New Delhi
TNN
The move towards legitimising gay rights seems to be getting stronger by the day. After the Delhi High Court order decriminalising homosexuality, the National Law School has asked the Centre to recognise “sexual orientation” as a source of discrimination against which there should be statutory protection. The law school wants the Centre to put “sexual orientation” in the list of ‘grounds of discrimination’ requiring safeguard in the Equal Opportunities Commission. S Japhet, director of Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy in the Bangalore school, told TOI, “There have been studies to show that sexual orientation of gays leads to discrimination in employment.”
Gay Pride 2009, Delhi
The proposed EOC is an ambitious move to redress the discrimination against social groups in employment, education and housing. These three domains are most plagued by prejudices, be it based on religion, caste or race. It is to be seen if the Centre obliges the law school by moving on its request.
An explicit step to bar discrimination on a person’s “sexual orientation” will be a big step in legitimising gay rights. The EOC, in the nascent stage of evolution, is likely to be empowered to take a complaint from a group to question the private and public enterprises in question. It would mean that any move to keep gays out of a workplace or a housing colony or an educational institution would invite the intervention of the‘discrimination watchdog’.
The N R Madhava Menon committee, which drew up the details of EOC, shortlistedgrounds on which discrimination should be prohibited. It includes prejudices based on religion, sex, caste, language, disability, descent, place of birth, residence and race among others.
