38% IIT-B students think homosexuality can be cured: Survey

MUMBAI: More than a third of students at Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B), think homosexuality can be cured and 39% don’t want gay or lesbian teachers

MUMBAI: More than a third of students at Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B), think homosexuality can be cured and 39% don’t want gay or lesbian teachers for their children, a recent campus survey has found.

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The survey, conducted among 600 students by IIT-B’s magazine, Insight, found that most students supported rights for homosexuals — 79% said they were comfortable with an “open lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) culture” — but unearthed specific bias.

While 46% students said they would be uncomfortable sharing rooms with an LGBT person, 52% said “exposure” to them could affect the sexual orientation of a child and 38% thought a medical cure to homosexuality was possible. “We have an LGBT group — Saathi — on campus. While a majority seem accepting, we also know students who don’t share dinner tables with us. The bias is very blatant,” said a member of the group.

India criminalises homosexuality under a colonial-era law that has been challenged in the Supreme Court.

Despite the strides made in recent years, activists complain that prejudice persists even among educated people and discrimination is often fuelled by religious censure -- 37% students believed homosexuality was against their religion.

“Given that the survey was carried out in an institute which boasts of progressive individuals, the results are reflective of Indian society at best – and disturbing at worst,” said an article in Insight that reported the survey.