Mumbai’s LGBT community slams IIT-B’s lopsided survey

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community is upset with a survey, conducted by IIT-Bombay, stating that 39 per cent of its students have suggested remedies for the former. The community claimed that only 600 out of a total of 10,000 students were surveyed, thus representing the view of a minority.

Members of the community from within the institute alleged that the survey is biased and that they have never faced any discrimination inside the campus.

The online survey was published in the latest edition of IIT-B’s campus magazine, Insight. The survey highlighted that 39 per cent of the respondents advised remedy for LGBTQ, followed by 46 per cent students saying that they would be uncomfortable sharing rooms with the community members.

“I think that the survey does not represent the broad picture and is based on a small sample of just 600 students. I have not faced any kind of discrimination from any member of the LGBTQ community while studying in IIT-B. IIT-B is not a place where students are pro or against a particular community,” said, Aditya J, a final-year IIT-B student.

The survey further stated that around 93 per cent of surveyed IIT-B students said that they did not mind what the members of the LGBTQ community did in the privacy of their bedrooms. Besides, 71 per cent students opined that LGBTQ members could make for good parents.

Harish Iyer, a Mumbai-based equal rights activist, said, “Most surveys on the LGBTQ community are overhyped. There is prejudice existing in the society against them. I doubt such surveys conducted are reliable.”

The survey also stated that 23 per cent of students agreed that the community members have exploited their sexuality to rise to fame. However, 39 per cent of the respondents gave a neutral response to the same.