I grew up in Calcutta in the 2000s. Raised by a single mother, our home was full of activity. My mother carried extraordinary strength into the corporate world. She gave me a linear path as her supportive son: do your homework on time, aim for excellence—but ultimately, pursue what you truly want.
Graduate studies took me abroad. In multicultural Britain, London offered an open society that was welcoming across ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. When I returned to India to work in the field of policy and communications, my work-day was intense: I had deadlines to meet, promotions to secure, expectations to fulfil.
Now on the other side of my thirties, I ask whether the childhood targets and aspirations I once carried are being met. I never had to come out—life was busy and performance seemed to matter more than identity.
Amid all the noise of the world, I am realizing I have not given enough space to one of the strongest identities of my being: my queerness.
The workplace is one of the most delicate and high-stakes arenas where queer people negotiate this relationship. Coming out at work can bring immense benefits: LGBTQIA+ individuals who are open about their identities often experience greater physical and emotional well-being. But is coming out ever easy?
International examples illustrate the complexity involved. Ricky Martin, asked by Barbara Walters in the early 2000s if he was gay, chose not to answer—a moment Walters later regretted.
Anderson Cooper, a journalist of tremendous repute and son of New York socialite and fashion icon Gloria Vanderbilt, took decades to come out publicly. Why? Because for those who can ‘pass’ as heterosexual or cisgender, the choice often lies between paying a psychological price for invisibility and a social and economic price for openness.
Anthony Watson, the first openly gay CEO in UK banking, once witnessed a vile homophobic slur directed at someone else. The speaker had no idea Watson was gay himself. The moment was so jarring that it became a turning point, compelling him to embrace his identity and come out despite the hostility of the time.
In India, openly gay executives and investors remain few and far between. Industries have long been engines of inclusion, but has that momentum truly extended to the country’s queer community?
A preliminary 2014 World Bank report, ‘The Economic Cost of Homophobia,’ offered a case study of India, with sizeable output losses attributable to LGBTQIA+ exclusion. It also highlighted an absence of studies on sexual identity-based wage gaps in India; international ones showed gay and bisexual men earned about 11% less than their heterosexual counterparts.
Biases, microaggressions and a lack of awareness create a social environment that often discourages LGBTQIA+ people from expressing themselves fully. This constrains individual potential as well as collective growth.
Advancing LGBTQIA+ inclusion requires more than normative statements. It demands robust accountability, standardized metrics, integrated funding and sustained political will across sectors. The UN is pivotal to this effort. Its Pact for the Future, adopted at the 2024 Summit of the Future, signals an intent to re-imagine global governance for a rapidly changing world.
But the private sector’s role can be equally catalytic. As a systemic actor, it shapes access to opportunities, workplace equity and cultural norms. Inclusion must sit at the intersection of ethics and enterprise value—linked to talent retention, innovation capacity, risk mitigation and competitiveness.
Social responsibility and bottom-line logic both favour inclusion. Yet, lack of LGBTQIA+ awareness weakens organizational performance. Conversely, inclusive businesses are not just more adaptive and resilient, but also better aligned with today’s market expectations.
Workplace equality is also critical to achieving key Sustainable Development Goals—from gender equality and decent work to sustained economic growth and reduced inequalities.
Great Place to Work, a consultancy firm, recommends mandating gender awareness training for leaders—and rightly so. The responsibility of building inclusive environments rests heavily on managers and HR professionals. Yet many require structured training and resources to develop the skills and confidence needed to support and speak for LGBTQIA+ employees. Attracting and retaining talent through affirmative action could help too.
Organizations must ask themselves how they can provide support, build confidence among individuals who have not yet come out and how they can create pathways that surface talent, nurture potential and prepare those who are ‘questioning’ for what the future may hold.
Growing up, I was told, “The world is your playground.” Indeed, it is. I carry that spirit—a joie de vivre—into excellence and life itself. But how will that vision translate into enduring optimism?
That, ultimately, is what will count.
The author is a communications professional based in Delhi.