Over 30 LGBTQ youth attended a session on ‘Financial Literacy for LGBTQ Youth’ organised by the Bank of America Merrill Lynch in association with Humsafar Trust in Mumbai on Saturday.
Kavish Arora, co-chairperson, India LGBT Pride Network, Bank of America, said, “Encouraging LGBTQ individuals to enter organised jobs or workplaces is one of the objectives of today’s event. Financial literacy is key to helping LGBTQ youth become economically independent and understand the importance of savings and investments.”
Facing the challenges
The session also included the screening of Milk, a 2008 American film on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, which was followed by an interaction on the challenges facing the LGBTQ community.
Sanchay Agrawal, co-chairperson, India Diversity & Inclusion Council, Bank of America, said, “At Bank of America, we aim to build a workplace that is diverse, inclusive, collaborative and supportive. As part of these efforts, our firm has been steadfast in our commitment to non-discrimination and support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ+) employees through progressive workplace policies and practices. We want our employees to bring their whole self to work, irrespective of their ethnicity or gender identity. We achieve this through various employee networks, programmes and platforms.”
Spreading awareness
Koninika Roy, Chief Operating Officer, Humsafar Trust, said, “Our work started off with health, where we do HIV interventions. We work with the Mumbai District AIDS Control Society to provide health facilities to LGBTQ communities. We want people to talk about the issues of this community so we often organise plays, public events and flash mobs to create awareness among people.”
Gaining in confidence
Shruti Kulkarni, a graphic designer and member of the LGBTQ community, said, “The workshop helped me in understanding and knowing more about personal finance management. The people at Bank of America patiently answered the most fundamental doubts about healthy financial management. Now I feel more confident about my knowledge regarding investments. It was definitely a great initiative by Humsafar Trust.”
