn’t true. For long queer persons were seen as criminals until 6th Sep 2018, whereas Section 377 only criminalised “peno non-vaginal” sexual activities and not the sexual identity itself. Years of activism and legal battle helped the queer community to break the shackles of being tagged as criminals.
As inclusion champions and professionals our language usage and context is important so it doesn’t have negative impact in real life for queer persons. If the branding has negative impact on under represented groups then it loses all the meaning and hard work behind it.
